COP31: Time for climate action
This year’s COP conference in Turkey must deliver more than warm words, watered-down promises and another round of missed targets, say the Scottish Greens.
With global temperatures continuing to rise and extreme weather events becoming more frequent and destructive, the party is calling on world leaders to move beyond pledges and deliver urgent, meaningful action to tackle the climate emergency.
The party says that governments must come forward with stronger climate commitments, a clear timetable for phasing out fossil fuels and a credible plan to deliver a fair transition to renewable energy.
They are also demanding greater support for communities already facing the devastating consequences of climate breakdown, particularly in the countries least responsible for the crisis.
The party’s environment spokesperson, Mark Ruskell MSP, said:
“With wildfires, heatwaves, famines, and floods, it has been a year of extreme weather events and climate chaos. The climate emergency is happening right now, and people across the world are already paying a terrible price.
“COP31 cannot become another talking shop where world leaders make speeches, pat themselves on the back and fly home without delivering the action they promised. We have heard the commitments before. What we need now is delivery.
“Leaders must go further and faster. They must commit to a rapid and fair phase-out of fossil fuels, end the expansion of oil and gas, and massively accelerate investment in clean, renewable energy.
“It’s time to make polluters pay. The countries and corporations that have profited most from driving the climate crisis cannot continue to dodge their responsibilities while the poorest and most vulnerable communities are left to deal with the consequences.
“We need to go further and faster on all fronts, with concrete commitments to climate finance, adaptation and loss and damage, alongside clear plans to deliver on existing promises that have not been met. Anything less risks plunging us further into crisis and leaving another generation to pick up the pieces.
“Scotland has a responsibility to play its part, matching our international climate commitments with action at home. That means ending our reliance on oil and gas rather than approving even more exploration, investing in renewables and ensuring workers and communities are supported through the transition.
“If it is to have any credibility then COP31 must be about delivery, not delay. The world cannot afford another summit that promises the earth but delivers very little.”