Extinction Rebellion Scotland response to Scotland’s Climate Assembly report

The Scotland’s Climate Assembly Recommendations for Action report demonstrates the ability of ordinary people to come together and reach near-unanimous agreements on the issues set before them. We applaud their energy and commitment to the process.

However, Assembly members were not given the chance to judge the adequacy of the government’s understanding of the climate and ecological emergency, and to decide on the underlying causes and on how to totally transform our economy and politics to deal with it.

As a result, the recommendations constitute a scattering of dozens of good ideas, which are not prioritised. Even if implemented in full, these recommendations would not address the severity of the crisis; they do not offer the transformative route that we so badly need.

This is no surprise, given that the Assembly was, in effect, shaped and chaperoned by civil servants and their advisers who – however well-meaning – are committed to upholding, rather than transforming, the status quo.

Despite this, we passionately hope that the report’s ‘Call to Action’ will be heard and acted on swiftly, rather than put on a shelf, and that, as a society, we convene an assembly that can truly tackle the crises we face.

See also

Climate Assembly, Be Bold! (March 2021)

XR Scotland’s statement on Scotland’s Climate Citizens Assembly’s Interim Report (March 2021)

XR Scotland can no longer endorse Scotland’s Climate Citizens Assembly (Nov 2020)