Scotland’s economic watchdog, the Scottish Fiscal Commission, has released a report estimating that the Scottish Government would need to spend an average of £1.1 billion pounds a year to meet net zero, around 18 per cent of its capital budget.
The report, Fiscal Sustainability Perspectives: Climate Change, also criticises the lack of detail on how current and future Scottish and UK Government climate action is costed and paid for.
One of the options suggested by the Commission is for governments to raise more money via taxation to invest in climate action. The report points out that the Scottish Government has some levers to do this, but many rest with the UK Government.
Responding to the report, Lewis Ryder-Jones, Oxfam Scotland’s Advocacy Adviser, said: “There’s no denying the transition to net zero will be expensive: but delaying investing in climate action is like putting off fixing a leaky roof until the entire house is flooded. The longer governments procrastinate, the bigger the bill becomes.
“It’s a no brainer that the biggest polluters, who are raking in record profits and amassing huge fortunes, must pay for the climate damage they disproportionately fuel and the cost of building a fairer low carbon future. Oxfam’s own modelling shows the UK Government could raise £23 billion annually through a series of common-sense, fair taxes on those with the greatest climate culpability.
“The First Minister must press the Prime Minister to act, but he must do the same, by fairly using the Scottish Government’s new Tax Strategy to compel bigger and better off polluters to settle their bill and clean up their acts.”
/ENDS
For more information and interviews, please contact: Rebecca Lozza, Oxfam Media and Communications Adviser, Scotland and Wales: rlozza1@oxfam.org.uk / 07917738450