LET us be clear, there is no debate on the likelihood of, or the risk associated with, the climate emergency; the principal driver of which is human-released greenhouse gases.

Last year 2020 was the second warmest year on record and the end of the warmest decade recorded and there’s more carbon dioxide in our atmosphere than ever before.

Leading up to Scotland’s Climate Week 2021, the Scottish Government published its Programme for Government.

In her introductory speech, Nicola Sturgeon stated the Government’s commitment to “confront with urgency the climate emergency”.

As Nigel Topping (the UN’s high level climate champion for climate action COP26) noted recently: “Commitment is not enough, we need to start transforming – now. Ambition must be followed by immediate action.”

Nigel joins many others calling for the same thing. Action. Now. We have no more time to think about what to do. We must deliver change, urgently.

 

Within this context, the Climate Emergency Response Group (CERG) drafted 12 proposals for the Scottish Government, outlined in our latest report, “Delivering on Scotland’s response to the climate emergency – 12 immediate actions for the new Scottish Government”.

We urged the Scottish Government to shift into delivery mode on the climate emergency and demonstrate the same emergency thinking as seen applied to the Covid-19 pandemic.

We proposed 12 actions to align finance, skills and resources to the challenges and opportunities of the net-zero transition, including: concerted action to overcome inadequate resourcing; stronger co-ordination across government divisions and cross-sectoral investment; and clear alignment of all investment plans to net-zero whilst building in adaptation to climate impacts across the board.

The Programme for Government outlines some significant and urgently needed investments. These include record levels of investment in active travel by 2025, a skills guarantee for workers in carbon intensive industries and 150 per cent increase in onshore wind capacity.

There were also calls for an increase in funding to decarbonise homes and buildings, the £500 million Just Transition Fund to the North East and Moray, consultation on a ban on peat and action to designate highly protected marine areas.

All this is welcomed. However, while the direction of travel the Government has set out is the right one, it is lacking in two vital areas.

It does not focus enough on ramping up delivery within the next year.

It also does not provide sufficient investment, capacity (or support to build capacity) and resources of local authorities to build programmes that will attract the scale of private sector investment needed.

The Herald:

What we need to do is to apply emergency thinking and approaches to the challenges the climate emergency poses and to show strong leadership to make difficult decisions.

So much was achieved during the pandemic to solve immediate problems.

This was done through collaboration, removal of silos and through the efficient deployment of the resources we do have.

But I don’t see the learnings from this being applied to the climate change emergency.

As Greta Thunberg noted recently, we won’t make the required progress at COP26, or via government intervention, “if we don’t treat this crisis like a crisis”.

I have worked in the field of urban transformation for some years now.

We know that our cities, and the people living in them, are at significant risk from the climate emergency.

For us in Scotland, this is not just about flooding, but wind and heat risks are also significant and will continue to grow.

We also know that a high proportion of Scotland’s emissions come from our cities. This means that if Scotland is to reach net-zero by 2045, it is estimated that our bigger cities need to hit their net zero ambitions by 2030.

This is not far away and what are we really doing to make this a reality?

One of our proposals is that by 2022 at least four Scottish cities will adopt a whole community approach to net-zero.

This would mean large-scale transformation of places involving buildings, transport, energy systems and green spaces with the goal of reducing emissions and creating more resilient environments.

A massive scale up of ambition and resources is needed to transform our cities into thriving places of low carbon living and working, with Government, the private sector and civic society heavily involved.

The recent launch of Glasgow’s “Greenprint for Investment” is a hugely encouraging move.

It provides a portfolio of investment projects designed to give a significant boost to the city’s target to reach net-zero by 2030.

All of Scotland’s seven cities need to have the capacity, capability, and support to build and deliver such transformative plans.

We believe taking this approach will support the just transition through the creation of jobs and services, increased productivity and connectivity, improved health and wellbeing for residents, and will make Scottish cities attractive for inward investment and migration.

When chatting to friends about Ramboll’s plans for COP26 and our work on the Hope Sculpture, which will serve as a beacon of hope and positivity towards reaching global environmental milestones, I was reminded about the sense of despair many of us are feeling about the climate emergency, especially our children.

I believe we should all focus on what we can control. I think the Programme for Government unfortunately misses the opportunity for Scottish Government to show the world what net-zero delivery really looks like.

We therefore call on Scottish Government to act now, invest now, deliver now. The year of Glasgow’s COP needs to be our year of action.

Stefanie O’Gorman is director of sustainable economics at Ramboll and is also on the steering group of the Climate Emergency Response Group (CERG).