Keep Scotland Beautiful's Deputy CEO, Catherine Gee, has expressed their frustration at the speed of Scotland's journey to net zero and highlighted their disappointment to hear that Scotland's climate targets are no longer being credible. However, the charity has recognised the importance of focusing on the positives and celebrate the change that is taking place in Scotland.
In a statement, Catherine Gee said:
"If we are to bring people with us, and see increasing action from individuals, communities, and businesses we need to flip our focus and celebrate the many opportunities and benefits we’ll see by cutting our carbon emissions – benefits to our society, economy, nature and biodiversity and our planet.
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"Everyone can take action, and we need everyone to embrace that. We will carry on inspiring action on climate change, and are committed to supporting Scotland become a carbon literate nation through our training and celebration of the progress that business and organisations are making on their journey to Net Zero. We will work with others to ensure that Scotland’s Climate Change Plan, when it is published later this year, delivers for our country and our people."
Mike Robinson, Chair of the Stop Climate Chaos Scotland (SCCS) said: "After scant progress to reduce emissions in recent years, this damning report comes as no surprise, but nevertheless is deeply frustrating. Just five years ago every party in the Scottish Parliament supported the rightly ambitious legal target to reduce emissions by 75% by 2030, but since then we’ve seen a damaging mix of party politics, policy delay, and lack of investment. Put simply, after declaring a climate emergency, the Scottish Government has failed to deliver anything close to an emergency response and must now redouble efforts.
"Scotland’s climate targets are based on what the science told us was our fair contribution to maintain a liveable planet. By failing to do what’s needed to meet them, politicians are failing the people of Scotland and the communities around the world who have done least to cause the climate crisis but are experiencing the worst impacts.
"No more time can be wasted or excuses given – we urgently need to see where and how Scottish Ministers will ramp up action to cut emissions – particularly in how we heat our homes, in agriculture and transport. Action needs to be much better coordinated with the UK Government, and we need investment funded through making polluters pay for the damage they cause."
