This Campaign has now finished

When it ran

2008 - 2009

What we did

We ran a series of activities including the largest rally, at that point, ever to have been held outside the Scottish Parliament. People from all over Scotland were encouraged to send in their messages about climate change and we displayed these ‘little stick people’ outside Parliament during this lively and inspiring event. We lobbied MSPs, we pushed for amendments to the Bill and thousands of people across the country got involved and asked Parliament to be more ambitious.

What changed

In June 2009, MSPs at Holyrood unanimously passed the Scottish Climate Change Act. The changes to that legislation, compared to initial drafts, were considerable. This was a tremendous campaign victory for our newly-formed coalition.

The Act included ambitious commitments to reduce Scotland’s emissions by 42% by 2020 and by 80% by 2050, compared to 1990 levels. At that time it was the most ambitious climate legislation anywhere in the world.

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PHOTOGRAPH FREE TO USE FOR SINGLE USE...An army of thousands of one foot high people were planted in the formation of a giant saltire outside the Scottish Parliament today to urge politicians to take action on climate change by cutting Scotland's emissions by at least three percent. The figures contained personal messages from people across Scotland highlighting their thoughts on the issue and calling for Scotland to have a world leading Scottish Climate Bill.

Our coalition initially came together to campaign for an ambitious and world-leading climate change law for Scotland.

As a result of our tireless campaigning efforts, in June 2009, MSPs at Holyrood unanimously passed the Scottish Climate Change Act. It included ambitious commitments to reduce Scotland’s emissions by 42% by 2020 and by 80% by 2050, compared to 1990 levels. At that time it was the most ambitious climate legislation anywhere in the world.

John Swinney MSP said of our campaign: ”Many of the non-governmental organisations with whom we have been familiar over the 10 short years of this Parliament have worked together under the Stop Climate Chaos banner to send to Parliament and the people of this country a coherent and co-ordinated message that we should consider and, frankly, be inspired by.

“As a consequence of the commitment and the contribution that has been made by the individuals in those organisations, working hand in hand with members of the public in Scotland…a tremendous range of opinions and ideas has been marshalled, with the result that we can rightly and justifiably claim that the Scottish Parliament will today pass world-leading legislation on climate change that can set an example to others.

“That partnership between the people and Parliament has worked to an extraordinarily successful extent.”