About you
3. What is your name?
Name
(Required)
K Duncan
4. Are you responding as an individual or on behalf of an organisation?
Organisation
Sustaining North Berwick
Your Views
5. Reflecting particularly on the CCPu sections on ‘Green Recovery’ and ‘Cross-Sector issues’,to which extent does the CCPu deliver a green recovery?
Please enter your response in the text box provided.
Due to the timing of this consultation over the Christmas holiday period and commitments by members of Sustaining North Berwick we have only been able to make a brief review of this consultation. It is also not a particularly easy document to comment on given the structure of 4 committees to reply to. As a result our response is brief.
We welcome much of what is included in the report and the strong ambition that the necessary recovery from the pandemic will be seen in the context of the climate emergency and not as an alternative focus. We would therefore expect to see no elements within the recovery that contribute in any way to climate change (or biodiversity loss) and indeed policies and actions that result in improvements. Coupled to this we would like to see a more ambitious target than 75% emissions reductions by 2030.
We disagree that the 'challenge of meeting our emissions reductions targets becomes more difficult because of COVID'. COVID and lockdown has shown us that the type of radical change needed for climate change is possible and provides the biggest incentive to tackle this issue that we have ever had. Visible reduction in carbon emissions during COVID demonstrates that change is possible. There has been significant increase in people's understanding of the importance of the natural world and personal appreciation of the benefits. There is also clear evidence that if we don't do something then there will be more pandemics. The pandemic has given us an opportunity to radically redesign the way that we do things that cannot be ignored – if it is ignored now then there is really no hope for future action. And it's shown that Scotland on its own can do things better than many countries (including the rest of the UK) so should give Scottish Government confidence to be radical, ambitious and leaders in this field.
We welcome much of what is included in the report and the strong ambition that the necessary recovery from the pandemic will be seen in the context of the climate emergency and not as an alternative focus. We would therefore expect to see no elements within the recovery that contribute in any way to climate change (or biodiversity loss) and indeed policies and actions that result in improvements. Coupled to this we would like to see a more ambitious target than 75% emissions reductions by 2030.
We disagree that the 'challenge of meeting our emissions reductions targets becomes more difficult because of COVID'. COVID and lockdown has shown us that the type of radical change needed for climate change is possible and provides the biggest incentive to tackle this issue that we have ever had. Visible reduction in carbon emissions during COVID demonstrates that change is possible. There has been significant increase in people's understanding of the importance of the natural world and personal appreciation of the benefits. There is also clear evidence that if we don't do something then there will be more pandemics. The pandemic has given us an opportunity to radically redesign the way that we do things that cannot be ignored – if it is ignored now then there is really no hope for future action. And it's shown that Scotland on its own can do things better than many countries (including the rest of the UK) so should give Scottish Government confidence to be radical, ambitious and leaders in this field.