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IPPR - CCC report: Adopt climate missions, IPPR Scotland says
Dave Hawkey, senior research fellow at IPPR Scotland reacts to the Climate Change Committee report on Scotland's carbon budgets
“Today’s advice from the Climate Change Committee tells us what we have long known. Net zero is possible and the pathway is clear: electrification of transport and heating, fewer sheep and cows, more trees. While the numbers can be made to add up, we’re yet to see adequate policy from either UK or Scottish governments. The low hanging fruit is almost all gone, but we need to harvest the whole crop.
“If we are serious about tackling climate change, we must protect and prepare our way of life for a time when the gas grid is shut down and petrol is no longer available on the forecourts. It is time to break out of the obsession with price incentives and behavioural nudges and focus instead on adopting “climate missions”: coherent plans to coordinate change that everyone eventually will be a part of.
“At the heart of these missions must be democratic participation in decision making, so change is collectively chosen not imposed by technocrats. Climate missions must explicitly address distributional impacts, as inequality in our society is currently holding progress back.”
NOTE TO EDITORS:
IPPR Scotland shapes public policy in pursuit of a fairer, greener, more prosperous Scotland.
