Scottish Greens refuse to back weak climate bill
Scottish Green MSPs have refused to back a Climate Bill which doesn’t match the ambitions of climate strikers.
The Scottish Government’s Climate Bill, which commits to a net-zero economy by 2045 with no viable roadmap to get there, betrays promises made to the mass movement calling for urgent action to deal with the Climate Emergency, Greens said.
The Climate Bill falls well short of the urgent action required to address the climate emergency by transforming the Scottish economy, and therefore the Scottish Greens will not back it.
Scottish Green climate spokesperson Mark Ruskell said:
“This bill represents progress, but it is progress at a snail’s pace, and as one climate striker last week put it: ‘It's no good being the fastest snail’ in the face of a global crisis.
“The lack of ambition on the ten-year timescale demanded by climate science, for example, ignores the demands of the tens of thousands who took to the streets last week.
“I hope to secure commitments on warm homes and a citizens assembly, as well as some important new requirements on reporting and recording emissions, but let’s not pretend this bill is anywhere near meaningful action to address the climate emergency.
“The other parties cannot hide behind targets. Targets are meaningless without action to meet them. To achieve meaningful system change and build a future for all we need the ambition laid out in our Scottish Green New Deal.
“This would mean taking action to phase out reliance on fossil fuels, creating an integrated public transport system to cut car use, meeting warm homes commitments with mass retrofitting and reforesting Scotland to at least the EU average.
“The Scottish Government has not committed to any of these things today, and we will continue to press them to do so.”