Progress for People and Planet, Together

Today’s contribution to THE FUTURE WE WANT series is by Patrick Harvie MSP, the Net Zero, Constitution and External Affairs Spokesperson for the Scottish Greens. Patrick was co-Leader of the Scottish Greens 2008-2025 and one of the first Green politicians in the UK to serve as a government minister.

Over the past year, I’ve been reflecting on what progress really looks like. 

Politics often gets trapped in a false choice: people or planet, prosperity or sustainability, now or the future. Yet one of the clearest lessons from my time as a Scottish Green MSP is that this trade-off is largely a myth. The reality is that many of the changes we need to make for the climate align with what people already want – cheaper and more reliable public transport, warm homes that cost less to heat, affordable food, cleaner air and neighbourhoods designed for people rather than cars. The future we want is not about sacrifice, it is about improvement.

In Parliament, the Scottish Greens have worked to show that environmental action delivers real social benefits when done properly. Whether it’s making it safer and easier to walk and cycle, driving up housing standards, or investing to restore nature, the principle has been consistent: progress for people and the planet must happen together.

We recently had Stage 2 of the Natural Environment Bill in Holyrood and whilst it didn’t have everything we would want in it, we demonstrated again that Greens get things done. We secured changes to the Bill that mean the Scottish Government no longer has the right to pick apart nature protections via regulatory changes, which would put the whole Bill’s purpose in jeopardy. We also passed an amendment that ensures all new buildings over a certain size must include ‘swift bricks’ as part of their design, a very simple change to protect a declining species. According to the RSPB, the UK’s swift population has fallen by two thirds since 1995 in large part due to disturbance and loss of their nesting places. In 2020, they were added to the UK’s red list of birds most in need of conservation so we’re pleased to have been able to take decisive action and win additional protections on this.

Our new co-leader Ross Greer is proposing to amend the Bill to ramp up fines for environmental crime, by more than doubling the maximum fine from £40,000 to £100,000. Whether we will pass this at Stage 3 remains to be seen but the message is clear that we punch above our weight and this wouldn’t be happening if there were not Green voices in the room.

As we head into the next budget process in January, this same progressive approach underpins our priorities. Take free bus travel for under-30s. This is climate action but it is also a cost-of-living measure, a public health intervention, and an investment in opportunity. It helps young people access work, education and social life, while building lifelong habits around public transport. This is exactly the kind of policy that shows how climate progress and social justice are not competing goals, but mutually reinforcing ones.

We are entering a pivotal political moment. With the Scottish Parliament approaching the end of the session ahead of next year’s election, there is a growing sense of momentum across the progressive political spectrum. Polling shows increased support for Green policies, and Green membership is at record levels reflecting public appetite for change. People know that the status quo is not delivering – on bills, on housing, on public services or on the climate – and they are looking for credible alternatives rooted in hope and equality.

This stands in stark contrast to the current direction of travel at Westminster. I think most of us wanted to find reason for optimism as we welcomed the end of 15 years of Tory rule, but Labour has backtracked, dithered and delayed to the point of eroding any public trust in their promise of change.

The UK Government’s inaction on climate, the refusal to rule out oil and gas extraction at Rosebank, and rolling back of other net zero commitments are all deeply concerning. We are seeing climate policy weakened not because it has failed, but because of political cowardice and a willingness to pander to far-right narratives amplified by a hostile media.

That same trend – the rise of the far right, in the UK and beyond – thrives on fear and division.

The antidote is not retreat but confidence in showing that a greener future is also a safer, fairer and more prosperous one.

There are reasons for hope. Internationally, decades of climate negotiations have been painfully slow, but the context is changing as we see dramatic progress on clean energy, and most countries are recognising their responsibility on climate finance.

We’ve seen what happens when the Government takes a back seat and leaves communities to the mercy of the free market. Grangemouth and Mossmoran are only the most recent examples of communities left reeling from change we knew was coming, and both governments bear responsibility for the lack of a just transition plan that holds polluting industries accountable and supports workers into the green economy.

In Scotland, we have enormous potential in renewable energy growth, from offshore wind to local microgeneration. But real leadership means ensuring that communities benefit directly through lower bills, local ownership, and good green jobs.

Implementing big, national changes like decarbonising our grid remain essential, but so is supporting communities on the micro-level by doing things like insulating homes, tackling fuel poverty, and supporting people through change. Climate action that leaves people behind will always fail. Climate action that improves lives will endure.

The future we want is not a distant utopia, and it doesn’t need to wait for new technology to come along. It can come in the form of walkable cities, warm homes, affordable transport and thriving natural spaces. It is built through policies that reflect how people actually live and what they actually want. There is a public appetite for change – our task is to meet it with honesty, ambition and optimism.

If we Greens tell that story well, and if we continue to root our politics in care for each other and the environment we depend on, then the future we want is not only possible – it is within reach.

Patrick was a keynote speaker at THE TABULA PROJECT Roundtable Discussion Clearing Obstructions.  A full write up of the roundtable discussion series can be found here.