CERG calls on Scottish Government to accelerate response to climate emergency

A new report from the Climate Emergency Response Group (CERG) outlines 12 key actions the Scottish Government should take to accelerate its response to the climate emergency.

Launched just two months ahead of the critical COP26 climate event, which is taking place in Glasgow in November, the report outlines practical priorities needed to reduce emissions and create new industries, jobs, clean air, and healthy communities.

CERG’s latest report follows just weeks after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) raised the alarm on the need for immediate action to avoid the point of irreversible climate change.

Mike Thornton, CEO of Energy Saving Trust, a member of CERG, commented: “The clock is ticking. We must act now as the climate emergency is upon us and swift action is required from the Scottish Government to decisively change the trajectory of global carbon emissions and keep the rise in temperatures, as stated in the Paris Agreement, below 2 degrees, and ideally to 1.5 degrees.

“We have a narrow window of opportunity to act. The CERG report provides 12 actions that can and will make a difference on the ground over the next 12 months.”

The 12 actions recommended by CERG are:

• Transform four Scottish cities with a whole community approach to net zero.
• Make greener non-domestic buildings in which to work, study and relax.
• Upskill the workforce to create Scotland’s net zero and climate adapted future.
• Mobilise public sector expenditure to address the climate emergency.
• Unite central and local government to deliver on net zero and create resilient places.
• Green Scotland’s City Region and Growth Deals.
• Make the climate emergency a guiding principle in all planning decisions.
• Solve real and specific financing challenges to secure private sector investment.
• Incentivise climate and nature friendly farming now.
• Drive adoption of sustainable, healthy, climate-friendly diets.
• Maximise natural solutions to mitigate and adapt to the climate emergency on land and at sea.
• Bring all citizens to the heart of decisions about how we respond to the climate emergency.

While CERG welcomes the Scottish Government’s commitments to support a just transition to net zero and a green recovery, it has urged the government to show how these commitments will be delivered at pace, working with both the public and private sectors.

Read the full report, ‘Delivering on Scotland’s response to the climate emergency – 12 immediate actions for the new Scottish Government’.