A COALITION of more than 60 civil society organisations says the Scottish Government faces a “crucial credibility test” ahead of hosting an international conference in Edinburgh on addressing climate-induced loss and damage.
Stop Climate Chaos Scotland (SCCS) is urging First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to make an explicit commitment to urgently examine new spending and tax options to boost investment in climate action in Scotland, while financing Scotland’s support to communities facing losses and damages as a result of the climate crisis.
It says new investment – such as rapidly insulating homes and significantly expanding free public transport – will simultaneously help to address the climate and cost of living crises and that this new investment must be paid for by the highest polluters.
The First Minister is due to open the two-day conference tomorrow.
It will involve global climate experts, representatives of states and regions, and investors, and will explore how new finance to address climate-induced loss and damage should be raised, where it is most needed and what it should fund.
At COP26 in Glasgow, the Scottish Government became the first government in the world to dedicate funding – of £2 million – to addressing loss and damage. However, SCCS says key questions remain as to the source of finance globally.
Estimates that the costs associated with loss and damage range from $290 billion to $580bn in developing countries alone by 2030, it says. This will be one of the biggest issues on the table at COP27 in Egypt next month.
Last week, SCCS published a report, Financing Climate Justice: Fiscal Measures for Climate Action in a Time of Crisis, by independent environmental consultant Dr Richard Dixon, a former director of Friends of the Earth Scotland and WWF Scotland.
It examines how fiscal measures can be used better to deliver Scotland’s climate ambitions, as well as potential new measures to raise more finance and to enable the public and businesses to reduce emissions.
The report, which also includes recommendations for the UK Governments and local authorities, argues policymakers must adopt a “polluter pays” approach.
SCCS says the First Minister should now announce an independent working group to report on the recommendations and commit to identifying new and additional sources of finance via a polluter-pays approach.
Coalition manager Becky Kenton-Lake said: “By hosting these talks, the Scottish Government faces a crucial credibility test and it must show it is also willing to walk the talk by investing more in climate action in Scotland, financed in ways that make polluters pay.”
