Take action to strengthen Scotland’s climate plan
The Scottish Government has published a new draft Climate Change Plan, a critically important document which should explain how it plans to reduce emissions across all parts of the economy and society.
But it doesn’t contain the ambitious, fair action we need to tackle the climate crisis and deliver real benefits to our lives. We need your help to put pressure on the Scottish Government to improve it.
A proper climate plan should contain full details of the steps that will be taken to stop damaging the climate and to make our homes warmer, improve buses, trains and cycling, and enable us all to access healthy, sustainable food. It shouldn’t rely on unproven, expensive technologies to capture emissions that aren’t currently working at scale anywhere in the world.
There are two ways to share your views:
If you have 15 minutes
Respond to the Scottish Parliament consultation before 25th January. You can answer as few or as many questions as you like, you don’t need to be a technical expert. What is valuable is for you to share your experiences and and what climate action would benefit your household and community.
If you have more than 15 minutes
Send an email in response to the Scottish Government consultation and to your MSP before 29th January. Sending an email allows you to write what you care about without being constrained by the consultation questions and to make your MSP aware of your concerns.
To share your views, follow these 3 steps:
- Write an email to climatechangeplan@gov.scot
- In the email, explain clearly:
- Why you are concerned about climate change.
- If you are part of climate action happening in your community, explain what you are doing and how the government could support this.
- What sort of action needs to be in the Climate Change Plan to make a real difference to the climate, your life, your local community, and to people around the world. For example, action to help make your home warmer and bills lower, public transport easier to use, or access to local, healthy food.
- Don’t worry if you’ve not been able to read the draft Climate Change Plan – it’s just important to share your views on climate action.
- We’ve published an overview of what we think the key issues are with the plan here, and our detailed response to the consultation is here, in case you need some ideas for things to include in your email.
- In the email, explain clearly:
2. It’s essential that you complete this form and attach it to the email, to make sure your views are taken into account.
3. Include your MSPs in the email so they are aware of the climate action you want to see – you can find their email addresses by clicking ‘find MSPs by postcode’ here. You could also ask them for a meeting to discuss the issues you are raising.
If you need any help, email info@stopclimatechaos.scot.
Thank you for taking part – public pressure has forced politicians to deliver more ambitious climate action in the past, and this is a critical moment to do so again.
Climate Change Plan resources and events
The Royal Scottish Geographical Society has produced resources to help facilitators confidently communicate the purpose of the Climate Change Plan, support meaningful engagement, and ensure people understand both the need for action and the support available as Scotland moves towards a net zero future. You can access the resources here.
The Climate Café® Network has produced resources and is hosting events to support engagement with the Climate Change Plan – find out more here.