Nicola Sturgeon has been urged to act on reducing emissions in Scotland as she prepares to join other world leaders at the Cop27 climate conference in Egypt next week.
Stop Climate Chaos Scotland, a coalition of 60 environmental groups, said Scotland must make its action on reducing its own emissions live up to its words since the First Minister won international recognition for her leadership at Cop26 in Glasgow last year.
While SCCS welcomed her calls for more finance and reparations for communities affected by the climate crisis, it said domestic emissions must be cut to prevent more harm. Mike Robinson, chair of the organisation, said there is a “damaging mismatch” between Scotland’s leadership on loss and damage finance and its failure to reduce its own emissions.
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The Scottish Government is expected to release a new paper at Cop27 on loss and damage finance, which will outline funds needed to address the impacts of climate change that cannot be avoided by reducing emissions or adapting to rising temperatures. It follows the First Minister chairing an international conference in Scotland on the issue last month.
Mr Robinson said: “Right now, there is a damaging mismatch between Scotland’s global leadership on loss and damage finance on the one hand and our failure to sufficiently invest in the actions needed to reduce our own climate credibility on the world stage. We therefore urge the Scottish Government to bolster the leadership it showed at Cop26 by saying no to new oil and gas developments and prioritising and managing a just transition to renewables.
“We need to see more Government investment in activities that both reduce emissions and alleviate the cost-of-living crisis, such as cheaper or free public transport, accelerated efforts to insulate buildings and faster development of community energy schemes.
"To help achieve this, we would also like to see the First Minister use her visit to the talks in Egypt to establish a time-limited, independent working group to assess available options to raise more finance by making polluters in Scotland pay.
“Scotland isn’t an official party to the UN talks, but we still have an opportunity to set a strong and credible example to those who are and demonstrate the leadership on climate the world so urgently needs.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said it had “legislated for some of the world’s most ambitious climate change targets and we will be a net zero nation by 2045”. “To help accelerate progress towards net zero, we will be publishing a draft updated Climate Change Plan next year, setting out policies to make further progress to our 2045 net-zero target,” the spokesman said.
“In the meantime, action like our £1.8 billion investment to cut energy bills and improve energy efficiency in our buildings, and free bus travel for under 22s, will help tackle climate change while meeting the needs of the people of Scotland. We are clear that unlimited extraction of fossil fuels is not consistent with our climate obligations, and our position is supported by the UK and Scottish Government’s statutory advisers on climate change.”
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