Crowds gathered at Holyrood for SCCS’s mass climate lobby in September 2025
If Scotland is serious about our children’s future, climate must be the priority, writes Joni Rogan, Clean Air Programme manager for Parents for Future Scotland, a member of Stop Climate Chaos Scotland
Parenthood is a rollercoaster of highs and lows, of hopes and fears. Climate-aware parents perhaps feel those fears more acutely with the knowledge of where our current trajectory leaves our children’s world. I am regularly floored by the facts, and by the little attention they get from our government and press. I find it hard to think about the world my kids will live in when they are my age, perhaps raising their own families. A world of insecurity from food and water shortages, extreme weather, mass extinctions, migrations and ecosystem breakdowns. Our lives in Scotland are largely cocooned from negative effects of climate change so far, but this will very likely be different in my children’s lifetimes. I am not alone in these fears, three out of four parents worry about climate change and the effect it will have on their children. For me this worry can be crushing.
But this past election cycle provided some much-needed hope. I was at a toy swap, organised by a group of parents, part of Parents for Future Scotland, coming together with others who want a different future and work together to achieve it. The day before, my constituency of Glasgow South had voted in our first Green MSP. We told stories of hearing the news, of crying, of feeling hope that we are not alone in wanting change, wanting real climate action and a fairer system. The fact that enough people had joined this hope to vote in a green MSP in an SNP stronghold was electrifying.
Parents all over Scotland share in this hope, this chance for change. A new government will be formed and it will not be an anti-net-zero one; and we have hope it must be bold and brave on climate. The majority of MSPs (100 out of 129) elected are from parties with a strong commitment to tackling climate change and achieving net zero by 2045.
The formation of Scotland’s new government is an opportunity for real change. Where what is most important for Scotland’s future, for the world’s future, is kept at the top of the agenda. More than two out of three Scots want ambitious climate action. One study even showed 61% of those considering voting Reform supported more climate action in Scotland. The people want it, the country needs it, so politicians must have the courage to make detailed, bold plans to go further and faster with a just transition away from fossil fuels. UK-wide studies showed MPs consistently underestimate support for renewables. I feel sometimes like we have been shouting this to deaf ears, a void where our government should be taking bold steps forward. But a new government provides fresh hope.
As well as a detailed plan to meet the 2045 net zero target, the government’s plans must include climate education. Scotland’s current education reform provides an opportunity to build a curriculum with scientific literacy and deep delve into the causes, effects and opportunities for slowing climate change. As a science teacher, I know the current norm is nowhere near this: polar bears, distant floods and recycling are often the main take-home points; and many schools still use textbooks showing the advantages and disadvantages of fossil fuels in a balanced table.
The level of misinformation coming on social media and at times mainstream sources on climate change and policies to curb it is staggering. The World Economics Forum ranked misinformation and disinformation as the second most severe short-term risk globally. We must equip Scottish children to analyse the media they consume and to spot false narratives. Climate Education must make clear the scientific consensus and what can be done about it as well as teaching the skills to navigate the climate-insecure world they will inhabit.
This would ultimately make the job of the government easier: if the population understood what was at stake and how to effectively tackle it, people would be even more willing to make sacrifices and change habits. We saw this during Covid, when most of Scotland lived and backed life-restricting rules and lived within them because they understood why it was necessary. Climate literacy and education must be central to the curriculum reform.
Whatever the make-up of the next government, climate must be a priority. We have seen crucial green targets pushed back and policy on key life-improving measures like warm housing weakened, while transport pollution has barely decreased in 30 years. We owe it to our children and all generations of Scots that come after us to tackle this. With my fellow parents fighting for a better future in Scotland, we bring this demand – with hope – to our new MSPs. ⏹
