Climate Change Plan Update (Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee)

Keep Scotland Beautiful welcomes the progress which has been made to date in cutting Scotland’s emissions, in part due to the policies set out in previous Climate Change Plans. However, it is clear that progress so far has not been at a level sufficient to meet our targets – Scottish Government data shows that Scotland missed its emissions reduction target for 2018, with emissions actually increasing between 2017 and 2018.

As an environmental charity closely involved with community climate action and climate change-related education and training, our main area of interest here is the extent to which public involvement with climate action has grown to the levels needed to enable a just and fair transition to net-zero emissions. This is a particularly crucial issue in light of the recent Climate Change Committee analysis suggesting that almost 60% of the emissions abatement we need to see between now and 2035 will require at least some action on the part of the public - whether that is buying an electric car, installing a heat pump instead of a gas boiler or choosing to buy products that last longer and therefore improve resource efficiency.

Since the previous Plan, there has been a sustained rise in public concern around climate change, with 79% of the Scottish public now describing climate change as an “immediate and urgent problem” . This is welcome and is an important precondition for a transition to net-zero which successfully achieves engages all sections of society with efforts to reduce emissions. However, this concern has not yet translated into the kind of widespread behavioural change we will need to see if we are to become a genuinely low-carbon society in the next decade. Indeed, as highlighted by the CCC in their 2020 Progress Report to the Scottish Parliament, the vast majority of emissions reductions in Scotland since 2008 have been in the power sector - in other words, mainly as the result of technological progress in the generation of renewable energy, which has not required mass engagement from the public.

Emissions from sectors outside of electricity generation, meanwhile, have fallen by just 14% since 2008 - with little sign yet of the kind of widespread behavioural changes we will need to see in the years to ahead across areas such as transport, heating, our diets and consumer choices more broadly. Overall, then, while we welcome the overall reduction in Scottish territorial emissions which has taken place to date, we would highlight that we have clearly not yet achieved the level of active public involvement with reducing emissions which will become increasingly crucial if we are to achieve our targets up to 2030 and beyond.

To rectify this, there is an urgent need for additional action aimed at building a carbon literate Scotland in which everybody is aware of and engaged with efforts to cut emissions. Keep Scotland Beautiful is actively involved in making this vision a reality through our Climate Emergency Training for people, businesses and communities in all parts of the country.

As highlighted by the CCC, the majority of the emissions reductions we will need to see to meet our 2030 and 2045 targets will require an engaged public which is willing and able to play their part in helping bring about transformational progress towards a net-zero society. One powerful tool for building this kind of involvement in community climate action.

We acknowledge the CCPu’s accompanying Public Engagement Strategy and its pledge to “continue to champion and fund community-led climate action”, and we look forward to working with the Scottish Government to help realise the ambitions set out in that document in the months and years ahead. However, we also believe that by more strongly embedding community climate action within the CCPu itself, in addition to a comprehensive programme of climate education and training to encourage positive behaviour change, it will be possible for the final CCPu to more effectively galvanise public action towards achieving Scotland’s climate targets. The draft CCPu highlights numerous examples of “Community and Place-based Climate Change Action” within its Green Recovery chapter, as well as throughout with regards to specific sectors such as food - demonstrating the huge potential of community climate action in reducing emissions, building local interest and engagement with climate-related issues, and bringing about a just transition by enabling communities of all kinds to have a stake in our transition to net-zero. We believe the final CCPu should go further in setting out how community climate action can play an even more significant and positive role in the years ahead in delivering the ambitious change needed with regards to all of its sectoral chapters, as well as setting out in greater detail the role of education and training in realising the Plan’s vision.

Without a stronger focus on both community and climate education and training, we believe there is a risk that the CCPu fails to galvanise the society-wide buy-in necessary for it to deliver on its ambitions, including the crucial target of a 75% reduction in emissions by 2030 - irrespective of any technological progress made in the next ten years. More specific proposals as to how the Scottish Government could unlock the full potential of community climate action can be found in our answer to Question 4 of this call for evidence.

As members of Stop Climate Chaos Scotland, we note that other coalition members have set out concerns over the level of detail and ambition included in the draft Plan with regards to policy areas such as agriculture, land use and waste – we would refer the committee to the full SCCS response for more detail on this.

In general, however, we would once again emphasise the importance of bold and decisive action now to build widespread public involvement with our transition to net-zero emissions in the years ahead.

In addition to setting out a greater role for community climate action with regards to each of its sectoral chapters, we believe that the CCPu could more effectively generate positive behavioural changes and active public involvement with efforts to reduce emissions by including the following community-related policies:

 Firstly, a national programme of support that is accessible to all community organisations in Scotland, whether or not they are in receipt of funding from the Climate Challenge Fund (CCF) or its successor schemes. This should include access to advice, training, inspiration, development grants, networking and mutual learning. It should also provide support for communities who need guidance on designing and developing local community climate plans and projects, including ‘entry-level’ initiatives that do not require significant grant funding to implement.

 Secondly, a clear commitment to continuing to invest in grant funding enabling community climate action, delivered via a successor to the CCF programme and, as a minimum, maintaining grant funding at current levels. This should include a strand of lower-level funding that is more accessible to a wider range of community groups.

It is also important to note that community climate action has been shown to be particularly apt as a tool for securing the wider benefits that can result from behavioural change across different sectors. In Glasgow, for example, the CCF-funded activities delivered by Bike for Good offer free support to people in the south and west of the city to cycle for short journeys, helping to both cut the emissions associated with car travel and enable locals to reap the health and wellbeing-related benefits associated with active travel. Waste-related community projects such as R:evolve Recycle, meanwhile, not only help cut carbon emissions by reducing the quantities of textiles going to landfill, but also help facilitate intergenerational skills sharing with potentially long-lasting benefits around community cohesion and employment.

We also believe it is crucial that the Scottish Government commits to continuing to support climate education and training, both via the existing Eco-Schools Scotland and Climate Ready Classrooms programmes and through investment in additional initiatives aimed at bringing about a fully carbon literate Scotland and the skills development that is required to meet the ambitions within the Climate Emergency Skills Action plan.

We believe that a green recovery will be essential in ensuring that the country recovers in a fair, just and sustainable way from the Covid-19 pandemic. A green recovery has the potential to set us on a real path to being a net-zero society by 2045; to boost our health and wellbeing by securing positive long-term behavioural changes in the pandemic’s aftermath; and to increase our chances of avoiding the kind of further catastrophic shocks which would be the likely result of runaway climate change.

However, a just, fair, and inclusive green recovery will only be possible if communities in all parts of Scotland have the opportunity to benefit from our transition to net-zero. If we are to see the kind of positive long-term behavioural changes that we need to see, it is also crucial that everyone in Scotland understands the need for change and knows how they can play their part. This includes those sections of the population who are currently relatively less invested in the need for change: for example, according to the 2019 Scottish Household Survey, only 49% of adults with no qualifications see climate change as an immediate and urgent problem, compared to 80% of adults with degrees or professional qualifications.
We also acknowledge and support the ambitions set out in the Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan, published alongside the CCPu and Public Engagement Strategy, and encourage the Scottish Government to continue to invest funds to support ongoing education and training initiatives that are already contributing to climate action and skills development across primary, secondary and tertiary education, including Climate Ready Classrooms and Eco-Schools Scotland.

To enable a truly green recovery, then, we believe it is crucial that the Scottish Government firstly invests in enabling community climate action across all parts of Scotland; and secondly supports ambitious education and training initiatives aimed at skills developing and building a fully carbon literate Scotland, in which everyone has a stake in our just transition to net-zero emissions.