Climate action: First Minister's speech - 19 February 2025

Thank you for joining me here in Botanic Gardens in Glasgow this morning.

This is the latest in a series of speeches I have given since the turn of the year, focused on the four core priorities I have set for my Government.

Those priorities are:

Eradicating child poverty

Stimulating Scotland’s economy

Ensuring high quality and sustainable public services – for example, a renewed and stronger NHS

And tackling the climate emergency

Each has its own particular challenges. However, the topic for today, making the right choices in relation to the climate emergency, is the one that, in political terms, troubles me the most.

For the others, while there is disagreement on points of detail, there is nevertheless a real sense of unity of purpose in relation to the overarching principle. As politicians, as a country, we are broadly and substantially united behind these goals.

However, on the climate challenge, that is increasingly not the case. The debate is not simply around the detail, the individual policy choices – a cut and thrust that is vital if we are to reach the right conclusions. Instead, for some it is on the very validity of the priority itself.

As I look around the world, as I reflect on the developing political debate within the United Kingdom, I see an ever-stronger push back against the very idea of a climate crisis, against the very need to act.

It is push back based on arguments that fly in the face of the science - absolutely.

But of even greater concern, it is a rejection that flies in the face of reality.

A reality that includes more violent storms, more severe droughts, a reality of devastating forest fires and life-changing floods.

Indeed, for me, the climate challenge is made most real when I visit constituents, as I have done for some time, left distraught by the damage caused by flooding – damage to their homes, to the bricks and mortar, made all the worse by the heartrending destruction of irreplaceable personal possessions.

Climate change, quite clearly, is not a figment of our collective imagination.

It is not something that is happening over there, safely out of sight and out of mind. As we saw, with Storm Eowyn, one of the worst storms to hit Scotland in recent years, climate change is happening here and now, in real time, with direct and damaging effects in our own towns, in our countryside, in people’s everyday lives.

A theme of my speeches has been the importance of setting ourselves ambitious national goals – and of course we have had, for a good number of years now, a series of clear, and indeed very challenging goals in the climate space.

But more than that, the speeches have been a call for collaboration. We will only achieve our goals by working together more effectively - at all levels of Government, and beyond Government. That includes collaboration to develop the right policy solutions, as well as partnership to ensure their implementation.

I will repeat those calls this morning, and set out some specific, practical proposals to take this collaboration forward.

But on climate policy, I believe that something more is needed. We must unite also for a more fundamental purpose – to make a renewed case for the value, for the necessity of climate action itself.

To mobilise the middle, the mainstream, against the ever more strident calls for climate inaction from the right.

Not only does our planet depend on it, but so too our people’s very prosperity and their wellbeing.

My view on this is crystal clear: for the sake of our future, we must get this right.

The responsibility is mine, but not mine alone. The responsibility is my Government’s, but not Government’s alone. It is, as you all recognise through your own actions, as you all demonstrate in so many ways already, the responsibility of each and every one of us.

There is a case – based on the science, based on the numbers, based on the real-world effects that we see – that has already persuaded all of us in this room, and already persuaded many others outside this room. But if we are to truly mobilise the country behind our climate ambitions, there is a different case to be made.

The world is changing around us – quite literally in terms of global temperature rises. It is a time of growing uncertainty, an age of anxiety. In response, too many are offering easy answers when what we need are the right answers.

We are facing a world where a temperature increase of two degrees is not only a possibility, but one we must now actively prepare for. It serves no one to deny this reality – and all it will mean.

Instead, it calls on us to be bold.

Because if we get this right, we will be more resilient. Our communities will be better protected into the future.

If we get this right, there will be an economic benefit.

Scotland’s greatest contribution to the global climate challenge is our renewable energy potential, our technical expertise and our capacity for innovation. We can help other, bigger economies in their transition away from carbon intensive energy generation and carbon intensive industry.

If we are to persuade people to back climate action wholeheartedly, we must speak not only of the costs and challenges – which there will be – but also demonstrate clear and direct household and community benefits where these are possible. Tangible benefits at home, in terms of more jobs, lower energy bills, and new economic opportunities, delivering also tangible benefits for the planet.

And because there is no effective climate action that does not include nature, if we get this right, the prize is a protected, and even restored natural environment, with all the benefits that will bring in itself, and all the benefits also for our health and wellbeing as a country.

Scotland is famed for her landscapes, for her natural beauty – landscapes that offer food for the soul, as I know from my own experience spent running, walking and cycling in different corners of our land. What better legacy to pass on, safe and secure, to future generations of Scots.

This struggle is often presented as existential and, in so many ways, it is; but it is also deeply personal.

The right choices in the face of the climate challenge are not only essential for our planet, but they can be beneficial also for all of us in the here and the now.

I use the term ‘right choices’ deliberately, because getting this right should never be reduced to a mere carbon calculation, should never become simply a question of totting up emissions.

Reducing carbon emissions is imperative, but if we are to rewin the argument for climate action, if we are to take people with us and turn good intention into effective action, necessary reductions must be achieved with due consideration for the wider impact on our society and on our economy. 

Over the past decades, Scotland’s economy has been significantly dependent on oil and gas.

Now, we are living through a period of change, a period of accelerating transition away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy.

The baton is being passed. The new is being built on the strong foundations offered by the old.

We have seen economic transformations in Scotland before. Etched deep in our collective memory are the images of deindustrialisation, of mining communities left devastated, of a generation of skilled workers abandoned by the Government of Margaret Thatcher.

The mistakes made then will not repeated today. This transition will abandon no community.

The importance of safeguarding jobs and livelihoods in this respect has never been more stark than in the immediacy of the situation at Grangemouth.

I have heard people describe this as the first big test of the ‘just transition’ and they are right.

It is a test for my Government, and it is a test for the United Kingdom Government.

If we are going to ensure a future for the site, opportunities for its highly skilled workforce, investment is needed now. That is why

yesterday, I announced that the Scottish Government will amend the Budget at this late stage to allocate an additional £25 million for a Just Transition Fund for Grangemouth.

It is money raised through the ScotWind offshore leasing round, and I can think of no better way to invest those resources.

Some of the first fruits of our renewable energy wealth supporting a green industrial future for this iconic and hugely important industrial site.

Today, I urge the United Kingdom Government to at least match our funding – and to use the powers they have to go further.

Ministers in London have announced plans to develop sustainable aviation fuel in Teesside.

Plans for carbon capture and storage in Teesside and Merseyside.

Grangemouth could have benefited from both but has ended up benefiting from neither.

I would say to the United Kingdom Government – it is not too late. Giving Grangemouth a share in the development of sustainable aviation fuel, would be a good first step.

Giving a green light to the crucially important Acorn carbon capture and storage project in Buchan would be another. A whole host of new possibilities for Grangemouth would emerge with that decision.

If this is a Government for the United Kingdom, then Scotland should be getting its fair share of UK-wide investments.

Quite simply, it is time for the United Kingdom Government to turn warm words into actions, and to stop treating Scotland as an afterthought.

Ensuring a just transition is not the only complex challenge we face.

Despite good progress, there is still work to be done, for example, to reduce emissions from transport and with domestic heating – both of which I will come back to in the course of my comments today.

There are important questions centred on policy prescriptions, and a genuine debate about which levers are the most effective to pull.

But if we are to take people with us on this absolutely necessary path of change, we cannot ignore other parts of the equation.

Right now, in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, it is necessary also to ask which levers we can pull without putting too much strain on already stressed family finances.

How can we motivate and mobilise those who are most capable of making climate friendly choices so that they do make climate friendly changes – while offering the right support to enable and encourage those for whom change at the moment feels impossible?

What is the right balance of incentive?

As a Government we have some answers, but in the face of such a fast-changing world, we do not yet have complete answers to these sorts of questions, which is why collaboration with you, and a thoughtful engagement with the wider public, is so important.

I can understand why many of us feel overwhelmed by the nature and scale of the climate challenge. We wonder what difference our individual small actions can make when we are talking about literally-planet changing forces.

Last week, I visited Papa Westray, one of the remotest islands in the Orkney archipelago, a community of around 70 people, and I was struck both by the fragility of their existence and by the strength of the community they had. A strength that was vital if they were to overcome the multiple challenges of life on one of the remotest islands in our land, and a strength that was in many ways created by their vulnerability, in many ways born out of the community’s fragility.

The lesson for me is clear. In the face of adversity, the right response is to come together. It is to recognise, and celebrate, the fact that the whole is but a series of small but important parts.

I see that too in the work of the Climate Café network, headquartered in Birnam in my own constituency. From the smallest of beginnings – conversations between neighbours in a small Scottish town – something truly significant and inspiring has emerged, with Climate Cafes now active on six continents discussing and debating the actions people can take to address the issue of climate in their own communities.

Inspiration too in the work of the Scottish Government’s Community Climate Action Hubs.

Both, networks of ordinary people coming together to identify local responses to climate change, offering both practical support and, just as important, encouragement and hope.

Our actions, our choices can and do make a difference.

These examples demonstrate personal resilience, they demonstrate community resilience. And, have no doubt, as we look to these coming decades, our capacity for resilience – individual, community and national – becomes all the more important. Indeed, it may become our defining characteristic.

The sort of resilience that will come through the creation of a more extensive circular economy here in Scotland.

I think of examples, supported by Government but powered by people, like the Stirling Reuse Hub, which is saving tonnes of household goods from landfill, while enabling local artisans to upcycle unwanted wood and furniture to create revenue and support the local economy.

The Stirling Reuse Hub represents a shift in mentality that makes the best of another piece of old wisdom: why buy new, if you can restore, reuse, or repair?

And in a cost-of-living crisis, ideas such as repair cafés, distribution collectives for unused food and tool libraries are catching on, because they make sense for the planet and for our pockets.

What more must we do, as decision-makers, as leaders in our sectors, our communities, or in our country as a whole, to make examples such as this commonplace, everyday? How do we turn them from the exception into the norm?

Resilience also through the choices we make about our lived environment.

Trees and greenery in our towns and cities as a source of shade and cooling for the warmer years ahead – heatwaves that will come with increasing intensity, yes, even here in Scotland. Urban greenery planned and put into effect in collaboration with local communities themselves, as we have been doing, so that Government choices genuinely reflect local needs.

Increased woodland cover, acting not only as a carbon store, but as a means of supporting biodiversity, but part of a natural protection against the extremes of flooding and drought – and have no doubt we will increasingly see both of these extremes here in Scotland.

There are many other examples I could give, and you too will have examples of actions and projects in your own sphere that are contributing to a more climate resilient Scotland.

I could speak also about the Scottish National Adaptation Plan, which I launched last September. A powerful document which sets out both a clear vision and practical tools for people as they prepare for – and adapt to – the growing impacts of climate change.

But my sense is that you will tell me also that, as a nation, we are still not doing enough. That Scotland is still not ready for the changed world that is fast approaching.

So how else can we shape our towns, cities and countryside, how else can we shape our lives to prepare us for the new reality that is coming as surely as night follows day?

For me, an essential part of that answer is making sure the economics work for both people and planet.

That is why we have put so much effort and investment into making the most of Scotland’s enormous green energy resources.

However, simply producing the energy is not sufficient. There must also be clear and tangible benefits for families and households here in Scotland. If we are to persuade people to accept the pain associated with some climate friendly initiatives, then that must be matched and more by the gains that flow from others.

That does mean the creation of a supply chain for our renewable energy sector here in Scotland, to deliver a green re-industrialisation of our land. Good jobs, well paid jobs, and a resurgence of economic opportunity around our coast. And we are investing to make that happen.

It means lower energy costs for both households and businesses.

And it means meaningful community benefits in those areas that play host to energy infrastructure.

Lower energy costs – in particular, lower electricity costs – begin to transform too the economics of the transition to more climate friendly transport and home heating.

Recently I had the honour of opening the world’s first hydrogen powered homes, part of SGN’s H100 initiative in Levenmouth in Fife. It is a shining example of how Scotland is leading the way in finding solutions to tackle climate change. Innovation that will not only support the energy transition but also provide new skills and opportunities within the local economy.

It is a test, a beginning, but a clear signal of the path that we must take.

Because changing the way we heat our homes is essential. That is why the Government’s Budget includes £300 million to support the installation of clean heating systems and energy efficiency measures in more Scottish homes and businesses. I may get into trouble from the Finance Secretary if I pre-empt future budget decisions, but I think we all recognise that if we are to succeed in decarbonising heating, substantial investment will be necessary for many years to come.

Levenmouth, of course, has also recently become the terminus for a new stretch of railway – a decision taken on both environmental and economic regeneration grounds.

It is part of a significant investment in rail infrastructure in Scotland in recent years. Investment that has seen extensive electrification of our busiest commuter lines. A strategic decision, and one that is bearing fruit.

Because transport is both an opportunity and a challenge to our climate ambitions.

Transport emissions, though reducing, are still far too high. Scotland is fundamentally a sparsely populated, rural nation, with over 90 inhabited islands. The ability to move people, goods and services around Scotland and beyond is a key building block for growth, and it is quite simply a necessity if we are to ensure strong and sustainable island and rural communities.

Finding low cost and low carbon ways to do so is therefore essential. It is why new stations are being opened, the EV charging network expanded and zero-emission buses provided. It is why we have expanded free bus travel to younger Scots – with the hope of getting them into the habit of bus travel – as well as offering a wide-range of discounts on rail fares.

Much achieved, yes, but more to do. Including finding ways to support a step-change in the decarbonisation of other aspects of our transport system including the haulage sector.

Each and every one of the 37,000 trucks on our roads must be replaced by zero emission models in the next few decades and we must create the energy infrastructure to support them.

This is a challenge which requires a new level of collaborative working across the energy, transport, skills and financial services sectors. And it will be a central focus within the Government’s next Climate Change Plan.

I said earlier that there is no effective climate action without nature and Levenmouth provides yet another example.

In September last year, I witnessed a remarkable project that is breathing life back into the River Leven.

Throughout the industrial revolution, the river supported mills along its banks. With the industry long gone, the dam that powered them had become a barrier, preventing fish from migrating upriver.

I saw the local workforce put the finishing touches to a river restoration project that now allows fish to migrate, while holding back flood waters in a new wetland area for nature and people.

This is exactly the sort of project that delivers the best of all possible worlds. Nature restored, a community asset rediscovered, and a town that is better protected from the impacts of climate change.

Nature must be at the very heart of our climate actions.

Whether it is community-led initiatives like SeaWilding in Loch Craignish or Restoration Forth, restoring native oysters, a keystone species which improves water quality, and seagrass, an increasingly important carbon sink.

Or Government-led projects such as Scotland’s ambitious Peatland Action Partnership, which aims to restore 250,000 hectares of peatland by 2030 and, in doing so, reduce Scotland’s emissions for decades to come.

These are all things we can be incredibly proud of, projects big and small, local and national.

This morning, I have offered you a range of such examples, actions that are already being taken in many parts of Scotland. Given your engagement and expertise, you will be aware of many of these projects already and many others into the bargain. I could have offered more, but the point of today is not for me to claim that enough is being done, because it isn’t, or that we are already perfectly set on the right course, because we aren’t.

My advisers keep on telling me to be careful about admitting to shortcomings, to being too frank that things are not yet good enough. But as I have said before, in so many ways what we have and what we are doing is good, but it can and should be better.

And that is the real purpose of today. The collective energy, wisdom and enthusiasm in this room is what has delivered good, and it is also what can deliver better.

My approach to Government has always been collaboration, which is why I want this to be the start of an ongoing conversation, with a focus on action, on delivery. My Government’s door is open and I want to hear from you about how we can best make this discussion work.

I believe that we can only make the progress, and map out the next necessary steps on our climate journey, by bringing together local and central Government, agencies, stakeholders, trade unions, community organisations, and the wider public.

My guarantee to you is that I will provide the leadership, because I take this seriously. A Scotland bowed down and buckled by the effects of climate change is not a Scotland I want to see, especially given the opportunities for transformational change that do exist.

And what I ask of you in return is your participation, your honesty, and your willingness to bring your expertise, your ideas, to the table.

The voices for climate inaction are getting louder. So we must speak too, loud and clear, making a case for climate action that does bring benefits for Scotland and for the planet as a whole.

Climate action that does mean a more resilient Scotland.

That does mean a wealthier and fairer Scotland.

That does protect this priceless Earth, our common home.

Climate action that enables us to pass on this precious inheritance, this beautiful country that we call home, to many, many future generations of Scots.