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Persona non Greta – not all Scots welcome COP26 – CAPx
/in CAPx, COP26, Environment Matters, SNP /by sm_adminCOP26 climate change summit: Why is Glasgow so lukewarm about its biggest ever event? – The Scotsman
/in COP26, Environment Matters, Glasgow Matters, The Scotsman /by sm_adminAnger over Glasgow’s filthy rat-infested streets and alleyways hidden from COP26 delegates – Daily Record
/in Daily Record, Environment Matters, Glasgow Matters, Scottish Greens, SNP /by sm_adminPlease click the image below to read more:
These are the filthy, rat-infested side streets and alleyways that COP26 delegates won’t see when they come to Scotland next month.
Refuse collectors have said they can’t cope with cuts that have led to a rise in rancid conditions in Glasgow’s streets – just miles from where world leaders will thrash out a climate change deal.
GMB officials, who have now pleaded with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to intervene in the waste row, took our reporter to some of the worst-hit areas.
Union officials have said the city’s back streets have become Glasgow’s “secret shame”.
They warned staff were risking injury to get the streets tidied up in time for the eco conference.
In a lane near Allison Street, in Govanhill, in the heart of the First Minister’s constituency, we found rat traps, abandoned mattresses and litter. At nearby flats, overflowing bins spilled into common areas, making it a no-go area for residents.
In neighbouring Cessnock, in lanes that run parallel to the main clean thoroughfare, litter lay piled up in common areas.
Fly-tipping has increased after the council introduced a £35 special uplift charge this year.
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Scotland ‘needs to stop peat-burning to reach net zero by 2045’ – STV news
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Scotland needs to urgently halt nearly all peat-burning or risk failing to meet its ambition of net zero by 2045, a report has indicated.
Current “muirburn” practices, the controlled burning of vegetation in moorland areas, typically to promote new growth, are “incompatible” with the Scottish Government’s climate ambitions, said the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Scotland (RSPB).
The conservation charity said peatlands are key centres of carbon storage and when burned can rapidly release stored carbon, whereas healthy wet peatlands continually store the atmosphere-damaging element.
Peatland is estimated to cover nearly a quarter of Scotland, and last year the Scottish Government announced £250m over 10 years for restoring peatlands, with a target of restoring 250,000 hectares of degraded peatland by 2030.
Campbeltown wind turbine factory closes permanently – BBC news
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A wind turbine factory in Argyll has been permanently closed, with administrators now selling off equipment used at the site.
Owners CS Wind effectively mothballed the Campbeltown factory, which manufactured offshore and onshore wind farm equipment, in the spring of 2020.
The company said “deteriorating market conditions” had led to a lack of new contracts and declining revenues.
All staff have now either left or been made redundant.
Three-quarters of the 94-strong workforce had already departed in August 2020 with only a handful of staff left running the facility.
The manufacturing plant, located at the Machrihanish Business Park near Campbeltown, was bought by CS Wind, a South Korean firm, in 2016.
At the time it was Britain’s only UK facility for manufacturing onshore and offshore wind towers.
It previously went into administration in 2011 before a partnership between Scottish and Southern Energy and Marsh Wind Technology saved the factory.
After CS Wind failed to secure major work with the Kincardine and Triton Knoll offshore projects in 2019, the majority of the staff were made redundant.
At the time the Unite union called the move a “major blow to Scotland’s renewables manufacturing capacity.”
“Market conditions” are being blamed for CS Wind (UK) being wound up, yet market conditions for wind power have never looked better.
Thousands of towers are required for turbines being planted in the North Sea, with a huge further boost planned in the next 10 years.
Existing onshore windfarms are being renewed after 25 years of torque and tension from generating power.
So there must be other explanations for the repeated failure to make the Campbeltown factory into a success story.
Part of the problem is thought to be the South Korean ownership failing to give the plant the support it needed in the past five years. There’s been a stand-off with Highlands and Islands Enterprise, which provided public funding.
But there is a wider question about the failure to link the renewable power revolution to a manufacturing base in Scotland.
The Scottish government sunk more than £37m in three BiFab yards in Fife and Lewis for fabricating offshore platforms. That also went into administration.
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Ambitious SNP-Greens target to scrap half of Scotland’s diesel buses by 2023 met with industry scepticism – The Scotsman
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The move will involve the majority of Scotland’s 4,000 buses by the end of 2023, and trains on the Fife Circle and Borders Railway by the following year.
The dates were included in the Scottish Government’s latest annual Programme for Government, which sets out policies for the year ahead.
Most of the greener buses and the ScotRail trains involved are expected to be electric or battery, but it is not clear how much traditional electrification using overhead power lines will be required on the rail routes.
It was also announced that Scotland’s first hydrogen-powered train is due to be carrying passengers by 2025 after a prototype is showcased to coincide with the United Nations Cop26 climate change conference in November and it is trialled on the network in March.
The Scottish Government said it had already launched a “bus decarbonisation taskforce” and the first, £50 million phase of the Scottish Zero Emission Bus Challenge Fund.
However, an industry source expressed concern about the bus target being met and whether sufficient funding would be available.
Revealed: ‘Shocking’ carbon footprint of COP26 venues – The Scotsman
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Two flagship venues hosting the upcoming COP26 climate change summit have received the second lowest possible rating for energy efficiency, with work yet to commence on a raft of legally binding improvements issued by assessors in order to reduce CO2 emissions.
The SEC Armadillo in Glasgow has been graded F by inspectors, who said its owners should consider installing renewable energy sources as well as new insulation and lighting in order to curb its carbon footprint.
The SEC Centre, the sprawling conference venue which will form the epicentre of negotiations, also has an energy performance certificate (EPC) rating of F. Assessors told its owners in 2012 they should consider investigating the use of low and zero carbon technologies.
Nine years on, neither it nor any of the other SEC properties have renewable energy sources installed. Cumulatively, the venues, chosen by the UK government for the summit, along with Glasgow Science Centre, are pumping around 6,659 tonnes of CO2 a year into the atmosphere.
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Hydro-electric extractions having ‘devastating’ impact on river, says Spey Fishery Board – The Northern Scot
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The Spey Fishery Board states the amount of water extracted to generate hydro-electricity is having a “devastating” impact on the river.
A report published today shows 90% of the water taken from the Spey comes from the top 13% of the river.
This water is then diverted to Fort William or the Tay.
The upshot, says the report, is that the natural flow in the Spey can be reduced by up to 24% at Boat o’ Brig, near Fochabers, and by up to a massive 61% at Kingussie.
Roger Knight is the director of the Spey Fishery Board’s director, which manages wild salmon and sea trout fishing in the Spey catchment area.
He says: “In the 1940s hydro-electricity was considered to be cutting-edge technology and a crucial source of power, particularly in rural parts of the Scottish Highlands.
“That technology, though, is 80 years old and such impoundments and abstractions would not be permitted under present-day environmental standards.
Thunberg: Scotland not a world leader on climate change – STV news
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Climate activist Greta Thunberg has said she does not believe Scotland is a world leader on climate change, as the Scottish Government claims.
The Swedish teenager said she has not yet decided whether she will travel to the global UN climate conference in Glasgow next month, but will do if it is “considered safe and democratic” – including ensuring participants from poorer countries are fully vaccinated and able to travel.
Questioned by BBC Scotland on whether Scotland is a world leader on climate change, she said: “No… I mean, there are some countries that do a bit more than certain others, but then if we look at it from a broader perspective then I think we can safely say there are no countries – at least in the global north – that are even doing close to what would be needed.”
Scotland’s climate change legislation includes a target to reach net zero by 2045, which the Scottish Government has said is “world-leading”.
The 18-year-old was also sceptical of the Scottish Government’s new powersharing deal with the Scottish Greens which will bring Green representatives into government for the first time in the UK.
Ms Thunberg told the broadcaster: “Of course there might be some politicians that are slightly less worse than others. That was very mean, but you get the point.
“It’s a hopeful sign that people want something that’s more ‘green’ – whatever ‘green’ means – but in order to solve this, we need to tackle this at a more systemic approach.”
Having returned to school after a year out leading young people in school strikes for climate change, Ms Thunberg said the conference falls in her school holidays, and if she does attend she plans to travel by train.
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