SCOTTISH leaders of all political parties have been challenged by a coalition of nature charities over their lack of urgency in tackling climate change.
Twenty-six groups have joined to write an open letter aimed at the leaders of the five parties represented at Holyrood — the SNP, Conservatives, Labour, Greens and Liberal Democrats.
The organisations, including RSPB Scotland, Friends of the Earth Scotland, WWF Scotland and the National Trust for Scotland, insisted they were “deeply concerned” about the situation and the lack of action from political leaders.
They say Scotland has a “moral obligation to show leadership” and called on politicians from all parties to come together to “rapidly support measures to reduce emissions” in a bid to meet targets already passed by Holyrood and to work to “halt and reverse nature loss.”
The letter to SNP’s Humza Yousaf, Douglas Ross of the Conservatives, Labour leader Anas Sarwar, Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater of the Scottish Greens and Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “As political leaders, the public expects you to deliver on your own party commitments and to work together in the interests of our shared future.
“Your actions will determine whether future generations, and the public today, will thank you for your courage and foresight in doing enough to reach a net zero, nature-positive Scotland in a just and equitable way.
“Acting decisively now will demonstrate to Scotland’s people and our future generations our collective commitment to a just transition into a future worth living.”
In their letter they insisted that “without significant action” on the environment Scots could face “increasing disruption to our lives and face escalating impacts on food production and human health."
The intervention comes as the organisations told how “extreme heat, dangerously warm seas, and out of control wildfires are causing havoc around the world."
Amid these “unprecedented extreme global weather events," the groups — who have more than 500,000 supporters between them — said they were “deeply concerned that our political leaders are not responding to the intertwined nature and climate crises with the urgency required."
They added: “The status quo is not sustainable. Yet we have seen key environmental commitments shelved or delayed, and increasing signals that differing views on environmental policy will be exploited for electoral purposes or treated as disposable.”
