Climate change, marginalised communities and considered debate within Scotland’s climate emergency

Abstract

The announcement by the Scottish Government of a global 'climate emergency' in May 2019, and the selection of Glasgow as the host city for the main COP26 talks to be held in late 2021 has helped focus attention to the impact of climate change in Scotland. The COVID-19 pandemic has also brought into sharp focus the disproportionate effect that shocks and stresses have on already vulnerable people and places. This short communication aims to contribute to these debates by clarifying existing strengths and open issues for an evidence-driven response to climate change in Scotland's marginalised communities. Growing support for rapid and radical climate action, both in Scotland and overseas, brings into question the role of learned societies and reasoned debate within a climate emergency. To this end, we synthesise recent Scotland-based research into issues relating to climate justice and, drawing on the outcomes of a workshop held in summer 2019, identify aspects where good progress has been made and areas where further work is required for an evidence-driven and just response to climate change in Scotland and beyond.

The Influence of the Corona Virus Pandemic on Sustainable Development Goal 13 and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Processes

“…Discussing the need to reduce societal inequalities has been a common focus area in analogies between the pandemic and the climate crisis. The pandemic has demonstrated that the poor, women, elderly, and marginalised groups, are more vulnerable to disasters (Lee et al, 2020;Mabon et al, 2020), highlighting the need for prioritising efforts on enhancing climate justice to ensure a better response to climate-induced adverse events that are highly likely to occur in the future.…”

“…The pandemic accentuates the relevance of the SDGs 1 "No Poverty" and 13 "Climate Action" (UN, 2021) due to the social inequalities and the disaster-prone vulnerable groups (Lee et al, 2020;Mabon et al, 2020).…”