Climate Change Bill: Decades of climate failure show urgency of action
The Scottish Government must urgently ramp up climate action and show an environmental leadership that has been lacking, says Scottish Green Co-leader Patrick Harvie ahead of today’s vote on the Climate Change Bill.
The bill, which will amend 2030 climate targets that the UK Climate Change Committee has said are unachievable, can only be supported if the Scottish Government commits to accelerated climate action after years of collective failure.
Mr Harvie said:
“We should not be in this position. The fact that we are underlines the vast scale of failure going back to before these targets were set 15 years ago. All politicians bear a shared responsibility for what has happened, or, rather, what has not happened.
“Far too many have celebrated the targets while blocking the action needed to reach them. The result is that we are far behind where we need to be, and, with global temperatures rising, we cannot afford to repeat this failure.
"We are living through a climate emergency and temperatures are rising, so our governments need to start acting like it. That means showing leadership and urgently and rapidly delivering the policies that will make a difference and secure the net zero transition.
“Scotland has a huge potential, and resources that any country would envy. We need to use them to their full extent.
“One of the most vital things that we have to do is reduce the number of cars on our roads. Yet the Scottish Government remains committed to pouring billions of pounds into projects to dual some of the longest roads in our country and has just hiked rail fares with the return of peak charges. These are not the actions of a government that is prepared to take the bold steps that are needed.
“There is no doubt that the challenge we face today has been made infinitely harder by decades of inaction. We cannot repeat the mistakes of the past, not if we want any kind of sustainable future.”
Scottish Green MSPs will be moving amendments to include revised dates for when Scotland will achieve a 75% and 90% cut in emissions, require the Scottish Government to set out the impact of ‘major capital projects’ on achieving Scotland’s planned cuts to emissions and publish reports setting out how much of Scotland’s annual financial budget is going towards climate action.
