Climate Change Plan: third report on proposals and policies 2018-2032 (RPP3) - summary

3. Climate Justice

The Scottish Government has been championing climate justice since 2012, when we launched the Climate Justice Fund. Climate justice is based on the core principle that the poor and vulnerable at home and overseas are the first to be affected by climate change, and will suffer the worst, yet have done little or nothing to cause the problem. A total of £21 million has been committed through to 2021 to support some of the world’s most vulnerable people and communities in becoming more resilient to the changing climate. The Scottish Government is also collaborating with the Glasgow Caledonian University Centre for Climate Justice.

The concept of climate justice is also relevant to the people of Scotland. The Scottish Government has collaborated with the University of Edinburgh to research climate justice within Scotland, reviewing the potential climate justice implications of selected policies in the Climate Change Plan.  The research report has been published^[4] and the project will help to inform future climate-just policy design and implementation within Scotland. 

The Scottish Government will establish a Just Transition Commission to advise Scottish Ministers on how to make the transition to a low carbon economy in a way that also tackles inequality and poverty, and promotes a fair and inclusive jobs market. We will continue to work towards resolving fuel poverty with a clear aspiration to improve the energy performance of our building stock. We have designated energy efficiency as a national infrastructure priority, and we published the Energy Efficient Scotland: Route Map^[5] in May 2018, to support delivery of our ambitions in this area.