Optimism of COP26 here in Scotland has turned to dust

At the same time as delegates meet to negotiate deals, the Court of Session in Edinburgh is considering a case that will have impacts that last for years here in Scotland and beyond.

Tuesday saw protests in our capital to mark the start of a challenge by climate activists to the proposed Rosebank oil field, the 300-million barrel undeveloped oil and gas field in the UK.

It feels telling that while experts are coming together to try to preserve our planet, some of the world’s biggest oil companies are arguing for their right to further pollute our world.

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I remember the feelings of optimism when COP26 took place here in Scotland. Thousands of us took to the streets with hopeful hearts and solidarity. But in truth, like almost every conference, so much of it was empty rhetoric.

Then prime minister Boris Johnson, told delegates it was “one minute to midnight on the doomsday clock” but leaders, including Johnson, refused to make any of the necessary binding agreements that would start to make a difference.

This has been the warmest year on record, and for the first time ever, we have exceeded the 1.5C warming limit. This limit was first agreed in 2015 at COP21 in Paris, with experts warning how catastrophic it could be for our future if we passed it.

Scotland is in a position that many would envy. We have built much of our economy on fossil fuels but we also have an abundance of affordable, clean, green, renewable energy sources on our doorstep.

(Image: Ørsted)

As a former renewables engineer, I have seen that immense potential first-hand and the transformative opportunity that we have at our fingertips if governments are willing to embrace it.

It often felt like the former Tory government was working against our planet, disregarding even the most basic environmental steps and approving plans for more than 100 new fossil fuel exploration licences.

They said it would boost economic growth, but at what cost to people and planet? There are some things that you simply can’t quantify in an annual report to shareholders.

What about the right of people to clean air, fresh food and a healthy ecosystem? I want future generations to have all of these things, rather than a future of climate breakdown and ever-higher temperatures.

The technology is there if leaders are prepared to prioritise the wellbeing of future generations over corporate profits and take the leap of faith that is necessary to turn a story of environmental loss and degradation into one of restoration and rejuvenation.

We could transform our economy, creating thousands of high-quality jobs and healing our planet in the process.

But that can’t happen as long as projects like Rosebank are getting the green light.

How can the UK ask other governments to change their ways while allowing so many polluting rigs and drills to set up in our own waters? The case has put the Labour Government in a difficult place. It has refused to defend the Rosebank decision but has not reversed it, instead leaving the courts to reach a decision which it says it will not contest.

The fact that challenges like this are even necessary shows why we need COP29 to succeed.

Rather than the usual long debates about minutiae and wording, we need concrete plans to actually reduce emissions.

Averting global disaster will be the defining challenge for this generation and all generations that follow. The devastating floods in Valencia show what our new normal could look like without fundamental action.

There will be no tomorrow if we continue to move the goalposts for our net-zero targets. There is only now, and we must act in unison for the future of our planet.

The scale and urgency of the challenge has been made even greater by the re-election of Donald Trump, who made his anti-climate policies a core part of his campaign.

I will be watching COP29 but any complacency and inaction of leaders in Baku cannot distract us from making the changes that are badly needed here in Scotland.

What is happening in the Court of Session will be a measure of how robust our laws are and how prepared our systems are to cope.

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We will never have another environment, so we must do everything we can to preserve the one around us. That means working for the strongest possible action on the world stage at events such as COP while halting climate-wrecking plans such as Rosebank that are happening in our own seas.

The cost of inaction would be devastating. Corporate spreadsheets and greenwashing may offer happy reading for shareholders but there can be no prosperity or future on a dead planet.