Driving change for Scotland’s Climate Week 2023

As the world tackles the urgent need to reduce carbon emissions, Scotland continues to take bold steps toward securing a more sustainable future. Scotland's Climate Week 2023 is an example of the Scottish Government’s commitment to addressing the climate crisis and encouraging behavioural change.

This Climate Week, people are being encouraged to reevaluate their relationships with their cars. There needs to be a shift away from dependence on cars to meet our climate goals.

Transport accounts for around a quarter of Scotland’s carbon emissions, making it the largest sectoral emitter, with cars making up 41% of transport emissions. This highlights why it is so important for people to reduce their car use and look to alternative, more sustainable transport options.

If you can, reducing your car travel can really benefit you and those around you. Whether it’s clearing your head with a bike ride, spending less money on fuel by walking or wheeling to the shops, taking the bus or the train to work or working from home to reduce your journeys, there are many alternatives to using the car.

Setting up a carpool with a colleague that lives nearby is another option which takes another car off the road and reduces emissions.

Choosing to walk, wheel, cycle or use public transport instead of taking the car is something we can all do to travel in a more sustainable way.

Promoting the benefits of public transport is important to encourage people to reevaluate their car use. Climate Week will showcase efforts to make buses, trams, and trains more convenient, efficient, and affordable.

Low Emission Zones (LEZs) work to protect public health, improve air quality and help support a shift to more sustainable transport in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow. LEZs restrict access for the most polluting vehicles and drivers of the non-compliant vehicles that enter a LEZ are given a penalty charge notice. They encourage people to use cleaner, more sustainable vehicles or use an alternative mode of transport, such as walking, wheeling, cycling or public transport.

Scotland’s Climate Week 2023 is a call to action for individuals and communities to make a difference in the fight against climate change. Working together, we can drive positive change and create a more sustainable future for all.

How will you take part in Scotland’s Climate Week? To find out you can be involved, go to netzeronation.scot/whats-happening/scotlands-climate-week