THE next Holyrood session will be “make or break” for Scotland’s bid to reach net zero, a charity boss has warned.
On Thursday, top scientists warned that the Earth could breach the 1.5C global warming limit in as little as three years.
It comes as the Scottish Government published its carbon budgets plan, a replacement for net-zero targets that were not reached. Campaigners described the move as a “weakening” of climate policy.
With the new climate change plan draft due later this year and only one full parliamentary term left before the Holyrood 2026 elections, campaigners have criticised the Scottish Government’s “slowing” approach to tackling climate issues.
Rising temperatures in Scotland could have a devastating impact on communities, with increasing risks of flooding, rising sea levels and coastal erosion, or dry hot weather causing sweeping wildfires and water scarcity.
Jamie Livingstone, head of Oxfam Scotland, said: “We're going to be having the new Climate Change Plan published in draft form in autumn that will cover from 2026 through to 2040.
“The near term of that is going to be absolutely critical, which means, you know, the next Scottish Parliament will make or break Scotland's ambitions to achieve net zero by 2045.
“But we will stand no chance of delivering that unless the Climate Change plan is backed up by meaningful investment.”
Livingstone (below) added that the “richest and biggest polluters are driving the climate crisis” and should have to pay up.
“If we don't invest now, then it will cost us much more down the line to respond to that,” he said.
He added: “What people don't want in Scotland is any more hollow climate promises. We've kind of been there, we've done that, that undermines public confidence.
“Actually what we need to see is near term action, properly financed and delivered in a way that is genuinely fair. That's what people in Scotland want to see going into the Scottish elections and throughout the next parliament.”
Meanwhile, Rosie Hampton, oil and gas campaigns manager at Friends of the Earth (FoE) Scotland, also argued that companies who have “contributed vastly” to the climate crisis should be made to pay.
She said: “I think if people felt like there was a clearer sense of who’s coughing up and who’s actually going to save money, I think people would feel a lot more confident that measures to address the climate crisis actually can save them money and improve people's lives.
“There's that kind of absence of Scottish Government and political will to say - this is who's paying for it, because this is how you've contributed. People fill in the gaps and they think, well, I'm going to have to have to pay for it.
“That's not a just transition, it's not fair, because why should ordinary people be forced to bear the brunt of it?
“It’s a legitimate concern. It should be big industry, who have profited off oil and gas and things like that for a long time when communities haven’t seen the benefit.”
“We need to see a serious level of ambition and a recognition of just how much needs to change,” Hampton added.
Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie told The National he had concerns that the Scottish Government’s “policy response is getting weaker” while the “pace of warming is getting more alarming”.
“It's not just about the SNP, it's about our whole political landscape,” Harvie said.
He said that when the party started talks with former first minister Nicola Sturgeon, that would later lead to the Bute House Agreement, Scotland was already missing its climate targets and needed to “accelerate”.
“That means we need to do some of the politically difficult stuff, the easy stuff's all been done,” Harvie added.
“If we're not going to be politically able to do the more challenging things, that means changing the way we move about, that means changing the way we heat our homes. It means changing agriculture as well and giving rural communities a viable way forward that isn't high carbon. If we're not willing to do those things, then we fail.”
The MSP added that he was “disturbed” by the Scottish Government refusing to accept certain recommendations from the Climate Change Committee (CCC) in its carbon budget plan.
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The Scottish Government’s commitment to ending Scotland’s contribution to global emissions by 2045 at the latest is unwavering.
"We are now halfway to our 2045 climate change target and are ahead of the UK as a whole in reducing long term emissions.
“This week we published Carbon Budgets, which will set clear limits on emissions for the coming decades in line with the independent advice of the UK Climate Change Committee.
“Later this year we will publish our draft Climate Change Plan, setting out the policies needed to continue to reduce our emissions and meet our first three carbon budget targets.
“These Carbon Budgets keep Scotland at the forefront of efforts to protect the planet and our Climate Change Plan will ensure the action we take is fair, ambitious and capable of rising to the emergency before us.”
