Patrick Harvie speaking at the Scottish Green Party conference

The COP29 climate conference must see real climate action and succeed where previous summits have failed, Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie has said.

Speaking ahead of the forthcoming annual COP conference held this year in Baku, Azerbaijan, Harvie has called for all governments to recognise the urgent scale of the crisis and to strain every sinew to save future generations from complete climate catastrophe.

Harvie said: “We all know that global temperatures are rising at an alarming rate, but world leaders are refusing to take the action that is necessary.

“The impact of global climate change is all around us, with extreme weather events becoming far more common, extinction threats to some of our most iconic nature and food shortages from the decimation of crops and agriculture. None of this is news, and all of it has been made much worse by decades of complacency and inaction.

“Previous conferences have seen lots of words but pitifully few actions. How many more wildfires, floods and heat waves will it take for leaders to finally take the action needed to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels?

“The election of Donald Trump underlines the urgent need for the global community to stand together and ensure that we are not derailed by his climate conspiracy worldview or the wrecking ball he will undoubtedly take to the world around us.

“We don’t have time to waste. COP29 needs to commit to the bold and urgent action that has been lacking for so many years now. Our priority should be a transformative shift from fossil fuels and polluting infrastructure to clean, green renewable energy that Scotland has in abundance.”

Harvie added: “The climate crisis is a global crisis, but that should not detract us from taking the action we need here in Scotland. If we are to have any chance of hitting our Net Zero targets, we have to tackle the huge challenges in our way – especially with those targets having just been downgraded.

“That means maintaining the assumption against oil and gas exploration, refusing the expansion of fossil fuel projects and cutting the cost of public transport rather than pouring billions of pounds into dualling every square inch of some of our biggest and busiest roads.”