Newsletter 21
Climate action news from Skye and beyond
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Spring is coming!
This month we have lots of news about our activities and what is happening in Skye, Highland region and Scotland. Our feature articles look at the proposed new coal mine in Cumbria and government action on the climate crisis. Both of them flag up some of the choices faced by society in the climate emergency.
Do keep an eye on our website, as news and events are continually being added.
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Welcome to our March newsletter
with news and actions on the climate emergency in Skye and beyond
Skye Climate Action is a collaborative network, aiming to share information and to support and encourage all those who are taking action to reduce our carbon footprint and prepare for changes happening to our climate.
Whether you are taking a personal stand or are joining with others, whether on issues of food, transport, plastics, building, energy or anything else, do drop us an email to tell us what you are doing so we can share your story and inspire others.
If you use Facebook, please comment and post on our page, and invite new members by using the invite button. Visit our website for more news, events and information.
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SKYE CLIMATE ACTION NEWS
Coming Up
Join our CREATIVE CLIMATE CONVERSATION to share your stories and tips,and hear what others are doing.
Wednesday 3rd March at 7pm.
The zoom link is here. Meeting ID: 822 1024 3337 Passcode: 413794
Skye Climate Action Plastics
will meet on Wednesday 10th March at 7.30 pm with Helen Lavery from Zero Waste Scotland.
Helen will talk about the Circular Economy in the Highlands and Islands, single use plastics, and the deposit return scheme.
This will be followed by questions and discussion about local applications.
All welcome. Contact Anne for the zoom link.
Climate Fèis: Skye, Raasay and Lochalsh
To highlight the importance of the UN Conference on Climate Change (COP26) in November, we are planning a climate festival: Climate Fèis: Skye, Raasay and Lochalsh. The festival will take place during August 2021 with activities COVID-adapted if necessary.
The Festival will showcase how communities on Skye, Raasay and Lochalsh are responding to the climate emergency, such as initiatives in local food growing, care for the environment and local displays, possibly using nearby bus stops and old telephone boxes.
We are making links with Highland Council and Keep Scotland Beautiful to seek their support and are planning to contact schools, community councils and development trusts. The project office is at Skye Bridge Studio in Kyle (with thanks to Jonathan Supper).
Contact Trish Rogers and Sara Taylor (co-convenors and facilitators) at info@climatefeis.org for more information and to contribute your ideas.
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Increasing climate awareness on Skye through the WHFP
Kirsty Watt, a journalism student at Strathclyde University, is supporting Skye Climate Action through her monthly columns in the West Highland Free Press, which have received good feedback. This month Kirsty reports on plastic in the agricultural and marine environment. You can catch up with Kirsty’s previous articles on the climate emergency, growing your own food and dealing with plastics in our daily life, on our website.
Our thanks go to Kirsty, and to Keith MacKenzie at WHFP, for helping us to tell more people about the climate emergency and what people in the Skye area are doing about it.
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Highland Good Food Conversation moves into action phase
Over eighty people from across the Highlands participated in the second phase of the Highland Good Food Conversation, including Trish Rogers and Anne MacLennan from Skye Climate Action.
The conference was a stimulating and positive experience, held as five-afternoon sessions over as many weeks. The rich information exchange was complemented by online resources of articles and videos available for each session. We heard from many passionate people across the Highlands, already involved in the food system and wanting to further develop and strengthen it so that everyone in the region has access to good local food.
A great feature of the conference was the ‘provocateurs’, usually five people each talking for just five minutes to share their activities and/or pose challenges. We were provoked by farmers, crofters, chefs, community and national organizations. We heard about growing, land management, funding issues, the Mull abattoir and butchery, frustrations and achievements within the hospitality industry – and much more.
Delegates worked on 10 potential projects over the five weeks in break-out rooms. Topics included establishing retail outlets, world-class restaurants, food growing in schools, and setting up glasshouses using surplus renewable energy. Some of the projects will go forward to the third, or action, phase of the Conversation. The aim is to increase production and consumption of healthy local-grown food throughout the Highlands, assisted by innovative marketing schemes, more growing activity by community groups and schools, and increased community composting linked to a reduction in food waste. Visit the HGFC website for a wealth of information and links on food and food growing
Skye Climate Action looks forward to facilitating some of these actions in and for Skye. Watch this space.
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Grow Skye/Dùisg an talamh
Check out our latest tips for growing your own vegetables, written by Mark Purrett and Jenny Hey.
Visit our events calendar for West Highland College training courses during March. Garden
Organic is also running a series of courses.
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Contribute your climate-friendly projects to the Skye and Raasay Investment Plan
Highland Council and HIE are leading on a new Investment Plan for Skye and Raasay. A workshop on 28 January gathered initial views on the issues and areas that need to be tackled. See the event presentation here. Future events are planned and you can sign up to be kept informed at Skye.raasay@highland.gov.uk
The Investment Plan “aims to identify the different parts that need to happen to achieve the place we want Skye and Raasay to be. This could involve a wide variety of projects that deliver different benefits ranging from a community-owned shop to enhanced cycle network and new housing to harbour redevelopment.” There is already a list of projects here.
This is a great opportunity to contribute your ideas for projects, whether green transport, or production of sustainable building materials, or ideas for local food growing, to the overall plan. The projects do not need to be fully designed. You only need to say how your project fits the priorities, which organisations need to be involved, and the next steps/what is holding back the project. You can fill in the form here.
The priority outcomes are: Sustainable tourism, Diverse and green economy, Digital and transport infrastructure, Strengthening communities, Health and education. You can highlight the need for projects to be climate-friendly and sustainable, and suggest other priorities, such as Healthy natural environment and protection of biodiversity, which are essential for economic development as the recent UK Treasury report has confirmed. |
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Highland Council and the Climate Emergency
Izzy Flowers is our liaison person with Keith Masson, Highland Council’s Climate Change & Energy Team Manager. You can send in your ideas and questions on how Highland Council is dealing with the climate emergency, and Izzy will raise them with Keith.
Contact Izzy at isabelle.flower@gmail.com.
The Council is recruiting two more staff to work on climate issues. A ‘Programme Alignment’ report has been finalised, in order to integrate climate strategy into all the different areas the council is working on, in terms of project management and accessing new sources of funding.
The Council’s Food Growing strategy consultation is open until the end of February. So far, a key outcome is that the council needs to provide funding to make a food growing network a reality.
Highland Council will soon start looking at a hydrogen strategy, as the Highland region has a huge amount of off-shore energy capacity that can be converted into hydrogen. This has a lot of potential and much of it could be off Skye. The Working Group has discussed blue carbon, the carbon stored in coastal and marine ecosystems. This could be significant for Skye. Watch the video of the blue carbon presentation here. (Examples of blue carbon projects start at 8 minutes in).
Highland Region will host two of five Scottish Government pilot “Regional Land Use Partnerships” projects to work out the future use of land, as guided by people locally. The project will look at how to optimise land use in a fair and inclusive way, meeting local and national objectives and supporting the journey to net zero.
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Highland Council Pension Fund investment in fossil fuels:
call for action
Despite the Highland Council declaring a climate emergency in 2019, Highland Council Pension Fund holds investments in mining and oil-related companies, as well as an arms company, according to a report by Highland-Palestine. More details of the investments are on our website.
The Pension Fund has nearly £2 billion of assets and provides benefits to about 31,600 members, including employees of Highland Council, Comhairle Nan Eilean Siar, University of the Highlands and Islands, Highlands of Scotland Tourist Board, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Scottish Fire and Rescue and other organisations, together accounting for around one tenth of all employment in the Highland and Western Isles regions.
The report explains that Highland Council Pension Fund’s Investment Subcommittee currently doesn’t evaluate its holdings against environmental, social and governance criteria and effectively sub-contracts responsibility for ethical investment practices to seven independent fund managers.
Highland Charter for Responsible Investment, a coalition of groups across the Highlands, is calling on the Highland Council Pension Fund to adopt a Charter for Responsible Investment at its next meeting on March 18th. Skye Climate Action has joined the coalition. You can read the charter here.
What you can do: The coalition encourages people who are concerned about this to write to our local councilors (you can find their contact emails here) or to one of the three chairs of the committees:
- Richard Gale, Chair of the Highland Council Pension Fund Committee
- Carolyin Caddick, Chair of the Highland Council Pension Fund Board
- Ben Thompson, Chair of the Highland Council Pension Fund Investment Sub-committee
There is a sample letter here that you can adapt in your own words.
Friends of the Earth Scotland’s divestment campaign reports that as of March 2020, Scottish local council pensions invested £1.2 billion in fossil fuels. Find out more and what you can do about it at their meeting on 2nd March.
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Highland Tourism, landscape, and nature
Highland Environment Forum is hosting a seminar with speakers from John Muir Trust, Wester Ross Biosphere, Highland Council, and Visit Scotland, and plenty of time for questions. Thursday 18th March, 10.30 - 12.30. Full details on the eventbrite page.
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Highland Climate Networking: How to grow community climate action
Catch up with Planet Sutherland and SCCAN’s Highland December networking event, which looked at how to grow community climate action. The three presentations covered what Highland Council are doing for climate change, how to have carbon conversations, and improving emotional resilience.
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How can the Scottish Government encourage change across society to reach net-zero?
The Scottish Government is moving from encouraging small changes in attitudes and behaviours, to facilitating a society-wide transformation to reach the net zero target of 2045. It wants taking action on climate change to be seen as normal, and people across Scotland to be aware of the action the Scottish Government is taking and participate in shaping fair policies.
What you can do: read the strategy document and respond to the consultation here (closes 31st March). Responses to the 15 questions can be as detailed or brief as you like. Encourage the Government to be bold and honest about the changes that are needed across society, ensuring that the most disadvantaged don't bear the brunt of the shift to net zero.
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How will Scotland meet its climate emergency targets?
Scotland's Climate Assembly is a group of citizens selected to broadly represent the Scottish population. It has been meeting most weekends to hear about and discuss the climate emergency and strategies for tackling it. On the third weekend, participants were presented with four exaggerated futures: Civic Provision and Regulation, Techno Optimism, Climate Mobilisation, and Collaborative Communities. These short, thought-provoking scenarios enact various ways in which our society could change to address the climate emergency, showing both upsides and downsides. As a forward glimpse of how our lives could change, these are fascinating. See what you think.
Emissions in Scotland will need to halve to reach our 2030 target of a 75% reduction in greenhouse gases. There are tough choices involved. Climate Assembly participants are grappling with the question of how much we are willing to have our lifestyles changed. See the very clear video presentation by Chris Stark of the Climate Change Committee (which is independent of the UK and Scottish parliaments). It is do-able but there are big questions.
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Costs and ambitions on the path to net zero | Chris Stark | Scotland's Climate Assembly
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The Assembly has a vast range of (mostly short) presentations and discussions that you can dip into on the website and youtube. The Assembly’s final report is due after 21st March. By law, the Scottish Government must state within 6 months how it intends to respond to the report’s recommendations. |
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Scotland’s Climate Change Plan - is it up to scratch?
 Grangemouth Refinery. Photo: Bryan Burke
The Scottish Government’s draft updated Climate Change plan, the roadmap of how to reach Scotland’s 2030 target, is now being scrutinised by parliamentary committees and a final Plan will be published after March. The Plan (which is updated every five years) has three key elements: showing how emissions will be reduced in each sector, showing the level of carbon reduction achieved in each sector and, crucially, the policies to make those emissions cuts happen.
At the Climate Assembly, the Climate Emergency Response Group (a group of public, private and civic sector leaders) gave a review of the Plan. Read the transcript or watch the video here.
The Plan has a strong vision e.g. switching a million homes to renewable heating systems by 2030, but there are concerns about some of the aspects of the strategy. For example, the agriculture and heavy industry sectors aren't required to make the same kinds of cuts as others. There's also an over-reliance on negative emissions technologies, which essentially suck carbon out of the atmosphere. The Plan relies on these at the expense of more tried and tested means of reducing emissions, as well as behaviour change. The Plan has good steps on skills and supply chains, and good funding commitments from the Scottish Government. But, the policy framework is weak, with too many Government actions at the drawing board stage, and the timetable is too slow to meet the challenge of the climate emergency.
Looking at homes, the Climate Change Plan strategy is to subsidise energy efficiency installations in the least well off homes (20% of the housing stock) and regulate to require homeowners (60% of the housing stock) to pay for upgrades themselves to meet a required standard. This would cost on average £6000 per home, but the improvements will save money and increase comfort levels. The Government plans to consult on this in 2022 and introduce the measure by 2025. If it allows time for compliance, this could delay the whole scheme to 2030, by which time we could have lost a decade.
Our food system has a huge role to play in tackling climate change. It needs joined-up thinking on changes to what we eat, what we grow, where we get our food from, and what we waste. The Climate Change Plan repeats previous commitments to set out guidance on sustainable diets, but without a timescale and lacking convincing proposals. It could be strengthened, for example, by implementing the sustainable diets policy through meals that are procured by the Government in hospitals and schools.
The Climate Change Plan sets a welcome new target to reduce car kilometres by 20% by 2030, through extra investment in walking and cycling infrastructure, investment in public transport, applying the 20 minute neighbourhood concept to our communities, and rolling out big city and town centre upgrades, as is happening currently in Edinburgh. However, there aren't any new policies to actually deliver this target. Government spending on public transport, walking and cycling remains dwarfed by the spending on roads. For this to become a credible target, the Government needs to put more effort into improving walking and cycling infrastructure and creating alternative means for people to get around rather than simply expanding the roads that we have. Councils are crucial in delivering infrastructure like bike lanes and bus lanes. They need more resources and a better ability to roll new transport policies if there’s to be a chance of meeting that 2030 target.
The Government appears to be fearful of public perception in making the large and rapid changes that are needed. They need our endorsement for actions that will actually meet the 2030 and subsequent targets.
What you can do: Add your voice by signing the Stop Climate Chaos Scotland letter calling for the Climate Change Plan to contain enough detail, ambition and action to reach the targets and reinforce Scotland’s leadership on climate issues in the run-up to the COP26 UN Climate Conference. Also, do contribute your thoughts to the Scottish Government consultation (see article above) on how it can promote its policies to the Scottish public. Encourage the Government to be bold and quick.
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Visit Scotland commits to reducing carbon emissions
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And for some light relief...
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How Glasgow artist Kevin Harman deals with skip rubbish.
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Cumbrian coal and the steel industry
By Thomas Prentice
The proposed coal mine. Photo: West Cumbria Mining
In recent months many have been protesting against plans to open the first new deep coal mine in 30 years. Located in Cumbria, the mine would extract coal from deep under the Irish Sea. Many have accused the government of hypocrisy over their climate goals if they allow the mine to go ahead, yet there are still many reasons people support the planned mine.
If it goes ahead the mine could provide up to 500 jobs in an area that struggles with high unemployment, and could continue operating until 2049. Many argue that the mine will not only support the UK steel industry but also reduce the coal imported from regions such as Australia and North America, thus reducing carbon emissions from shipping and transport.
Many oppose the proposed mine, saying it will undermine the UK’s position in the upcoming COP26 summit. While the burning of coal produced from the mine would release roughly 8.6 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent annually, 85% of the coal would also be exported from the UK, resulting in more pollution caused by transportation - the very thing the coal mine is supposed to prevent.
One of the big arguments made in support of the mine is to use the local coal in steel production, but why exactly does the steel industry need coal? For the production of new steel first, the coal is converted to “coke” by heating it to high temperatures to burn off impurities, the resulting coke is mostly pure carbon, which is then added to iron ore to produce pure iron, more coke is then added to the pure iron resulting in the production of steel.
To meet climate goals the steel industry must stop burning coal by 2035, and while steel can be recycled using green energy, producing new greener steel is a harder task. Though technology exists to clean up the production of steel, through using a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide that can be produced from natural gas, which in turn could be produced from organic waste.
As of writing, the plans for the Cumbria coal mine have been suspended. However, the debate did raise questions about where our coal comes from, and how the steel industry can clean up its act.
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It’s time for governments to walk the talk on the climate emergency
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Inupiat elder Delano Barr talks about Climate change. Visit the British Museum's exhibition "Arctic: culture and climate" to hear from people on the front line about global heating, their livelihoods, and their culture.
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On his first day in office, US president Joe Biden hit the ground running on the climate emergency. He took steps to re-join the Paris Agreement and launched a raft of actions including banning fossil fuel drilling on public lands and switching all government vehicles to electric. He is also pushing for a $2tn clean energy plan that will bring millions of new jobs. For Biden, kickstarting the post-Covid economy, creating green jobs, and tackling global heating are intertwined goals. US climate envoy John Kerry stressed the urgency of the situation, saying that the stakes on climate change couldn’t be any higher than they are now. There needs to be a ‘ wholesale transformation of the global economy’ if the world is to reach net zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050. Coal must be phased out five times faster than recent trends, the planet’s tree cover increased five times faster, renewable energy ramped up six times faster, and a transition to electric vehicles 22 times faster than present.
Citizens want governments to act
President Biden’s bold commitment to tackling the climate emergency is urgently needed. 2021 will be crucial for getting measures in place to keep global heating below 1.5 or 2 degrees. Poll after poll shows that the majority of citizens want their governments to act: the UN’s recent global poll confirmed this with two thirds of respondents wanting action on the climate emergency. Similarly, two thirds of the British public want to see the UK as a world leader on climate change.
Patchy progress towards a global green recovery
However, many in the fossil fuel, finance, construction, and other industries oppose the drastic action that is needed and are resisting moves towards a global green recovery. The world’s state-owned fossil fuel companies are poised to invest about £1.4tn in the next decade in projects that would destroy any prospect of meeting the Paris agreement climate goals. These national oil companies, such as Saudi Arabia’s Aramco and Russia’s Gazprom, are amongst the world’s biggest emitters. Their state ownership means they are rarely scrutinised. In addition, at least 18 of the world’s largest economies are still pouring funds into fossil fuels and high carbon infrastructure eroding the impact of any green schemes they may have. Only four countries, including the UK, and the EU have a net green stimulus package. The EU is a frontrunner, with 30% of its £677 billion recovery fund committed to green actions.
The UK’s plan – commitment or greenwash?
But, having a stimulus plan is not the same as implementing it. In this context it is worrying that the UK has effectively scrapped its flagship green homes scheme, having spent only 5% of the promised £2 billion. The scheme has been plagued by poor design and excessive bureaucracy. The unspent 95% will be withdrawn at the end of this financial year, and only £320 million has been set aside for 2021-22.
The Prime Minister announced in December that the UK will end direct government support for the overseas fossil fuel energy sector. However, the UK Export Finance agency has helped to finance overseas oil and gas projects emitting as much carbon as 17 coal projects and is formally considering more fossil fuel projects that would emit the equivalent of five coal plants. These may include a copper and gold mine in Mongolia powered by a new coal plant built specifically for this purpose.
Fair, green jobs and the critical importance of nature.
The UK Export Finance agency defends its support for the fossil fuel industry on the grounds that it sustains UK jobs. Yes, people need jobs, but the UK must rapidly and fairly transition away from high carbon jobs and into green jobs that support a more certain future. As economist Herman Daly said in 2007 “The economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environment, not the reverse”, so we must work within the capacity of nature to supply our needs. This point was reiterated in a recent report by Cambridge economist Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta which - perhaps signaling that the government will put its money where its mouth is - was commissioned by the UK Treasury. The Dasgupta report says that the world is being put at “ extreme risk” by the failure of economics to take account of the rapid depletion of the natural world and needs to find new measures of success to avoid a catastrophic breakdown.
Chivvying government out of the slow lane
Faced with the dangerously slow pace of global change, some are seeking action through the legal system. In a case brought by four French environmental groups after a petition signed by 2.3 million people, a Paris court has convicted the French state of failing to address the climate crisis and not keeping its promises to tackle greenhouse gas emissions.
The European court of human rights in Strasbourg is hearing its first climate change case, filed by young activists from Portugal. They are demanding that 33 countries make more ambitious emissions cuts to safeguard their future physical and mental wellbeing.
We cannot rely on court cases to force government action. National plans to cut emissions don't add up to the global total needed. Public opinion has shifted, and people can give their votes to those who are serious about tackling the climate emergency. The Scottish parliamentary elections in May will be our next opportunity. Meanwhile, see what politicians have to say on March 11th - an international question session organised by Scotland’s International Development Alliance, and on March 19th - Highlands and Islands High School students question MPs and MSPs on climate change.
Reducing the flow of money into climate-damaging industry and businesses is also key to speeding up the pace of change. We will have more on this in a later newsletter.
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