In conversation with Mark McGeoghegan about who pays and when for Net Zero 2045.
Image credit: Scottish Parliament
The new draft Climate Change Plan (CCP) that strives to guide Scotland through a “just transition” was released on 6 November 2025 and since then has been open to feedback from the public. The Glasgow University Environmental and Sustainability Team have held workshops, allowing students to have their voices heard and Glasgow University furthermore organised Scotland at the Crossroads: Net Zero and the Next Parliament, a public policy panel at the Scottish Parliament as part of their Festival of Politics.
The big question however is the cost of a transition to Net Zero; who is going to pay, when and how? At both the campus workshops and the Parliament event there was a shared consensus amongst attendees that the population cannot afford not to go through with the plan. It comes as a frustration to many that the question around cost is being debated, when the alternative is an uninhabitable planet. One of the panelist’s Mark McGeoghegan a Research Associate at the Centre for Public Policy has spoken with The Glasgow Guardian around these frustrations and explained the politics behind the policies and why:
“We can’t afford not to do it but on the other hand we can’t afford to do it as quickly and as in a top down a fashion as most of our students would want us to do at the university and as most voters would want us to do as well.”
Although this isn’t the answer many of us would want Mark agreed:
“In principle, that makes complete sense and that is certainly where I am. It’s not just students and young people who feel that way, it’s a very large chunk of the population. About two thirds of the population feel similarly.”
However, there are more trade offs than most realise when it comes to the journey to Net Zero and many government resources are being drained by ongoing political crises, tensions and issues. On the war in Iran, the outcome on the UK’s economy will be reflected in multiple ways as Mark explains:
“borrowing costs are going up, we are already heavily indebted as a country as a result private capital markets are relatively unwilling to lend to the UK government, without demanding very high bond yields.”
Consequently, food prices go up, so does fuel and public transport. Mark agreed, it is difficult for someone to worry about an ongoing climate crisis when their daily goal is to put food on the table.
Moreover, in order to reach Net Zero:
“The borrowing costs would be enormous and you would have to cut massive amounts of spending elsewhere. So you would have to cut the NHS, defensive spending, social care spending, you’d have to massively increase taxes as well at a time when most people don’t feel they can afford significant tax increases.”
We agreed that the NHS and social care funding could not be cut, nor could education or defence as: “the world is becoming an increasingly threatening place”. You could turn to any area of public interest and provide a myriad of reasons why spending cannot be cut, while also agreeing Net Zero has to be reached as quickly and as efficiently as possible as:“the immediate local effects of climate change are becoming more apparent to people”
Mark and I were both in agreement that:
“It’s also just a fact, we can’t afford for the planet to become inhabitable, so we need to make these investments. The argument around how fast, how much and who pays is a valid one because it can’t all just come from the government and it can’t all just be tomorrow.”
With the upcoming Holyrood election on 7 May 2026, it is crucial timing for the new party to act swiftly on the CCP. However, we are too far removed from a two party system as Mark explains:
“The party system is fragmenting, parties like Labour and The Conservatives used to be able to depend on a very large base and then they would compete with the centrists who would swing between the parties. That is now completely gone. Left wing voters will now vote for the Greens or the SNPs or Plaid Cymru or left liberals, the Liberal Democrats rather than vote for Labour. On the right, Conservatives, people who used to vote for The Conservatives will now vote for Reform UK or potentially even more extreme far right parties.”
On Scotland and the Labour effect of Westminster: “people trust them a lot less in Scotland now because they’ve seen how, frankly, incompetent they have been in Westminster.”
Aside from the Greens, most party manifestos do not have climate change as a top priority, and this is because it is not voters’ main priority. Mark explained this is because people engage with politics at a local level, what impacts you immediately:
“You take a step back and you look at the big picture, the broad picture and it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. This is the big threat to civilisation, to the continuation of the human species and that feels a bit more important than bin collections and pot holes”
If you are experiencing extreme wait times in A&E or having to shell out to fix your car as a result of pot holes, slightly warmer winters are not your biggest threat. It is therefore the government’s responsibility once in power to make engage climate policy more locally as:
“If it needs to be obvious the horrible impact this could have, it’s too late.”
Although for the Green Party this is their top priority, Mark explains: “in order to win elections you need to meet people where they are, and that applies to the Greens as much as it does to any other party”
“any major program of change in a liberal democracy you have to carry people with you, further down the road, once you have public consent, maybe then you can start implementing rules to preserve that”
My final question was on the rise of Reform UK, notorious climate deniers. Mark explained:
“post election when we do have twentyish potentially reform UK MSPs, in the Scottish Parliament, they will hotly contest that when it comes to the climate change plan and government spending when it comes to Net Zero”
The other parties who believe in a just transition at whatever pace “should welcome that. Because that gives them a fight that they can have in public.”
In having a fight, you have something to win. It is about time some real force and accountability came forward for our road to Net Zero. In this upcoming election we look to our government to guide us through this potentially turbulent transition and to take action, meeting the public where they are.
Image Credit: Scottish Parliament
