Scottish Catholic Observer

It’s part of the Catholic ­international development charity’s new campaign demanding the Scottish Government sets much tougher targets in its new Climate change Bill.

A new hard-hitting policy report, produced by the charity as part of its climate change campaign, has been sent to the First Minister and key MSPs highlighting how many of the world’s poorest people are ­struggling for survival because of extreme weather caused by climate change.

“The people we work with in developing countries constantly tell us life is becoming harder and harder for families as a result of climate change,” SCIAF director Alistair Dutton said.

“Small-scale farmers tell us they are struggling to grow food on their land in the way they’ve done for generations because the weather is becoming so unpredictable. We know droughts, floods, hurricanes and typhoons happen more often now and they’re becoming more severe, costing lives, health and livelihoods. It is essential that we take this chance to play our part and really show people around the world that Scotland cares.”

Mr Dutton added: “The Catholic Church has shown great leadership on this issue of ­climate change. Pope Benedict XVI told governments that they should implement policies in favour of human development, stability, peace, climate and the environment. More recently, Pope Francis has called on all people of goodwill to be ­stewards of creation and act to ­prevent catastrophic climate change. We’re appealing to ­people across Scotland to join us in our campaign to make sure the Scottish Government commits to doing its fair share in the new Climate Change Bill.

“It is also vitally important that everyone in Scotland takes part in the public consultation.”

With less than a month to go before the Climate Change Bill public consultation ends, SCIAF wants Scots to back its campaign by writing to Nicola Sturgeon, calling on her to ensure the new Climate Change Bill commits Scotland to doing its fair share to tackle the growing problem.

More than 8,000 people have already written to the Scottish Government urging it to rethink its climate plans through ­campaign group 38 Degrees and the Stop Climate Change Chaos coalition of development, ­environmental and faith groups, including SCIAF.

The SCIAF report argues that the new Climate Change Bill proposals, which include ­changing the 2050 target to a 90 per cent emissions reduction, do not go far enough. It calls on the Scottish Government to ramp up its ambitions by increasing its target to zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 at the latest and a cut of 77 per cent by 2030.

It is also urging the government to make sure that future finance budgets are in place to support these targets, to outline clear actions to reduce emissions from housing, transport and farming, as well as exploring options to tackle Scotland’s consumption-based emissions, such as banning petrol cars by 2030.

Norway has already committed to ending sales of diesel and petrol cars by 2025.

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