Patrick Harvie took part in last night's Climate Day election debate, organised by Stop Climate Chaos Scotland. In advance of the debate the Scottish Greens outlined a package of the five most important policy changes required if Scotland is to play its part in global efforts to tackle climate change, and also to see the benefits of a shift to a low carbon economy and society.
* Taking the Climate Challenge Fund to the next level: Greens in the last Parliament persuaded the SNP to deliver a £37m fund to support hundreds of community-led carbon reduction projects across Scotland. Greens will increase funding for this project to £125m over the next session, including simpler support for smaller projects and a partnering scheme to share community expertise.
* A shift away from road and air: blocking the unsustainable and ineffective Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route, and repairing the existing Forth Road Bridge and other existing roads rather than building additional capacity. Greens would end all airport expansion in Scotland, and provide financial support to cut public transport fares and support new infrastructure, including park and ride facilities, more rail electrification and re-opening railway stations, as well as specific funding for walking and cycling.
* Getting to green-only energy: shifting Scotland's entire electricity supply to a broad mix of renewables by 2020 and starting to export our surplus, both within the UK and beyond. All Scotland's nuclear and large-scale fossil fuel capacity to be phased out entirely. Carbon capture and storage is unproven and we cannot rely upon it.
* Insulating all Scotland's homes: as launched earlier this week, a £100 million per year scheme to insulate every home in Scotland, including free loft and cavity insulation for every home which can benefit from it, plus soft loans for more substantial energy efficiency measures. This policy alone would deliver a reduction in emissions of more than 6% once complete.
* Toughening the targets: taking annual targets to reduce emissions up to 4.5 per cent. The 2007 SNP manifesto pledged 3 per cent per annum, but in October 2010, with Lib Dem and Conservative support, SNP Ministers passed targets of 0 per cent (2010), 0.5 per cent (2011) and 0.3 per cent (2012). Greens were the only party to oppose these inadequate annual targets.
Patrick Harvie, co-convenor of the Scottish Greens, speaking ahead of the Climate Day election debate, said:
"Tackling climate change and building a successful low-carbon Scotland are threads that run through the fabric of our whole approach to politics. Other parties may talk about climate change in their manifesto, but once the votes are counted they all revert to type. Only Greens will remain uncompromising in our approach to climate change, and only Greens are offering a serious shift away from the polluting and inefficient policies pursued at Holyrood since 1999.
"Greens will toughen Parliament's laughable emissions targets, involve communities across Scotland by trebling support for our successful Climate Challenge Fund project, shift funding from roads to public transport and active travel, decarbonise our energy supply completely, and insulate every home. These are long-term changes, but the next Parliament must make a start. We cannot afford another twelve years where Ministers alternate between inaction and steps in the wrong direction.
"The climate contortions of the other parties are there for all to see. They talk about the renewables revolution, but in London and Edinburgh, all of them back either dirty new coal plants or risky nuclear. They spout hot air about sustainable transport, yet all the other parties voted for new climate-busting motorway and bridge projects. Only Greens opposed the virtually flatline carbon targets proposed last year. Labour, the SNP, the Lib Dems and even the Tories claim to be part of the solution on climate change. The reality is they're still at the heart of the problem.
"There is an urgent need to tackle climate change, but the social costs of Scotland's oil dependency are also becoming much more obvious. Fuel prices will continue to rise as global oil supplies reach their peak, and food and energy prices will follow. Economies which can break their dependence on oil and other fossil fuels will thrive, but continuing with business as usual politics on this issue would expose Scotland to poverty and stagnation. Only the Scottish Greens have a credible and coherent vision for a green Scotland, and only the Greens have the determination needed to see this vision delivered."
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