TAXES should be hiked to fund measures to tackle the climate crisis, according to a new report. 

The study from Stop Climate Chaos Scotland (SCCS), a coalition of 60 civil society organisations, looks at how public finances can do more to help Scotland meet its climate goals. 

The report recommends measures that include increasing income tax revenue to fund action on climate change and said that rises should fall mostly on higher and top-rate taxpayers.

Other recommendations include increasing windfall taxes on the fossil fuel industry and removing tax breaks and subsidies for big oil firms. 

SCCS chairman Mike Robinson said: “If we are serious about tackling the climate emergency, we must use our tax and spending powers to drive faster change while increasing the finance available.”

The report, written by the independent environmental consultant Dr Richard Dixon, a former director of Friends of the Earth Scotland, states that the climate crisis is “of such a scale and urgency — a global emergency — that measures to address it should be funded directly from general taxation.”

SCCS is calling on the Scottish government to make an immediate and explicit commitment that it will identify new and extra sources of finance to meet its climate goals. 

A Scottish government spokesman said: “Scotland is determined to play its part as a good global citizen and we will consider this report from Stop Climate Chaos Scotland carefully. 

He added: “At home, Scotland has legislated for some of the world’s most ambitious climate change targets and we will be a net zero nation by 2045.

“We are already more than half way to net zero and continue to decarbonise faster than the UK average, leading the way in key delivery areas such as energy efficiency and tree planting.”