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Climate Change Bill : "Now the Hard Work Begins"
Latest News. Wed., June 24, 2009. 20:10.
Passage of Climate Change Bill
Today's passage of the Climate Change Bill was described by the Scottish Greens as the first key battle in Scotland's efforts to tackle climate change. On several issues, Parliament forced the SNP to go further, but the Bill remains flawed in several key areas, and major loopholes exist around the targets set in the Bill.
Green amendments to require aviation and shipping to be accounted for were agreed, and all future Scottish budgets will need to show the carbon costs of each item. Parliament also blocked Labour's attempt to block action on plastic bags.
On the other hand, Patrick Harvie's amendments to take the interim target to 50% were rejected, despite the strong scientific evidence for action on this scale. Parliament also voted to allow a higher proportion of the reductions to be "offshored", rather than coming from real change here in Scotland.
Patrick Harvie MSP said:
"We secured some important victories today, some of which could make a significant difference over the long term. All future Scottish Budgets must now be carbon costed, and we made sure Ministers could not exempt aviation and shipping from the targets. Parliament also blocked Labour's attempt to strike proposals on plastic bags.
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Older News
- Tue., June 23, 2009. 20:06.
- Climate Bill 'being Set Up to Fail'
- Cautious welcome to latest amendment
- Greens today cautiously welcomed the amendment late last night from Scottish Ministers to increase the interim 2020 target for emissions reductions to 42%. (1) This represents a significant improvement on the 34% originally proposed by the SNP, but still falls short of the 50% reduction that the up-to-date scientific evidence requires and which Greens insist should be introduced. A Green amendment for a 50% target will also be debated tomorrow. [full story]
- Mon., June 22, 2009. 20:05.
- Scottish Government Failing to Keep Children Safe
- Child Safety Week
- The Scottish Green Party marked the beginning of Child Safety Week (22-28 June 2009) (1) today by claiming that according to the most recent figures, there were 20 child deaths and 9,070 emergency hospital admissions of children due to unintentional injuries in 2007. This makes unintentional injury the most common cause of emergency hospital admissions for Scottish children and second only to cancers as a cause of death for Scottish children (2). [full story]
- Sun., June 21, 2009. 19:48.
- Snp's Climate Bill &Quot;a Threat to International Agreement"
- Ahead of Wednesday's crunch votes on the Scottish Government's Climate Change Bill, the Scottish Greens described the legislation as "weak and irresponsible".
- The party identified a Labour amendment to increase the 2020 emissions reduction target to 40% as the minimum change that would be required for the Bill to be supportable. [full story]
- Thu., June 18, 2009. 19:46.
- Greens: Salmond
- Scottish Greens today condemned Alex Salmond's response to questions from Labour leader Iain Gray about the Climate Change Bill as inadequate and partisan.
- The First Minister has made his decision, Greens argue, not to use the significant powers the Scottish Parliament already has in this area. Greens have also today lodged an amendment to improve the interim 2020 target for carbon reductions by increasing it from 34% to 50%. [full story]
- Thu., June 18, 2009. 19:36.
- Universities Green League 2009 Results
- Publication of People & Planet Universities Green League 2009
- Greens welcomed the publication today of the People & Planet Universities Green League 2009, which turns the tables on the Universities and marks them on their environmental credentials. The University of Edinburgh is the highest-ranked Scottish university, three places ahead of the University of Glasgow. Green MSP Patrick Harvie has today lodged a Parliamentary motion commending the students and staff who have worked hard across at universities to improve their environmental record, and urging them on for future years. [full story]
Forthcoming events
- Sat., October 31, 2009. – Sun., November 01, 2009.
- 2009 Scottish Green Party Autumn Conference & AGM
- 2009 Scottish Green Party Autumn Conference and AGM in Dumfries