Scottish Greens fall from power should not damage fight against climate change – Scotsman comment

Critics of taking action against climate change like to portray Scottish Green co-leaders Lorna Slater and Patrick Harvie – politicians on the hard left – as the prime movers behind the drive to net zero, as if it is a policy only espoused by people that some describe as “extremists”. This erroneous impression is helped by the fact the Greens can be the most vocal about the need to tackle global warming.

However, not all Green parties are the same. For example, the Greens in Germany are usually described as either centrists or centre-left and they are currently in a ‘traffic-light’ coalition with the centre-left Social Democratic Party, and the liberal Free Democratic Party. So Green politics does not necessarily mean a commitment to abolishing economic growth and such like.

US military take climate change seriously

Some of the main drivers behind net zero are now hard-headed members of the business community, particularly those who work in insurance, which is experiencing first-hand the cost of increasingly extreme weather. They recognise that the steady rise in global temperatures serves as a warning, but that it also offers a window into our economic future. Companies that ignore this and fail to adapt to changing circumstances will regret it, while those that grasp the opportunities of the new industrial revolution based on electricity will prosper.

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Similarly, the US military – hardly fellow travellers with the Scottish Greens – are well aware of the realities of climate change, saying in a risk analysis report that it is “reshaping the geostrategic, operational, and tactical environments with significant implications for US national security and defence”.

Real progress, not unachievable targets

In an interview we publish today, the outgoing chief executive of the UK Climate Change Committee, Chris Stark, said that the end of the SNP-Green coalition was “cause for concern” as the new minority SNP government might struggle to pass legislation. “It is policies that matter, and if you have a minority administration that can’t get strong policies through then I really fear for our ability to cut greenhouse gas emissions,” he said. “It could have a very big impact.”

However, if all political parties treat climate change with the same seriousness as the Pentagon, for example, then the Scottish Greens fall from power should not hamper the adoption of sensible policies designed to modernise this country’s economy – ie, move it towards net zero. Indeed, we suggest it might result in a more pragmatic and, therefore, more effective approach to achieving real progress, in contrast to the failings of the coalition. It’s all very well setting ambitious targets but this means nothing unless the work to achieve them is also done.

Climate change is a reality with which all serious politicians must engage. If they do, a few decidedly unserious ones will not be missed.