Maintain in real-terms funding for Scotland’s Climate Justice Fund, including a dedicated Loss and Damage element, and ensure that the whole fund is spent in a locally-led, transparent and transformative way
In 2012, Scotland pioneered the establishment of a Climate Justice Fund with cross-party support, becoming the first country globally to do so. This initiative was further strengthened by making Scotland the first Global North country to specifically allocate funding for climate-induced Loss and Damage – impacts of climate change that can no longer be avoided through emission reductions or adaptation to rising global temperatures.
The next Scottish Government should, as a minimum, maintain in real-terms funding for Scotland’s Climate Justice Fund, including a dedicated Loss and Damage element, and ensure that the whole fund is spent in a locally-led, transparent and transformative way. Funding must be provided through grants and be wholly new and additional to wider development assistance.
The world is on a trajectory to surpass the temperature goals set in the Paris Agreement, which threatens devastating consequences for many people in the most climate-vulnerable regions. Global North countries continue to offer only a fraction of the climate finance needed to address this scale of need, risking the collapse of delicate international climate negotiations. In light of this, maintaining real-terms funding for the Climate Justice Fund is a minimum requirement; an increase would further demonstrate continued leadership in this area. The climate debt Scotland owes continues to grow until we achieve net-zero carbon emissions, therefore the most crucial and equitable action the Scottish Government can take is to swiftly and fairly reduce its emissions and meet its climate targets.