The City of Edinburgh Council’s Leader Cammy Day has responded to the Scottish Government’s decision to scrap its annual targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
Council Leader Cammy DayClearly, many people will share my disappointment with the Scottish Government’s decision – and the message that sends.
The climate crisis isn’t going away – temperatures are rising and the clock is ticking. A lack of action now will only make it harder and more costly to deal with its consequences in years to come.
This announcement doesn’t mean that climate change will be any less of a priority for us here in Edinburgh. There’s absolutely no doubt that tackling it is an incredibly challenging task – and this will only get harder as public funding decreases – however we remain committed to doing everything in our power to accelerate climate action.
But we can’t do this alone. Scotland’s public – and private – bodies have a huge role to play in delivering net zero. Our success depends upon collective effort and participation across society, and closer working with both the UK and Scottish Governments.
Last year saw us make good progress against our climate goals in Edinburgh, ranked best in Scotland for climate action by Climate Emergency UK and recognised by Carbon Disclosure Project as one of 120 cities in the world to lead the way on climate action.
We’re stimulating action by taking forward the £1.3bn transformation of Granton Waterfront into Europe’s first net-zero coastal town, complete with 3,500 new, sustainable homes. We know that effective public transport is vital to this and – fresh off the back of the successful completion of the line to Newhaven – we’ll shortly begin consulting how best to expand the network to Granton, the BioQuarter and beyond. We are also consulting on our draft Climate Ready Edinburgh strategy, which will help us adapt to our changing climate.
But sustainable funding remains the most pressing issue and we need an honest conversation with government about how we make these projects stack up.
That’s why I will be writing to the Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero asking for an urgent meeting, reinforcing the need to work together to achieve our ambitions for both Edinburgh’s and Scotland’s transition to net zero.
