Stop Climate Chaos Scotland (SCCS), Scotland’s climate coalition, has today set out the four key tests the Scottish Government’s delayed Climate Change Plan must meet ahead of publication, expected this week, the last week of Parliamentary business before the election campaign.
SCCS has already raised serious concerns with Ministers and with Parliament over the shortcomings of the draft plan, published in November last year. That plan:
- ignored the increasingly precarious position agriculture in Scotland finds itself in, with no proper strategy to future-proof it;
- would see Scotland’s patchy and expensive public transport network essentially unchanged;
- would not act to address home heating was fast enough or at scale; and
- relied on unproven technologies promoted by the oil and gas sector to allow business as usual, like carbon capture and storage.
Dr Mike Robinson, Chair of SCCS, said:
“Ending Scotland’s dependence on dwindling oil and gas was beyond urgent before the most recent horrific scenes coming out of the Middle East. Scottish households may not be in the direct firing line, but bills here at home will only get more expensive. Breaking the cycle of wars, spiralling costs and escalating climate breakdown is only possible if we switch entirely to clean, safe and renewable energy as soon as possible.
“The draft climate plan was not fit for purpose when it came out, detailing a pathway for three quarters of the journey to net zero at best, but it still left a gaping hole for the rest. And developments since then make the need for change stronger than ever.
“The Scottish Government must act to ensure our homes can be heated affordably, that farming can thrive in the low carbon era, and that Scotland can shift to sustainable transport as soon as possible. Ministers face a multi-layered crisis not of their making, but any credible plan cannot rely on fantasy solutions for this transition.
“In the immediate term we need the government to turn these commitments into action, and really ramp up delivery, or they and we are going to run out of time to act. And we need every sector of society to help and get behind Scotland’s climate plan, even with its shortcomings.
“We’ve seen very little progress over the last five years. We can’t afford to lose another five. Now we need commitment and above all else, some urgency.”
Friends of the Earth Scotland oil and gas campaigns manager Rosie Hampton said:
“Carbon capture has a long history of expensive failures, perfectly illustrated by the lead developer of the Acorn project withdrawing between the draft climate plan and its final publication.
“It is frankly delusional for Ministers to think that carbon capture technology, which has no working plant, no planning application and now without its key backer can deliver the level of emissions cuts required in Scotland within a decade.
“The Climate Plan should be laying out an energy future built on renewable energy that is clean and run in the interests of the public. Workers deserve good, secure jobs, that the fantasy of carbon capture has never and will never provide.”
