Scotland is being swept along in the general retreat on climate change.
Now that our rivers are being topped up again with new rain, it’s easy to forget the dry summer and the need to take climate change seriously. Four years ago in Glasgow, Scotland led the UN’s Climate Change Conference on a brave course towards net zero by 2045. Now, under the malign influence of Donald Trump and the rise of the Right, we are not so brave.
This week The Scottish Government announced a watered-down climate change plan. It’s already abandoned annual carbon emissions targets – which were being missed – and replaced them with a carbon budgeting system which, it’s hoped, will still lead us to net zero by 2045.
The Scottish climate action secretary Gillian Martin told parliament the new plan is for new petrol and diesel cars to be phased out by 2030, gas boilers to be replaced by 2045, district heating systems to be introduced for public buildings. More trees are to be planted and peatlands restored but a controversial reduction in cattle numbers has been abandoned. The whole plan she said would cost £4.8 billion over the next 15 years but it would benefit the Scottish economy by £42 billion.
Ms Martin is going to this month’s Climate Change Conference in Brazil, as is the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, and both will be talking-up their green jobs and energy transition programmes. But the rhetoric is hollowed out by their actions back home. Both governments have softened their stance against new oil exploration in British waters and the speculation is that the Rosebank oil field west of Shetland and the Jackdaw gas field in the North Sea will be approved.
Both the SNP and Labour ministers are talking of the need to “bring the public with us” on climate change which, being de-coded, means slowing down the transition to net zero. It has certainly slowed at Grangemouth, the totemic example of a transition gone no-where. The 400 jobs at the refinery have not been replaced by 400 jobs in renewables, despite the promises of the two governments in Project Willow.
The retreat on net-zero is not just the fault of politicians. The opinion polls show that, while some 60 per cent of the public rate action against climate change as “important” it’s not their top priority. It usually comes in at fifth of sixth. And this unwillingness to do much about our carbon emissions, comes despite the increasing signs of an angry planet, from storms and flooding around the world to landslips at home, such as the one which caused the derailment of the Glasgow to London train on Monday.
It will be interesting to see how much mention of “green jobs” there will be in the Chancellor’s budget statement later this month, because this is the positive alternative to strictures on carbon emissions and net zero targets. It also places the emphasis on Rachel Reeves’ mantra of economic growth. It’s expected she will raise tax on income and property to answer the growing clamour to end austerity in the public services. And this week we’ve heard of NHS boards in financial trouble, universities facing strike action from staff over job cuts, and the police warning of a thousand fewer officers than are needed to keep the peace.
Meanwhile, MSPs have spent three days debating “land reform”, one of The Scottish Parliament’s favourite topics. It gives them a chance to point out that only 400 families own 40 per cent of rural land. It’s one of the most highly concentrated land-ownership rates in Europe, with many large historic estates still intact. It also allows them to wax lyrical about the Highland Clearances of the 18th century which forced many Scots to emigrate.
The devolved parliament has had several goes at land reform, including a community “right to buy” introduced in 2003. The new Bill introduces more duties on the landowner to inform the local community of big changes. It makes community buy-outs easier and, most controversially, it could force anyone selling land to offer it in smaller parcels. The SNP, Labour and the Liberal Democrats supported the Bill, the Conservatives voted against and the Greens abstained, saying it did not go far enough.
This year’s 5th November went off more peacefully that last year’s. Instead of gangs throwing fireworks at each other and the police, everyone was better behaved. That’s probably because 12 areas of Edinburgh and Glasgow were declared firework control zones where fireworks were forbidden. The police also discovered two illegal hoards of fireworks in Fife and North Lanarkshire in the days running up to the night.
Over the firework period, the number of bonfire call-outs recorded by the fire brigade fell by 37 per cent to 751 compared with last year and there were only two attacks on fire officers. Although locals complained of living in a war zone with huge explosions from modern fireworks, no one was seriously injured.
I must say, as I cycled along my local streets on Guy Fawkes Night I did find the bomb-like explosions unsettling. And then I thought how much more unsettling it must be for my fellow cyclists in Ukraine. Real war is not that far away…a shocking thought to be remembered on Remembrance Sunday.
