Thursday 28 February 2013

Ministers called to Parliament to explain climate change plan deemed ‘not credible’

27 Feb 2013 news release from Stop Climate Chaos Scotland. Ministers in Parl 27, 28 Feb and 6 March.
In an unprecedented move, six Scottish Government Ministers [1] have been called to Parliament to explain their plans to reduce Scotland’s emissions - plans which the diverse Stop Climate Chaos coalition has branded ‘not credible’.
Four Parliamentary Committees are currently scrutinising the draft Low Carbon Scotland: Report on Proposals and Policies 2013-2027 [3].  The document could be the blueprint for how Government will ensure that its legally binding targets to reduce emissions, as set out in the Scottish Climate Change Act of 2009, can be met.  This is particularly important given that the first emissions target set under that Act was missed and with emissions from housing and transport higher now than they were in 1990.
The Committees have already heard from a range of stakeholders, most of whom have expressed concern about the credibility of the plan.  Professor Pete Smith, a renowned climate scientist from Aberdeen University and one of the authors of the global Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports, dismissed some of the Government’s proposals for reducing emissions as ‘wishful thinking’[3]. 
Tom Ballantine, Chair of Stop Climate Chaos Scotland said:
“...The Parliament came together in 2009 to unanimously vote through the Scottish Climate Change Act.  We look forward to the Parliamentary Committees again working together to recommend that Ministers up their game over the coming weeks and come forward with a revised plan of which we can all be proud.” 
[1] Keith Brown MSP (27/02/13), Margaret Burgess MSP (27/02/13), Paul Wheelhouse MSP (27/02/13), Richard Lochhead MSP (28/02/13), Fergus Ewing MSP (06/03/13), Derek MacKay MSP (27/02/13)

See the full news release on the SCCS site here

SCCS evidence to the Committees is here

Contact your MSPs to get the climate action plan improved. Information here

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