Martin warns Scots about ‘concerning rise in anti-climate rhetoric’

Scotland is seeing a “concerning rise in anti-climate rhetoric”, despite rising temperatures being a “pressing issue” for governments across the planet, Holyrood’s Climate Action Secretary has said.

Gillian Martin spoke out ahead of unveiling the Scottish Government’s long-awaited new climate change plan to MSPs on Thursday.

The plan – which will set out specific actions required to reduce emissions and meet the first three carbon budget targets – comes after the Government was forced to scrap the target of cutting emissions by 75% by 2030.

Holyrood ministers also came under fire for missing nine out of 13 annual climate targets – with the Government now having moved away from yearly targets to a system of five-year carbon budgets instead.

Ms Martin said “despite the majority of people in Scotland recognising that climate change is an immediate and urgent problem, we are witnessing a concerning rise in anti-climate rhetoric”.

In the wake of this, she said it was “vital that we bring people, our workforce and communities with us on this journey” – stressing that action to tackle the problem would help with “creating new jobs and growing our economy”, and would also “help deliver better infrastructure, cheaper heating and improved public services”.

Ms Martin said: “Tackling the climate emergency is the one of the most pressing issues faced by governments around the world and, done properly, offers real opportunities for economic growth.

“In fact, green industries in Scotland have grown by over 20% since 2022 and now contribute over £9 billion to our economy and support over 100,000 jobs.”

The Climate Action Secretary said this “helps show how our path to net zero is not only improving public health by delivering cleaner air, warmer homes and wealthier communities, but can also support stronger public services and accelerate economic growth”.