Climate action must be at heart of Scottish Government plans
Bold and transformative climate action must be at the heart of the Scottish Government’s Programme for Government and the upcoming Climate Bill, say the Scottish Greens.
This morning the party has published The Climate Reset, a policy paper by the Scottish Green MSP group that lays out proposals for Scotland to accelerate climate action and build a greener future.
The Party has called for the Scottish Government to decarbonise transport by scrapping its plan to reintroduce peak rail fares and diverting funding from its climate wrecking plans to dual the whole A96 into public transport.
The paper calls for a real and urgent transition plan for the energy sector, urging the Scottish Government to maintain its presumption against new oil and gas exploration while rejecting the proposed expansion of the gas-fuelled power station at Peterhead.
With demands for the groundbreaking Heat in Buildings Bill to be introduced in the Autumn to deliver warmer, greener homes, and record funding for Scotland’s nature, it is a positive and ambitious plan to cut carbon emissions and put Scotland on track to meet its climate obligations.
The Party’s co-leader, Patrick Harvie MSP said: “With the Programme for Government and the new Climate Bill only days away, we need to see the kind of bold climate action that will make a difference.
“With global temperatures continuing to soar well beyond the records of the last century, and with growing threats from extreme weather events in Scotland and beyond, the time for business as usual is over.
“From rejecting new fossil fuel exploration to investing in public transport and reducing the number of cars on our roads, we have laid out our priorities for the kind of action we need to see from the Scottish Government.
“Particularly over recent months there have been very worrying signs of the Scottish Government moving away from its climate commitments. The SNP spent an election trying to face both ways on oil and gas, then they hiked up rail fares and asked councils to raid the nature restoration fund. These are not the actions of a government that is doing all it can for our climate.
“We cannot underestimate the scale of change that is needed, or the importance of the decisions that will be made in the weeks and months ahead.
“The challenge we face today has been made infinitely harder by 14 years of Westminster failure on top of decades of climate inaction and an assumption that it was someone else’s problem to deal with.
"The fact that the Climate Change Committee has said our 2030 targets are now out of reach underlines the scale of the failure to turn words into action.
“We cannot afford to repeat those mistakes. Every government needs to act and Scotland must lead the way.”
