Nuclear energy is no solution to the climate crisis
The UK Government’s long overdue energy plan is ill thought out and does not live up to the scale of the crisis that we face, say the Scottish Greens, who have called for Downing Street to shelve its plans for new oil and gas exploration and nuclear power.
The Party says that nuclear power is costly and will leave a toxic legacy. It has called for assurances that taxpayers in Scotland will not pay for nuclear reactors across the UK when the Scottish Government is opposed to nuclear power.
The Party’s energy and environment spokesperson, Mark Ruskell MSP, said:
“These plans are ill thought out and do not live up to the scale of the crisis that we face. A lot of these announcements are rehashed and will not address the biggest problem of all, which is our dependence on oil and gas.
“Grant Shapps may talk a good game about wind power, but his government is also planning 100 climate wrecking oil licences for the north sea. The two are completely incompatible.
“There are renewables projects that could be delivering the climate action we need here and now, but they are stuck waiting years for a connection to the electricity grid. Unless the UK Government acts to speed up grid connections it will hold back Scotland’s renewable ambitions.
“Instead we are seeing a big emphasis on nuclear energy, which is no solution. It is extremely costly, dangerous and takes years, if not decades, to become operational. It will also leave a toxic legacy for future generations.
“It will only drive up bills further. The Scottish Government has rightly opposed nuclear power in Scotland, and we must ensure that people in Scotland are not paying for a project that we have opposed time and again.
“The climate emergency is happening all around us, we don't have time to waste by pouring billions of pounds of public money into fossil fuels and unproven and money haemorrhaging technologies. What we need is solid and concerted investment in the renewable technology that we already have and that we know works.
“Here in Scotland we are taking ambitious steps to boost investment in renewables and drive a just transition away from fossil fuels. We have an abundance of clean and natural resources that will allow us to build a greener future.”
