Encouraging plans on low carbon behaviour change need to be matched by Government policies

04 March 2013

The Scottish Government needs to integrate its plans on how to achieve low carbon behaviour change with the climate change policies and proposals currently being scrutinised by Parliament, according to Stop Climate Chaos Scotland (SCCS).

Responding to the publication of the Government Low Carbon Behaviours Framework today, Tom Ballantine, Chair of Stop Climate Chaos Scotland, said:

"The principles behind this framework are good and represent a considerable step forward from the Government's previous public engagement strategy. The Government should be commended for focussing on individual, social and material means of achieving the necessary change.

"However, our ongoing major concern is that this excellent work on achieving behavioural change isn't translated into, and in fact is in some cases contradicted by, the Scottish Government's policy.

"For example, whilst 'becoming less reliant on the car' is a stated aspiration, the Government focus is on technical fixes rather than transforming and improving our public transport system to help change behaviours, and we remain hugely concerned at the lack of any policies to reduce emissions from this sector, and in particular to reduce the demand for car travel."

He added: "The Scottish Government claims that 'huge infrastructural and technological advances are being made to help drive this transformational change' - but we see little evidence of these ‘huge advances’.

We need to see the fine words of this report translated into action, set out as policies and proposals in the Government’s own plans for reducing emissions. That would show the Government had listened to the advice of its own experts and would give Scotland the best chance of matching our world-leading aspirations with a world-leading example of how to deliver action on climate change.

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