Saying Goodbye

A decade of progress, but not enough

By Dr Richard Dixon, Director

As campaigners, we are always after more. As soon as we win something, we want the next thing, and, in the face of an existential threat as big as climate change, no response from government is ever really going to seem good enough.

But in the years I’ve been Director at Friends of the Earth Scotland, I have seen change – and it’s worth pausing to remember that the last decade or so has seen some remarkable progress. Who can forget the children’s climate strikes and the 25,000 people marching through Edinburgh in September 2019 to rally outside Parliament, resulting in a big, last minute tightening of the targets in the new Climate Act? Or the 150,000 people from across the world who marched through a storm in Glasgow during the climate conference, as part of the biggest climate march the UK has ever seen? Real progress includes the equivalent of 98.6% of the electricity we use generated by renewables in Scotland in 2020 because of the remarkable growth of green energy. We saw 60,000 people say no to fracking as we worked with nearly 40 protest groups across the country, leading to Parliament voting to ban fracking, then an official moratorium on fracking and eventually a policy ban, despite a legal challenge from INEOS. It was an amazing moment to be part of the human chain of protestors which spanned the whole length of the Forth Road Bridge.

While we always work with others, Friends of the Earth has played a key role in all these successes.

On air pollution, a Low Emission Zone is up and running in Glasgow and three more cities will have them soon. More broadly on transport, a commitment to phase out sales of petrol and diesel cars and vans was made, and then strengthened by advancing the deadline to 2030. This was joined by impressive and challenging commitments to reduce car travel by 20% by the same date, and to replace half the buses in Scotland with ones that run on electricity or hydrogen by 2023. Friends of the Earth walked out of an official steering group on air pollution because it was talking a lot but doing nothing. Two years later, we helped write the new air pollution strategy and now sit on a Ministerial Group overseeing its delivery. COVID-19 delayed plans for a Circular Economy Bill, but we should see it this year, and in the meantime a Deposit Return Scheme for drinks bottles and cans is being created. In local politics, we have been working away for years to try to shift the over £1bn of council pension money that is in fossil fuels, and both the Lothian and Strathclyde funds are being pushed ever closer to that commitment. On the transition out of fossil fuels we have a very long way to go, but the political parties now talk the language of just transition, with MSPs agreeing to duties on it in law and the government’s Just Transition Commission entering a second phase of work, which could start to make a real difference. Our strong challenge to the oil and gas industry has led to the withdrawal of the disastrous Cambo proposal, but the fight for the future of energy is only just beginning. While we always work with others, Friends of the Earth has played a key role in all these successes, and it is a track record to both be proud of and to build from.