UK CCC advice must be a “wake up call” for the Scottish Government
New independent climate advice should be a wake-up call for the Scottish Government, says Scottish Green co-leader, Patrick Harvie.
The UK Climate Change Committee has today published expert advice on what the Scottish Government must do to meet its ambitious 2045 net zero targets.
The Committee is clear that the 2045 target is achievable, but only if the Scottish Government takes decisive and rapid action to reduce emissions from transport, home heating, and land use.
The UKCCC’s advice comes before the Scottish Government starts to set its first carbon budgets later this year.
Patrick Harvie, co-leader of the Scottish Greens commented:
“The UKCCC’s advice to the Scottish Government has few surprises. Scotland is years behind schedule on climate, and the SNP have spent the last year ripping up the policies that were designed to accelerate action.
“The Scottish Government already knows, as we all do, that without serious effort to make our homes warmer and switch to clean heat, without radical investment in public transport, and without support for rural communities to cut emissions from land use and farming, we will fail to protect our world from catastrophic damage.
“This also exposes the dishonesty of the right’s anti-net-zero agenda. The UKCCC is clear - Scotland’s 2045 target is completely achievable. But it will only happen if we are brave enough to commit to the rapid action needed to achieve it. Repeating the poor performance of the last 15 years would result in failure.
“Perhaps the most immediate issue is the Scottish Government’s decision to strip the ambition out of the Bill to help people decarbonise heating. Now their own appointed expert advisors are directly challenging Ministers on the core elements that are missing from the Bill, and Parliament must be clear that if the Government won’t fix it, we will.
“For 15 years, we have seen political consensus here in Holyrood on climate, but only on the targets and not the action. All parties supported ambitious targets in 2019, but too many have voted to block the action we desperately need to take.
“The Scottish Government has many of the solutions they need ready at their fingertips, and ambition on climate will create good jobs and save people money too. But instead of ramping up action, we’ve seen broken promises and further delays. That has to end; we’re in a climate emergency and the Government - and all political parties here in Holyrood - need to act like it.”