Transform communications officer, Matt McDonald, gave evidence to Scotland’s Climate Assembly ‘Transport and Work’ stream on Saturday 9 January. Recommendations from the Assembly will be put to Scottish Ministers at the end of the process.
In the video, Matt covers three key points on surface transport in Scotland:
- Transport remains Scotland’s most problematic sector, accounting for 36% of total emissions, and progress on reducing emissions is non-existent.
- The recent commitments on active travel and public transport decarbonisation are necessary, but alone are not sufficient.
- Infrastructure spending plans focussed on road building will lock us into unequal and unjust future high emissions as the car continues to dominate transport spending in Scotland unless this imbalance is urgently addressed.
You can watch our evidence in full here:
The Climate Assembly’s also heard from Professor Jillian Anable from the University of Leeds in an ‘informant’ role, who gave an overview of the transport and climate change as well as suggesting some potential solutions. (Jillian was briefly a Transform board member when she was based at The University of Aberdeen.) You can view Jillian’s presentation here:
Accompanying Transform in giving evidence was the Director of Living Streets Scotland, Stuart Hay. (Stuart is also on the Transform board.) Stuart explained how creating better streets is essential for tackling the climate crisis. You can view Stuart’s presentation here:
External Links
Transform Scotland's evidence to Scotland's Climate Assembly
