Scottish Government 'Net Zero Nation' strategy

June 2021

Scottish Government 'Let's do Net Zero' campaign

A major Scottish Government campaign called Let's do Net Zero has been launched to highlight the benefits a net-zero society would bring to the economy, health and the environment.  Climate change and nature loss are the greatest global threats we face.  We need to act now to protect what we love and reach net zero emissions.  Together we can create a cleaner, healthier, happier and more successful nation.  Doing nothing isn’t an option.  Scotland, let’s do net zero. 

The website sections are Active travel, Business, Eating greener, Electric vehicles, Home energy, Public transport and Reduce, re-use, recycle, and topics under Active travel, for example, are  Where Things Stand, Guides For You, What We’re Doing, Resources and Links.

Among other things the site refers to a 2014 'Vision for active travel in Scotland 2030', and the SG's 2020 Programme for Government, which includes sections on Active travel and Sustainable transport.  There is also a 'Let's do Net Zero' toolkit.

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TBI response to Net Zero Nation consultation

Julian Paren has drafted a response on behalf of TBI which endorses the response submitted by SCCAN (see below), and makes a careful critical appraisal of the annex to the Net Zero strategy document which outlines 'Actions that Individuals and Households Can Take'.

Read the TBI response

Read more about the Scottish Government's Net Zero Nation strategy below

Scottish Government consultation on its ‘Net Zero Nation'  public engagement strategy

The introduction to the consultation document, published on 16 December 2020, states

Transforming Scotland into a net zero nation by 2045 presents an opportunity to re-imagine the nation we live in. Whilst there is no denying the significant challenge we face in addressing the global climate emergency, it brings with it a chance to create a better, fairer, and more inclusive society for everyone: a society in which individuals and communities across Scotland are actively involved in making the decisions that affect them. 

This widespread participation and engagement is essential if we are to successfully limit the effects of climate change, prepare for the impacts that are already locked in, and harness the opportunities to innovate and adapt to a changing climate. We must also include the twin challenge of biodiversity loss and how this interlinks with our work on mitigating and adapting to climate change.

In this strategy, we set out our framework for engaging the people of Scotland in this challenge. By putting our people at the heart of everything we do, we aim to enable and empower everyone in Scotland to be a part of shaping our transition in a just and fair way, building a social mandate for the societal transformation needed to become a net zero nation.

In our view the excessive length and 'officialese' language of the document is likely to work against its declared objective of securing the 'widespread participation and engagement' of the people and communities of Scotland.

It can be found   online on the government website

or as a   downloadable 44 page PDF file

The deadline for responding to the consultation has been extended until 31 March.

There is a more accessible but rather simplistic presentation of the net zero concept on a dedicated website  https://www.netzeronation.scot/

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SCCAN response to Net Zero consultation

SCCAN's February newsletter contained links to the consultation document and to SCCAN's draft response, which they introduce with a plea for the importance of the Net Zero strategy to the future of Scotland

It is no exaggeration to say that the next ten years are going to be crucial for the future of humanity.  Given the scale and urgency of the challenge, this strategy is hugely important and must become central to everything that the Government does.  It needs to go beyond being a ‘public engagement’ strategy to become a strategy for enabling participation by everyone, everywhere across Scotland - empowering us all to use our collective intelligence and local knowledge to play an active role in creating the rapid transformation necessary.  We would like to encourage all SCCAN members to please submit a response.  We need to ensure that the fine words in the draft strategy are followed up with real action.

SCCAN's response can be found as a downloadable Google Docs file
or as a Word document from our document library 

SCCAN is the Scottish Communities Climate Action Network.