This week, and for the second year in a row, the Scottish Government's climate change adviser, the UK Committee on Climate Change (CCC), has informed us "Scotland is making good progress" on climate change.
It depends on how you look at it. As the CCC report says, Scottish greenhouse gas emissions have reduced, which is good news. But as they also point out, much of this was due to the warmer weather, meaning less need to heat homes and other buildings, and because more goods and services are now being produced overseas and imported into Scotland.
If Scottish Ministers had decided to take more action to, for example, reduce emissions from heating homes and businesses, from Scotland's roads and from air travel, we could have achieved the reduced emissions levels we were aiming for.
There is a huge benefit for Scotland in becoming a low-carbon country. Taking action on climate change will create a Scotland where we have warmer homes, healthier transport options, healthier people and cleaner air.
Why wouldn't we want to make everyone's home warmer and more energy efficient? Why can't we give everyone the opportunity to cycle safely? Doesn't it make sense to do all we can to ensure the air we breathe has as few pollutants in it as possible?
We can make it happen but we have a long way to go. The CCC report says further action is required to meet emissions reduction targets. Stop Climate Chaos Scotland agrees. Scottish Ministers need to find additional measures to bring us back on track.
The CCC report calls on the Scottish Government to increase support and funding for people and businesses who want to heat their homes and premises using renewable energy such as solar and small-scale biomass.
The report also recommends the Scottish Government rolls out the Smarter Choices, Smarter Places programme, which was piloted in seven locations across Scotland, encouraging people to use public transport and to cycle and walk more. These measures could reduce Scotland's climate emissions and, at the same time, provide positive improvements to peoples' homes and the way they travel.
In 2009, every politician in the Scottish Parliament agreed to our world-leading climate law. Scotland has legally binding greenhouse gas targets: we are pledged to reduce emissions to 42% of 1990 levels by 2020, and 80% by 2050.
We can't lose sight of why they agreed to put the Climate Change Act in place. It was the right thing to do. Climate change is happening, it's being caused by humans and it's threatening the health of people and environments across the globe.
Later this month we expect to see the latest report about the global impacts of climate change from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. It is widely expected to say that, unchecked, climate change will cause widespread conflict, displace millions of people and devastate the global economy.
More than 800 million people in the world don't have enough to eat. They are on the edge. Global climate change, with its massive impact on food production and costs, could push them over.
Reducing emissions in Scotland will help us play our part in avoiding catastrophic climate change. And that would create a safer Scotland, where we are at less risk from flooding and extreme weather.
Stop Climate Chaos Scotland is the biggest civil society coalition in Scotland, with 60 organisations campaigning together on climate change. Our members include environment, faith and international development organisations, trade and student unions and community groups.
We will continue to push the Scottish Government to take action on the CCC's recommendations, and to make the promise of Scotland's Climate Change Act a living reality for the benefit of everyone.
For all our sakes, we need to get on with it.
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