Protecting Scotland’s environment
20 Feb 2017
Our natural resources cannot be consumed at the current “unsustainable” rate, the Scottish Conservatives will declare this week, in a major new policy paper marking Scottish Environment Week.
In the document, to be published on Wednesday, the party will spell out a series of new initiatives designed to protect Scotland’s environment and tackle climate change.
The document comes with the Scottish Conservatives preparing for its spring conference on March 3rd, where it will set out its plan to offer a fresh alternative to the SNP as Scotland’s main opposition party.
In the foreword, published today, the party’s environment spokesman Maurice Golden makes it clear that “we can no longer consume our natural resources at the current unsustainable rate, and we can no longer think of economic development as a competing force against environmental protection”.
Scottish Environment week is organised by Scottish Environment Link, and will feature a series of events designed to highlight efforts to tackle climate change. Among policies outlined in the new paper, the party will say:
- 10% of all the Scottish Government’s capital budget should be spent on energy efficiency measures – with the aim of ensuring all homes are energy efficiency by 2030.
- A new target should be set to ensure 75% of all waste is recycled by 2035 through the creation of an easy-to-use collection system.
- Ministers should create 15,000 hectares of new quality woodland per year – up from 7,600 a year in 2015.
Writing in the foreword to the document, Mr Golden will say:
“The Scottish Conservative approach to the Environment and Climate Change is founded on three key tenets.
“The first is a belief that Climate Change is one of the greatest challenges we face, and we must show leadership on the world stage to reduce global emissions.
“The second is that, in the long term, resource prices will increase, and moreover, access to these resources will become less reliable. By decreasing our reliance on products which are manufactured abroad we can reduce global emissions but also grow the economy and create jobs here in Scotland.
“The third tenet is that we need to look holistically at our management of the environment. That means making the business case, but also recognising that for certain projects the business case will not be viable if assessed via conventional accounting.
“We will prioritise achieving behaviour change, technological advancement, big data and innovation in order to tackle climate change, boost biodiversity, grow the economy, create more, better jobs and ensure new ideas are delivered for the benefit of Scotland.”
The full paper will be launched in Edinburgh on Wednesday by party leader Ruth Davidson and Mr Golden.
More details on Scottish Environment week here: http://www.scotlink.org/events/upcoming-events/scottish-environment-week/