Responding to the First Minister’s speech on loss and damage at a Scottish Government hosted international conference in Edinburgh, Becky Kenton-Lake, Coalition Manager of Stop Climate Chaos said:
By hosting this global conference on climate-induced loss and damage, the Scottish Government has shown continued international leadership following on from becoming the first country in the world to commit funding to it at COP26.
The world badly needs climate leadership, so we welcome the Scottish Government’s efforts to build momentum ahead of COP27 next month. All rich, high-polluting nations must use the talks in Egypt to create a new finance facility to address loss and damage, and to fund this – as well as faster emissions reduction – through new and additional sources of finance, which make polluters pay.
Amid devastating floods in Pakistan and hunger across East Africa, we agree with the First Minister that high polluting nations have a moral responsibility to act and that they shouldn’t wait for global agreement on loss and damage before taking action themselves.
The Scottish Government must now bolster its own leadership before COP27 and prove their credibility on climate by walking the talk. It must raise additional sources of finance by making polluters pay, while also redirecting existing spending to accelerate climate action, to ensure that no more annual emissions targets are missed, and to support communities already being hit hard internationally.
The report we launched last week contains practical options to help achieve that in ways that also address the cost of living crisis, for example, by boosting investment to insulate homes. We are now calling on the Scottish Government to set up a short-life, independent working group to urgently consider these options – we can’t afford further delay.
