SNP Ministers “all mouth and no trousers” on environment

Patrick Harvie MSP said:

“It’s little wonder that SNP Ministers are desperate to postpone any real, binding emissions reductions – they can’t even clean up their own act. Today’s figures show that the Scottish Government itself is significantly more polluting than last year, that civil servants and Ministers continue to fly as if there’s no tomorrow, and that the proportion of waste they recycle is at its lowest level in years.

“This is a symbol of what’s wrong with Scottish Ministers’ policies on climate change, but it’s not the core of the problem. The bottom line is that without significant u-turns on issues like green energy, public transport, insulation and binding annual emissions reductions, this Government will be as abject a failure on the environment as the last one. The public don’t want Ministers simply to talk about doing the right thing, they want action. Scotland cannot afford another administration which is all mouth and no trousers on the defining issue of our generation.”

Notes

1. The 2007/08 report is available here:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/273542/0081713.pdf

3. As above, see figure 6 on page 18.

4. As above, see figure 8 on page 20.

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Voluntary return scheme is no substitute for asylum justice

Today’s announcement by the UK Border Agency, the Scottish Government and Glasgow City Council on so-called “voluntary returns” for asylum seekers (1) goes some way to tackling the problem of dawn raids, but Greens still have serious concerns about the associated tribunal system.

Patrick Harvie MSP said:

“It is clearly an improvement for families to be offered better accommodation than the dire detention centres like Dungavel currently in use. This will mean fewer dawn raids and kids just ‘disappearing’ from schools, and this move will also make it much more straightforward for lawyers to get access to their clients for appeals.

“However, if this approach is to succeed it will need people to get – and to feel they’ve got – a fair hearing from the tribunal system, which at present is very far from reality. Even today I have been receiving numerous emails about a terrified sixteen year old who has been imprisoned in Dungavel for deportation, with the Home Office still refusing to comply with the tribunal rulings in her case.

“Even politicians who don’t instinctively understand why people fleeing persecution should be given a safe haven should at least understand the principle of equal justice for all. Improving accommodation is welcome, but it is no substitute for proper justice for refugees.”

Notes

1. www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk

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Climate change announcement is an insult to the intelligence

The Scottish Government today claimed to have taken steps to strengthen the Climate Change Bill, with a new interim target to cut emissions by 34 percent by 2020. Ministers also plan to introduce an amendment to the Bill to ensure that targets rise to at least 42% as soon as the EU agrees to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 30% by 2020, and to limit the use of international credits to ensure that carbon cutting action is taken in Scotland.

But this announcement is an insult to the intelligence. Their headline says ‘world’s most ambitious climate bill gets tougher’ but the real headline should be ‘SNP give up on climate leadership’.

An interim target to cut emissions by 34 percent by 2020 is simply falling in meekly behind the UK Government’s targets, producing a copycat approach which is already based on outdated science. The SNP cannot be taken seriously when they, once again, announce a lower interim target than would be achieved through their own manifesto commitment. Again and again the Scottish Government claims to be a ‘world leader on climate change’, but the UK Government has long been committed to an equally inadequate target.

Week after week, the Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Committee heard compelling evidence that the emissions cuts in the first ten years are the most important to get right, but Ministers seem determined to resist annual targets even on the scale of their own party’s manifesto commitment.

The SNP has adopted a school-ground ‘I-will-if-you-will’ approach which is cheap and tiresome. If Scotland is to truly introduce the most ambitious climate legislation in the world, it needs to do so without caveat, and without waiting for others to act as well. Ministers should be confident enough to lead the way, not prevaricate and pontificate.

This comes just a month after the Maldives, a tiny country and one whose existence is already threatened by climate change, made the bold commitment to go carbon neutral in ten years. That’s real leadership. The SNP appear willing to give up any pretence at being leaders, and are followers of the lacklustre approach from the Labour Government in London.

Carbon capture exists only on the drawing board

Today’s announcment by the Scottish Government on carbon capture (1) overlooks the fact that the technology isn’t ready to be used and the other environmental costs of so-called “clean coal”, Greens said. All Scotland’s coal extraction currently comes from dirty opencast sites (2), like the Mainshill Wood scheme which Ministers let go through this week (3), and Greens also argue that Ministers should focus their efforts on renewables and energy efficiency instead.

Patrick Harvie MSP said:

“The First Minister proudly claims that ‘Scotland is ready for carbon capture’, but he forgets to add that carbon capture isn’t ready for us. Nowhere does he admit that carbon capture on this scale exists only on the drawing board. It may make an important contribution one day, but it’s a disgrace that Scottish Ministers have already given their backing to new coal-fired power stations before carbon capture and storage has been demonstrated anywhere in the world.

“Building a power plant that’s ‘CCS ready’ is meaningless. Describing Scotland as a ‘CCS ready’ country is equally vacuous. Ministers must base Scotland’s immediate efforts to beat climate change on cutting waste and needless energy use – that would help cut bills and save jobs into the bargain. Gambling on tomorrow’s technology means taking a huge risk.

“With or without carbon capture, truly “Clean Coal” remains pure marketing spin. The additional energy required for the actual capture of CO2 mean that plants would emit up to 40% more pollutants. Even if a proportion of the emissions from a coal plant can be stored underground for a period, coal extraction is getting dirtier all the time. All of Scotland’s coal is now from massive opencast sites, and just this week the Scottish Government decided to let yet another opencast scheme go ahead in South Lanarkshire. Ask the people of Mainshill whether they think coal is clean and you’ll get a very different answer.

“At best, carbon capture and storage retrofitted to existing plants could help the transition away from coal and gas power. At worst, though, we will see politicians use the prospect of this technology as cynical cover for their failure to decarbonise Scotland’s economy and take real action on climate change.”

Notes

1. The Scottish Government’s announcement is here:
www.scotland.gov.uk

2. See SPP 16:
www.scotland.gov.uk

3. For details of this decision, see:
www.lanarkgazette.co.uk