Committee backs Green calls for urgent climate action
Scottish Greens environment and climate change spokesperson Mark Ruskell MSP has today (4 March) called on the Scottish Government to up its ambition on tackling climate change following the publication of the Scottish Parliament’s Environment Committee report on the Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Bill.
The committee has backed Green calls for greater urgency to stop global temperatures rising to dangerous levels, and acknowledged the necessity to set a net zero target for all greenhouse gas emissions.
The Scottish Government will now await the advice of the UK Climate Change Committee on the implications of the recent IPCC report before the bill goes to the amendment stage. Scottish Greens are calling for net zero emissions by 2040, with an interim target of 77% by 2030.
Mark Ruskell MSP:
“The committee has produced a strong report which vindicates Green calls for a climate emergency bill, accepting that the benefits and cost savings of early action outweigh the effect of the costs of climate change.
“The bill as drafted falls short of what is needed to tackle the worst impacts of climate breakdown and I welcome an acknowledgment by MSPs from all parties that greater urgency is required.
“The IPCC has given us less than 12 years to bring emissions down to a level where we can keep global temperature rises below 1.5 degrees, to miss that objective would be to condemn millions to misery and bring widespread collapse of our natural world.
“The Scottish Government must now respond to this report by setting an ambitious net zero target for all greenhouse gas emissions. Anything less will be a dereliction of duty.
“It’s vital that the transition to a low carbon economy takes workers from old industries like oil and gas to the new industries of the future. The government needs to get fully behind a net zero target and the strong and clear message it sends that Scotland is open for low carbon business and innovation.”