Friday climate protests planned across Scotland

Thousands of young people are set to take to the streets across Scotland in a series of coordinated climate protests later this week.

The demonstrations, in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Stirling and Ullapool, will coincide with more than 700 similar events around the world on Friday, September 24.

Previous marches in 2019 saw upward of 40,000 young Scots gather for protests.

It comes after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) delivered a “Code Red” climate warning for humanity last month, ahead of November’s crucial UN climate talks in Glasgow.

Friday for Future Scotland, which organised the marches, called on both the UK and Scottish Governments to commit to a raft of climate pledges, including tougher CO2 emissions targets, guaranteed renewable energy jobs for oil and gas workers, and improved access to public transport networks.

Explaining his decision to attend, climate justice activist Dylan Hamilton, from West Lothian, said: “Scotland is not following the current science, we are using far more than our fair share of emissions to stay in line with the Paris Agreement.

“Real action has not been taken, despite many great promises from the government,” the 17-year-old said, “the recent IPCC report has given us a code red warning, we can’t afford to move slowly anymore.”

Anna Brown, 19, from Glasgow added: “With COP26 coming to Glasgow, Scotland and the UK as a whole will be on the world stage.

“The UK has a historic responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions, and COP is our opportunity to show that we are taking the science seriously and addressing the global inequality that makes the climate crisis so devastating.”

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