SCIAF at Barcelona Climate Talks

SCIAF and the Stop Climate Chaos coalition hosted an event at climate change negotiations in Barcelona to highlight how other rich countries could reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. The Scottish Climate Change Act currently leads the world by committing Scotland to reducing its own emissions by at least 42 per cent by 2020.

The Barcelona talks were the last in a series of United Nations meetings to take place before world leaders gather in Copenhagen next month to hammer out a new climate change agreement which will replace the Koyoto Protocol.

Speaking from Barcelona, SCIAF’s Advocacy Manager Chris Hegarty said:

“The whole world will have to work together on climate change. In order for December’s crucial Copenhagen talks to succeed, developing countries need to see industrialised countries like Scotland taking their responsibilities seriously.

“Scotland has led the way by committing to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 42 per cent by 2020. Now other industrialised countries must do the same if we are to address the problem of climate change and help communities in developing countries who are being hit the hardest, despite having done the least to cause the problem.”

Stewart Stevenson, Scotland’s climate change minister, and Jane Wood, Chief Executive of Scottish Business in the Community joined Chris on the panel at the Barcelona meeting.

The event, entitled, ‘How to reduce your emissions by more than 40%: Practical examples from Scotland’, aimed to encourage other countries to follow Scotland’s lead on tackling greenhouse gas emissions.

Mr Stevenson said:

“Climate change is one of the greatest challenges to life across the world. It threatens all human life through its impacts not just on temperature but also on the natural resources essential to life including fresh water supplies and our ability to produce food. It also increases the risks from disease, flooding and sea level rise.

“The world has to address this challenge urgently and Scotland has taken a global lead by introducing the Climate Change (Scotland) Act to reduce emissions by 42 per cent by 2020.

“The Scottish Government is leading others and giving direction to the nations of the world that will meet in Copenhagen in December to negotiate a post-Kyoto protocol climate change agreement. Those discussions will be significant in setting the pace of tackling climate change through a new global agreement to accelerate emissions reductions across our planet.”

SCIAF has been campaigning on climate change since 2008. We have attended UN climate meetings in Poland, Germany, New York and Spain and will be on the ground at Copenhagen. With your help, we are working hard to ensure that the interests of people in developing countries are not forgotten during the decision-making process.