Lang Banks
Late in the evening on Saturday 12 December, the gavel came down on the
Paris climate agreement. After two weeks of intensive negotiations, not to
mention two decades of UN climate talks that have paved the way to global
action, a deal was struck that saw more than 180 nations agree to reduce
climate emissions and support some of the most vulnerable people and
ecosystems to adapt to the impacts of a warming planet.
Paris has given us an upscale of ambition and renewed global momentum.
While we didn’t get everything we wanted from the agreement, it has always
been clear a global agreement alone can’t deliver without action at the
national level.
We all know the impacts climate change is having on people and nature.
Global temperature rise is putting homes, communities and even entire
nations at risk, and threatening species that we could lose forever.
Scotland should rightly be proud of its ambition to do its fair share to
combat these impacts by reducing our emissions. But, we could also be
harnessing environmental, social and economic benefits here at home by
turning that ambition into action. Our move to a clean energy future is
part of a global transition that could help boost our economy, kick-start
job creation, and tackle social injustices like fuel poverty, as well as
reducing our emissions.
When parliament unanimously voted through the Climate Act in 2009, this
type of clear decision making was rightly lauded by many, across not only
the public and charities but business too.
But since 2009, much has changed. We cannot rest on our laurels. Paris has
not only ramped up ambition, but shown that the transition to renewable
energy is gathering momentum across the world. Scotland’s ambition must be
translated into action.
One of the clear lessons of Paris was that ambition is nothing without
policies – as demonstrated by increasing numbers of countries cutting
through the grandstanding and quietly forging ahead. Countries like the
South American nation of Uruguay are leading the way on emissions
reductions and energy transition and are reaping the rewards for their
clear planning and decision making on their energy mix. Uruguay now
generates 95 per cent of its electricity from renewables, and has done this
in less than 10 years. Consumer costs are lower, and power cuts have been
dramatically reduced with such a diverse energy mix.
Not only is Uruguay leading this unstoppable charge into the renewables
era, but it is reaping the benefits in security of supply, exporting
excess, and finding a queue of investors on their doorstep.
When Scotland has an estimated 25 per cent of Europe’s offshore wind
resources, 25 per cent of Europe’s tidal energy potential, and the capacity
for our electricity system to be almost entirely powered by renewables by
2030, the right policies could be steering us to the forefront of the clean
energy transition.
While Uruguay exemplified progress in a country of 3.4 million, India put
forward plans to improve access to energy for its 1.25billion people by
sourcing a greater proportion of its power from renewables, such as solar
and wind. Further, African nations unveiled the African Renewable Energy
Initiative, which aims to increase energy generation from sources including
solar, hydro and wind across the continent.
Meanwhile, last week’s draft budget presented the opportunity for the
Scottish Government to demonstrate its commitment to delivering on our
Climate Act, securing the twin benefits of emissions reduction and economic
and social gain.
It was extremely disappointing to see the Scottish Government fail to grasp
this opportunity, instead presenting a draft budget that does not deliver
on their repeated commitment to embed climate change across the budget. In
the same week that new statistics showed there has been no reduction in
fuel poverty across Scotland, the promised transformational approach to
improving energy efficiency, which could help deliver warm homes for all,
has failed to materialise.
A significant boost to funding for energy efficiency in the final budget,
matched with a clear goal for all homes to reach a C energy performance
standard by 2025, is the minimum required if Scotland wants to not only hit
its climate targets, but create thousands of new jobs, improve health and
deliver its own target of ending fuel poverty in Scotland.
The time for resting on our laurels is over. The irresistible movement
towards low carbon era, exemplified by countries like Uruguay, nations
across the African continent, as well as our Scandinavian neighbours, and
given impetus by the upscale of ambition engendered by the Paris deal,
demands an increase of action to match our “world leading” climate story.
Lang Banks is the director of WWF Scotland.
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