Meeting of the Parliament 26 June 2024
The First Minister has confirmed that tackling the climate crisis is one of his top priorities for the Government, alongside eradicating child poverty, growing the economy and improving public services. The commitment to tackling climate change, both in Scotland and internationally, has long been at the heart of this Government. Indeed, in Scotland, we were among the first to take bold early action, and we continue to lead globally in responding to the climate emergency. The twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss are clearly with us now, and tackling them is the collective fight of all of us, in our lifetime, given that they are perhaps the single greatest long-term threats that we face globally.
The motion calls on Parliament to recommit itself to the undeniable imperative for action. The science and evidence are clear about not only the scale and the urgency of climate change, but the importance of being part of international action as well as pushing forward domestically. Our domestic and international aspirations come together in an unwavering commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2045. That is five years ahead of the United Kingdom, and it is still one of the most ambitious targets in the world.
However, a just transition to net zero by 2045 will require genuine transformational action and investment across our economy and society, with significant changes in sectors including energy, heat, buildings, transport and agriculture. Just as this Parliament set that high ambition for 2045, it is essential that we come together to reaffirm it and the action that is needed to meet it. All too often, however, modest measures that the Scottish Government has brought forward have not been supported. I hope that this can be a point at which to reset, because we need action, not just talk.
I want to talk about our role in addressing the global challenge of climate change. In 2012, we were the first Government to establish a climate justice fund solely committed to supporting the most climate-vulnerable communities in the global south to build resilience to the unavoidable impacts of climate change. We were the first global north Government to commit finance explicitly to address loss and damage, and we have helped to galvanise global ambition, with more than $750 million now committed worldwide.
Recent programmes have included support for the urban dimension of loss and damage, supporting households in Malawi following the devastation of tropical storm Freddy, and piloting an innovative approach through a loss-and-damage window with Scotland’s humanitarian emergency fund.
Those projects have been critical to supporting those countries, and actions that are focused on helping individuals and communities with the impact of climate change are a hallmark of our approach domestically as well as internationally.
As European co-chair of the Under2 Coalition, we have driven international co-operation to further collective climate action. I am pleased to announce today that Scotland will take over the presidency of the Regions4 development network, which is a network of states, regions and devolved Governments that are focused on tackling the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss and advancing sustainable development.
Our international role is rooted in what we have done domestically and where we can point to real progress. We are now exactly halfway to net zero, with Scotland achieving the largest reduction in emissions of any nation in the UK between 1990 and 2022, and we have decarbonised faster than the average of the European Union’s 27 countries.
That is reflected in the action that we are taking. For example, we have the most comprehensive network of electric vehicle public charging points per head of population in the UK outside London. We are now supporting low-emission zones, to bring clean air to Scotland’s cities and help to protect public health. We have some of the most generous grants and loans in the UK to encourage the switch to cleaner forms of heating and to make energy efficiency improvements.