Making environmental policy inclusive in Scotland

In this position statement, NPC and the Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland review current Scottish environmental policies and make recommendations for how Scottish policy can better reflect the needs of marginalised and disadvantaged groups.

The recommendations have been developed collaboratively as part of the Everyone’s Environment programme and represent the views of a range of Scottish charities.

The review and recommendations focus on five areas that were identified as priorities by deliberation groups of people from ethnic minority backgrounds, young people, Disabled people, and older people:

• Access to green and blue spaces
• Transport
• Renewables
• Housing
• Green jobs

Our recommendations include:

• We support a National Indicator which specifies the quality of local green and blue space to be measured alongside the target of access within a 5 minutes’ walk.
• We support The Poverty Alliance’s proposal for concessionary travel to be extended to under 25s, people in receipt of low-income and disability benefits, unpaid carers, students and modern apprentices, and asylum seekers on all modes of public transport.
• We urge the Scottish government to create a tailored action plan for connecting rural homes to renewable energy supplies, in consultation with rural communities, and introduce a rural uplift to fuel poverty payments.
• Recognising that 80% of the buildings we will use in 2050 have already been built, we believe retrofit and upgrades to existing homes should be prioritised.
• We encourage the Scottish government to go further in integrating Fair Work and worker representation into a green industrial strategy for all work sectors, as proposed by the Just Transition Partnership.