Conservatives stand in way of ‘climate emergency’ declaration – Ian Murray

Politics in Scotland is paralysed by Brexit and independence debates. It’s a constitutional merry-go-round dominated by a lack of rational debate that has pushed other issues off the political agenda.

That was until the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) made it clear that we need to act on climate change over the next 12 years or forever miss the opportunity to do anything about it.

The UN’s World Meteorological Organization, meanwhile, has found that the impacts of climate change are accelerating as record greenhouse gas concentrations drive global temperatures towards increasingly dangerous levels.

Everything parliaments do must therefore be judged by whether we are making progress on fighting the effects of climate change. Beyond any single impact, national treasure Sir David Attenborough has joined scientists warning that a business-as-usual approach to climate change will lead to the collapse of human civilisation and mass extinctions.

School “strikers”, scientists, climate protestors and others have called on the UK Government to declare a climate emergency, but the Conservatives have resisted those calls – with one energy minister claiming she “does not see the point”. But the fact is, we are almost at a tipping point from which there is no return.

The declaring of a climate emergency is one thing that must happen, but we must back up these words with immediate action. People living in the poorest parts of the world are already being hit by rising sea levels and extreme weather events. The UK is predicted to face a trebling of heat deaths by 2050, disruptive flooding and food insecurity.

We all enjoy a bit of sunshine but the upside of a few early warmer weeks in Spring is offset by the rollercoaster effects on our animals, plants and ecosystem.

The hidden killer of air pollution is one of the biggest public health and environmental challenges of our time with between 40,000 and 50,000 deaths every year and children disproportionately affected.

On a much more local level the air quality of some Edinburgh streets is among the worst in the country. These conditions are literally killing our fellow citizens.

We must use all the powers of government to decarbonise our economy such as my defeated Private Member’s Bill to decarbonise the UK energy supply by 2030 by implementing a green industrial revolution to benefit the entire country. We need the support for a seven-fold increase in offshore wind, a doubling of onshore wind and a near tripling of solar power. This would be enough to power 19.5 million homes and generate over 400,000 jobs. I also believe we must make all new homes zero-carbon and decarbonise our transport system, including the rail network and electric vehicles.

An immediate solution would be investment in public transport and cycle paths to reduce our reliance on carbon-emitting vehicles. I have given up my car, but it has made travelling around the constituency much more taxing and, despite being a keen cyclist, a bicycle is not always the easiest form of travel.

This is all easy to say but both Scottish and UK governments have contradictory policies on climate promises. In Scotland, the SNP has declared a climate emergency but maintains its policy to scrap Air Passenger Duty and refuse to legislate to properly ban fracking. At UK level, the Government has removed route-to-market subsidies to onshore and solar renewables and introduced fracking. These are just some examples of where political actions counter any positive narrative.

And, of course, being an active member of the European Union would also assist. No country can do this on their own but through the EU, UN and other international organisations we need to take the lead on saving the planet for future generations.

We must all do our little bit and work together. I completed a high-profile oceans plastic campaign last summer with Scottish Liberal Democrat MP, Alastair Carmichael and More United. But in order to work together, all politicians must first believe the science and I am not sure they do.

Ian Murray is the Labour MP for Edinburgh South