Scottish Climate Change Bill

Beginning in early 2008, SCIAF began campaigning for a Scottish Climate Change Bill that would ensure Scotland was doing its fair share to reduce emissions and help people facing the effects of climate change to adapt and survive.

Together with thousands of you, and our friends in the Stop Climate Chaos Scotland coalition, we achieved our key demands in early 2009 when a bill was passed that included targets of 42% reductions in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020- the most ambitious climate legislation in the world!

And your great work hasn’t gone unnoticed!

Theresa Osborne, who works with SCIAF partners in Santa Rosa Parish, El Salvador, said:

“This is a wonderful thing. Scotland as a small country has taken the initiative and will have impact well beyond its own borders. Climate change is a global problem that will affect us all, but is already affecting the most vulnerable.

"Scotland is looking outwards at one world, saying we are all in this together, extending a hand of solidarity. You are doing something to change the structures that cause poverty- this law is going to have a tremendous effect.”

John Swinney MSP, Scottish Government Cabinet Secretary with responsibility for climate change, added:

“[Many people]…. have worked together under the Stop Climate Chaos banner to send to Parliament and the people of this country a coherent and co-ordinated message that we should consider and, frankly, be inspired by.”

Arnold Schwarzenneger, the film star who is now governor of California, said:

"Climate change is a global problem that requires a global solution. Scotland's ambitious and comprehensive targets encourage other nations to step up to the plate […] and it sends a message to the world that we must act now and must act swiftly."