‘Cost of inaction is more than money’
GLASGOW is in the vanguard of tackling climate change, according to the city’s council leader.
In an interview with the Glasgow Times as COP26 is under way, Susan Aitken said the city has big challenges but is setting an example in how it is facing them.
We asked Aitken how the city contributed to climate change, what steps it was taking to address the problem and how the solution in Glasgow would be funded.
Local issues like domestic heating and how we travel around the city are the key driver. Aitken said Glasgow is getting extreme weather.
She said: “We are seeing in Glasgow more flooding. We see longer periods of hot weather and when it rains it is for longer and it is heavier.”
Aitken said: “We do a lot to contribute to global warming. Glasgow is making progress, but we have a long way to go.
“Nearly all of us use fossil fuels through gas boilers. We need to transition from that in the next decade.
“Not only that but our homes are not energy efficient.”
Glasgow has challenges with pre-1919 tenements made of porous red sandstone which is difficult to insulate.
Aitken said: “There are around 70,000 of them. We think there are around 430,000 homes in the city region that need to be retrofitted. The River Clyde is a solution, taking thermal energy from the river. We need more heat pumps and ground source air pumps. That can get emissions from domestic energy down to as close to zero as possible.”
Glasgow’s roads have been altered during the pandemic and for COP26, and the council leader says we need to rely less on cars.
She said: “The city is far too car dominated. We need to have all public transport in Glasgow, buses and trains, decarbonised.
“Cars are not going to disappear but people are going to have to move away from petrol and diesel to electric or bio fuel.
“We need charging networks. Around 70% of people live in flats so we need to find space for charging.”
Governments have a big role to play in driving change.
She said: “The Glasgow Metro has gone beyond being an idea and can link parts of the city region that are not well connected.
“We as individuals need to make changes but governments need to make it as easy as possible to allow people to make those changes by providing greater alternatives to the car. It was not by accident, or just about the SEC as a venue, that Glasgow was named host of the COP26.
“We are seen as a city that is not letting the challenges stand in the way of ambition.
“It’s not just about targets, there’s plans and actions to back it up. We are seen by our international peers as a city in the vanguard of moving to decarbonisation but with opportunities to deliver jobs.”
The interventions will cost money, with an estimate of £30 billion in Glasgow, but she said that cost is the wrong way to look at the situation. Aitken said: “We don’t know how we are going to pay for it. That’s why it is being discussed at COP26, we need to have these discussions.
“How do we direct global finance into investments across the world. Money isn’t lacking, what’s lacking is the collective will to make sure it goes away from fossil fuels into sustainable technologies.
“People ask who is going to pay for it but it’s not about paying for it. What we will get at the end is massive. It is estimated for every pound we spend on net zero we get nine back in benefits like jobs or savings like lower bills. That’s how we need to look at it.
“The cost of inaction is so much more than a financial cost.”