Today (Thursday 14th March 2024) a new report by the Scottish Fiscal Commission has highlighted the lack of detail by both UK and Scottish Governments on the fiscal plans to respond to the disruption of climate change, how we adapt to its impacts and act to decarbonise and change policies.
Responding to the report, Stop Climate Chaos Scotland (SCCS) stressed that better coordination between governments and early action to redirect funds towards climate policies and adaptation will reduce the risks, costs and deliver wider benefits to society.
Welcoming the first climate report from the Scottish Fiscal Commission, Mike Robinson, Chair of SCCS said:
“For too long governments have not faced up to the reality of the cost of inaction on climate change, missing out on the savings afforded by earlier action and making future generations pay the price.
“We strongly support the Commission’s call for more data and properly costed plans, which echoes what we have been calling for in the Scottish Government’s new Climate Change Plan, due later this year. Today’s report follows one from the Committee on Climate Change yesterday, which warned that the UK Government has no credible plan for effects of extreme weather, leaving lives, homes and livelihoods at risk as heating increases.
“Climate change is already impacting the economy, and will increasingly do so unless we start to bring it under control. The cost of dealing with the damage caused by increased climate related issues such as floods, drought and heat will far outweigh any cost of trying to tackle it, and will, if unchecked, eventually spiral out of economic control and become altogether unaffordable.
“Every penny spent on action during this decade will save many pounds in years to come, and crucially this doesn’t all have to be ‘new’ money. We must immediately reallocate public funds away from climate damaging activities, like road building or fossil fuel extraction, towards positive new policies that also deliver sustainable jobs, improved health and lower energy bills. One current opportunity for the Scottish Government to do this is to reallocate public funds for farming support towards practices which are climate and nature friendly.
“The science is clear that we must act. Morally we must act. And this report underlines that it is also in our best economic interest to act, and urgently.”
