Green solutions can tackle poverty and the climate emergency
The Climate crisis and the cost of living crisis cannot be separated, say the Scottish Greens who have warned that the climate emergency will punish the most vulnerable people.
By delivering green policies that reduce carbon emissions and tackle poverty we can build a clean, green economy with equality and dignity at its heart.
Speaking at First Minister’s Questions (FMQs) during Challenge Poverty Week, Scottish Green MSP Maggie Chapman focused on the importance of policies like free bus travel for everyone under 22 and the removal of peak rail fares which help to tackle poverty and the climate crisis.
Ms Chapman said:
“We have just had the hottest July on global records. Then the hottest August. Then the hottest September – “gob-smackingly bananas” temperatures according to climate scientists. A bit like the Tory Party Conference this week.
“Scottish Greens know that the systems and structures at the root of the climate emergency are the same systems and structures that prevent or inhibit the very necessary action to eliminate poverty and tackle inequalities."
Ms Chapman added:
“The work we do to make the shift from a carbon economy to a renewables economy – with policies like free bus travel for everyone under 22, or removing peak rail fares – are all vital to the twin missions of tackling the climate emergency AND poverty.
“These and similar policies are instrumental in building the clean, green, fair and caring economy we all so desperately need.”