Building a greener, fairer Scotland within the UK

Commenting on the No vote in the Scottish Independence Referendum Friends of the Earth Scotland Director, Dr Richard Dixon, said:

“We hope that many of the huge numbers of people who have been engaged on both sides of the referendum campaign will continue to take part in the discussion about the type of country we want Scotland to be.

“The No vote means the start of a lively debate about what more powers might come to the Scottish Parliament. Something missing from the promises so far is full control of energy policy in Scotland. This would greatly help us on the way to 100% renewable energy. Friends of the Earth Scotland will be pressing for this and other measures that would help Scotland become a greener, fairer place. We will continue to hold all our political parties to account for the environmental promises made to the Scottish people. ” [1]

Friends of the Earth Scotland was neutral in the Referendum debate and pledged to continue to work to protect the Scottish environment and fight for climate justice irrespective of the outcome.

“The Scottish Government should redouble its effort at the UK and EU level to encourage far greater action on climate. The UK Government must play a leading role in producing a just and ambitious international agreement on tackling climate change beginning next week with Ban Ki-Moon summit in New York, including promoting Scotland’s good example on climate and renewable energy targets.” [2]

“There has been much said about oil in the last few weeks of the referendum debate but little mention of the most important point, which is that we can’t possibly afford to burn it all. Climate science and justice demands that much of the oil left in the North Sea will have to stay where it is or be used in ways that don’t release the carbon it contains. Scotland needs a mature discussion of what being serious about climate change means for an oil producing country.

“Even within its current powers the Scottish Government should seek to challenge the power of the big banks, continue to develop a low carbon, fairer economy which tackles inequality and sets world leading standards for environmental and climate protection”

“We are delighted at the reinvigoration of Scottish political discussion and political engagement across a broad section of our community. We hope that these groups and individuals continue to participate fully in political processes both nationally and locally to work towards a fairer, greener Scotland.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors

1. The Better Together campaign paper on a sustainable Scotland is here: http://www.scotlink.org/files/publication/other/LINKRC_BetterTogether13.pdf

2. Ban Ki Moon is hosting a summit for Heads of State in New York on 23rd September to gather pledges for action ahead of UNFCCC Conference of the Parties meeting in Paris in December 2015.
http://www.un.org/climatechange/summit/

3. Friends of the Earth Scotland is:
* Scotland's leading environmental campaigning organisation
* An independent Scottish charity with a network of thousands of supporters and active local groups across Scotland
* Part of the largest grassroots environmental network in the world, uniting over 2 million supporters, 77 national member groups, and some 5,000 local activist groups.