The Commission’s updated estimates suggest that from 2026 to 2050 the additional public investment required could average £0.7 billion a year (in 2024 prices).
The SFC says public spending required in devolved areas could be 26 per cent more per person in Scotland than the rest of the UK due to higher costs driven, in part, by Scotland’s geography, relatively colder climate and higher share of social housing.
Responding to the news, Jamie Livingstone, Head of Oxfam Scotland, said: “While significant investment will be needed to deliver Scotland’s climate ambitions, this report highlights deep uncertainties over the price tag and who’ll pay it. But what’s very clear is that we can’t afford to keep delaying climate action as the cost of doing so will be far higher, from the lives and livelihoods lost due to extreme weather to rising fuel bills hitting those on low incomes hardest.
“We need all parties in Scotland and the governments in Edinburgh and London to urgently work together to ensure the biggest polluters and the better off pay their fair share now, including through measures like a tax on pollution-spewing private jets. They cannot simply sit on their hands and pass on an even higher bill to everyone else now and in the future.”
/ENDS
For more information and interviews, please contact: Rebecca Lozza, Media and Communications Adviser, Oxfam Scotland: rlozza1@oxfam.org.uk / 07917738450
