Thousands march for climate change action
THOUSANDS have marched through Edinburgh calling for more action on climate change, as part of a global day of protests to coincide with the COP27 summit in Egypt.
The march set off from St Andrew Square at midday with many people carrying banners and signs, snaking through the city towards Holyrood.
Along the way, some groups stopped at HSBC and Santander offices on Hanover Street, seeking to protest about financial institutions’ support for the fossil fuel industry.
They also stopped at the UK Government’s office near Haymarket, where activists called for the Rosebank oil field off the Shetland Islands to be halted.
The march was organiser by a number of environmental groups, with some also seeking to raise awareness about “prisoners of conscience” in Egypt.
Mike Grant, from Rosewell, was one of 10 Greenpeace activists whose protest at an oil terminal forced a tanker carrying Russian diesel to U-turn in the River Thames in May.
Last week, he and the other nine activists were cleared of aggravated trespass with a judge stating Russia’s war in Ukraine “could be described as terrorism”.
Marching with Extinction Rebellion in Scotland, the 62-year-old said: “With COP27 going on, we are sending a message to governments and world leaders that what they are doing is simply not good enough.
“Specifically here, we’re trying to get a debate about loss and damages going.”
Campaigners have called for countries in the global north to pay more towards compensating global south countries for the impact of climate change.
Mr Grant, a former lieutenant colonel from Rosewell in Midlothian, said the recent protests on the M25 showed some “desperation” was entering the climate movement but it still had “an awful lot of energy”.
Freya Aitchison, an oil and gas campaigner with Friends of the Earth Scotland, said regulators were examining proposals to develop the Rosebank oil field.
She told the PA news agency: “Climate science is really clear that we can’t allow any new oil and gas to be developed if we’re to keep within our safe climate limits of 1.5 degrees.
“So it’s really important that the UK Government says no to it.”
Ms Aitchison also called for the Scottish Government to oppose the scheme, saying this would make a “big difference”.
She said: “This time last year the Scottish Government made a statement opposing the Cambo oil field, which was really important in the campaign against that oil field.”