Scotland’s routemap to net zero has shortfalls, but all parties, people and business must pull together to achieve the brightest future for everyone, campaigners say.
Scotland’s climate coalition says Scotland’s new routemap for cancelling out greenhouse gas emissions does not reach its full potential, despite years of advice and consultation, campaigners warn.
After analysing the final Climate Change Plan, members of Stop Climate Chaos Scotland, a coalition of more than 70 organisations united to tackle climate change, say the decarbonisation pathway falls short in a number of crucial areas, including transport, home heating and agriculture, and pins too much hope on negative emissions technology (NETs).
Dr Mike Robinson, chair of Stop Climate Chaos Scotland, said:
‘The new plan shows a ‘credible’ pathway for about 80% of the journey to net zero at best, but it still leaves a gaping hole for the remaining 20%. This needs to be addressed, and soon, but the priority now has to be on action.
It also relies too heavily on expensive, unproven, hi-tech fixes as a last-minute, fingers-crossed approach to emissions cuts.
We want homes that are warmer and cheaper to run, better public transport, more resilient jobs and a safer, fairer, healthier and more robust future for all for Scots.
We can still achieve this, but greater efforts will be needed to make up for the plan’s various shortcomings – particularly in agriculture, housing and transport – and create a more realistic routemap that can deliver 100% of what is needed.
This is going to take hard work, and fast. The next Scottish Government must turn commitments into action and ramp up delivery, or time to act will run out. And we need every sector of society to get behind Scotland’s climate plan, even with its inadequacies.
We’ve seen very little progress over the last five years. We can’t afford to lose another five.’
Now we need decisive action – and, above all else, urgency.
