Scotland must get on with the fossil fuel transition after COP26, Holyrood committee hears

Environmental campaigners have told a Holyrood Committee that, after the failure of COP26, Scotland must get to work implementing a fair and fast transition away from fossil fuels.

MSPs heard evidence how the UN climate summit in Glasgow had failed to deliver commitments to limit dangerous warming to 1.5C and how countries responsible for causing the crisis continue to try to shift the burden of responsibility for solving it onto the poorest nations.

Campaigners called on the Scottish Government to now focus on domestic efforts and put in place a credible plan to cut climate pollution and deliver a just transition away from oil and gas this decade. The First Minister said last week that she did not think the controversial Cambo oil field could pass any rigorous climate assessment.

Mary Church, Friends of the Earth Scotland’s Head of Campaigns who was at COP26 for two weeks, was giving evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee.

Church commented:

“COP26 failed to close the gap on the critical 1.5oC threshold, and leaves us hurtling ever closer to climate catastrophe, because big polluters were unwilling to do their fair share and to live up to their responsibilities for causing this crisis. There is simply no more time left to waste. Decision makers must now act at the local and national level to turn this crisis around.

“With three years of missed targets behind us, the most important thing Scotland can do is get on with implementing concrete plans to cut emissions and deliver a just transition away from the oil and gas that is fuelling the problem.

“The Scottish Government lacks a credible plan to meet its 2030 targets, with four Holyrood Committees, unconvinced by the over-reliance on carbon capture and storage, demanding a credible Plan B back in spring. Ministers must urgently revisit and strengthen their roadmap to the 2030 goal, and get on track to doing our fair share of climate action.”

“Whilst COP26 did not deliver the action needed, the huge turnout on the streets of Glasgow and around the world gives us hope and demonstrates that people are rising up to demand climate justice in greater strength and unity than ever before, and will not rest until the real, people-centred solutions to the climate crisis are in place.”
ENDS