Climate crisis must be top priority of next government
The next UK government must get 100% behind the drive for 100% renewable energy, say the Scottish Greens, who have called for the next Prime Minister to live up to the scale of the environmental crisis we face.
Speaking on the eve of polling, and following a visit to a world leading tidal energy project in Orkney on Tuesday, party co-leader, Lorna Slater MSP, said: “Of all the issues that the next Prime Minister will face, the climate crisis is the most urgent and severe.
“The destruction of our environment and our natural world are accelerating. We can all see this in our own lives - and from the daily reports of extreme weather and extinctions around the globe.
“How the UK rises to these existential threats should have been the main story of this election, yet it has largely been ignored by all of the other parties. Even the CBI are now warning that this “deafening silence” on the key issues of our time is dangerous.
“Scotland has leading green businesses, skilled workers, and incredible natural resources, but to take this opportunity and build a world leading green economy we need the next UK Government to make the scale of investment that is needed and get 100% behind the drive for 100% renewables.
“Throughout this campaign the Scottish Greens have put forward bold solutions to the climate crisis. We are proposing a £28 billion a year Green New Deal to invest in the clean green industries of the future.
“We have been clear that we must listen to the science, and take the action needed to halt new oil and gas exploration while supporting a just transition for workers in the sector.
“We have also been clear about how we should pay for it. With a vital programme of wealth taxes on the biggest polluters and the richest 1%, we can raise tens of billions of pounds to support our green economy.
Ms Slater added: “There is a huge opportunity ahead of us if we grasp it. This week I have been visiting communities in the Highlands and in Orkney who are on the frontier of the new green economy in Scotland. I have seen the cutting edge and world-changing work that they are doing.
“These are the jobs and industries that we need to embrace if we are to build a cleaner, greener and better future. Every vote for the Scottish Green is a vote for change and a call to deliver the green investment and decisive action that people and planet needs.”
