Green recovery needs bold investments like Rail for All
A green recovery from the pandemic will require more strategic investments such as the £22bn proposals to upgrade Scotland’s railways from the Scottish Greens, the party has said.
During a Scottish Parliament debate on a green and sustainable recovery, Scottish Greens environment spokesperson Mark Ruskell raised the fact that only 36% of Scotland’s infrastructure spend is low carbon, despite the UN’s deadline on global warming, agreed in Paris five years ago, is just nine years away.
Commenting, Mark Ruskell said: “The pandemic has taught us that government can provide an urgent response to a crisis, but there needs to be a shift in priorities if they are going do the same for the climate emergency.
“So while Holyrood’s environment committee has urged government to be bold, the policies from government don’t yet match the ambitions. We need state intervention on the scale of our bold £22bn Rail for All proposals, which would nationalise and electrify our railways and link our remote communities to drive down transport emissions.
“We have only nine years left before global warming becomes irreversible, so we don’t have time to wait for undeveloped technologies to appear. Instead, investment in windfarms, trains and warm homes needs to start now, creating at least 50,000 jobs for our communities.”