LAST summer, a group of Green New Deal Rising and Stop Cambo organisers stopped Nicola Sturgeon as she left a community event, asking whether she would commit to opposing the new Cambo oil field.
At the time, we did not get a straight answer, but a few days later, after sustained pressure from campaigners, the First Minister committed to opposing this harmful new oil field, writing to the then-prime minister Boris Johnson to urge him to stop Cambo.
More than a year later, a lot has changed. The UK Government has imploded and political backlash to the mini-Budget policies is starting to show. If the polls are correct, we could see Labour and the SNP as front runners come the next election.
Last week, under pressure from Green New Deal Rising youth activists, Labour put climate at the heart of its message, promising a “greener, fairer, future”, and announcing several big ticket Green New Deal policies at conference.
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And we will be taking this message to the SNP conference this weekend. The party has been vocal in its support for climate action and the Scottish Government set a 2045 net-zero date for Scotland.
Now we need a comprehensive roadmap. To do so requires setting clear targets to deliver a just transition, accelerated decarbonisation strategies across all sectors, and clear guidance on how workers and communities will be protected.
Opposition to Cambo was the right step, but the SNP needs to go further, committing to no new oil and gas in Scotland. The International Energy Agency says that investing in new oil and gas spells devastation for our planet and delaying this damages the possibility of a well-planned, just transition for workers.
They must also be ambitious for job creation, by announcing a green jobs guarantee for Scotland, starting with 300,000green jobsfor workers.
The number of green jobs in Scotland has fallen for the fourth consecutive year, and whilst the SNP promised 130,000 green jobs by 2020, this number is now just more than 20,000. This is a clear failure in industrial planning. The Government must investand map out in new jobs that could be created for the workers and communities currently reliant on fossil-fuel jobs.
Scotland is well placed to deliver good green jobs. Scottish waters have the potential to generate around 10% of Europe’s wave power and it possesses 25% of the potential European offshore wind and tidal resources.
We must also see a real commitment to establish a Scottish national energy company. In 2017, the SNP pledged to set up a publicly owned, not for profit company and have since openly deprioritised this. With energy bills soaring, now is the time to make this a priority.
The SNP must move away from relying so heavily on negative emissions technologies and carbon capture and storage (CCS) to hit their targets, starting by redirecting financial support away from CCS and blue hydrogen to renewables.
Creating a safe future for generations to come requires politicians taking action today, listening to the evidence and saying no to new oil and gas fields. This necessitates politicians being bold in challenging the oil and gas lobby, who remain an influential force.
The benefits of a successful transition are clear: the creation of good green unionised jobs throughout Scotland and the rapid decarbonisation of the economy to secure a liveable future for all. We need action now to deliver this.
With Keir Starmer announcing a series of bold Green New Deal policies like a publicly owned renewable energy company and community wealth fund to support a 2030 clean power pledge, it’s clear that not doing so presents a clear risk to the SNP’s electoral strategy. They too must rise to the challenge and meet this moment of crisis with clear, bold and comprehensive plans for a just transition for Scotland.
Hannah Martin is the co-director of Green New Deal Rising, a youth movement which has been putting pressure on the SNP for more than a year
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