AS the 23rd UN Climate Change talks ended in the wee small hours of Saturday, the resounding call is for wealthy countries to recognise the urgency of the climate crisis and act sooner to cut their climate emissions. Scotland, as one of the first countries to propose new climate legislation following the Paris Agreement, has the opportunity to show climate leadership once again.
Climate change is no longer a far-off thing that a future generation will have to deal with: it is already hitting hard in many parts of the world. Here at the UN summit, I’ve been hearing directly from people whose homes and communities are already affected – from last week’s unprecedented floods in Penang, Malaysia, which killed seven people, to the heartbreaking situation in Puerto Rico where many lives have been lost and entire communities destroyed by the recent hurricanes. In Sri Lanka some parts of the country are under water while others are suffering drought. Climate change is already causing people to leave their homes, lose their livelihoods, lose their lives.
Despite the (near) global consensus around the Paris Agreement, the climate cuts pledged so far are only a third of what is needed to keep warming below the critical 1.5 degree threshold. With the growing urgency of the climate crisis, together with Trump’s withdrawal from the international agreement, the global climate movement desperately needs good examples of climate leadership. Scotland can play a key role by setting the bar high with robust and ambitious targets in its new Climate Change Act.
Both the First Minister and Climate Change Secretary Roseanna Cunningham took part in the climate summit here in Bonn this week. It was welcome to hear the Cabinet Secretary talk about Scotland’s commitment to climate justice, while the First Minister used her first speech to the United Nations to encourage urgent climate action in the next two years.
But to truly deliver climate justice and do our fair share, Scotland must go further than the Scottish Government is currently proposing. Climate justice means recognising that climate change is already hurting people, and acting urgently to tackle it – not waiting for another decade. Stop Climate Chaos Scotland is calling for the new Climate Bill to increase action over the next 10 years, and set a target for reducing climate emissions by at least 77 per cent compared with 1990 levels, instead of the 66 per cent currently proposed.
The First Minister also used her speech to say that Scotland will make “an early decision on when we will aim to reach net zero emissions”. Stop Climate Chaos is calling for the Government to set a zero-emissions target of 2050 at the latest, with some member groups pushing for an earlier end to emissions in 2040.
The First Minister took time during the talks to meet with Stop Climate Chaos members and international partners, to hear directly from climate-impacted peoples about the reality they face. We hope that she listens to their calls for urgent action, and acts to increase the ambition in the new Climate Change Bill.
Scotland already has good stories to share – our progress on developing renewables, banning fracking, phasing out new fossil-fuelled vehicles and establishing a Just Transition Commission have all been highlighted as good examples here at the climate talks. Now we have the chance to go further, and deliver a strong Climate Change Bill that shows real climate leadership and plays our part in tackling this global challenge, and do so in a way that helps deliver a fairer and more equal Scotland.
Caroline Rance
Friends of the Earth Scotland Climate and Energy Campaigner, on behalf of Stop Climate Chaos Scotland
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