Rishi Sunak has spent the last few weeks on the environmental equivalent of a crime spree.

Firstly, the bizarre yet grim climate-wrecking speech in which he announced that the UK Government was ditching or delaying the already inadequate policies it previously adopted to tackle this global emergency.

And then the catastrophic decision to give the go-ahead to a massive new oil and gas field, Rosebank. With a stroke of his pen, Sunak signed off new emissions equivalent to the world’s twenty-eight poorest countries combined.

The evidence of a climate catastrophe is all around us. More wildfires, floods and storms, record numbers of species going extinct, and people forced to flee their homes.

What we do in the next few years will define life on this planet for centuries to come.

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Governments must show whose side they’re on. Will they stick with the greedy corporations wrecking our planet, or will they stand up for people and planet?

Sunak’s decision on Rosebank shows that he’s fully in the pocket of the same oil and gas companies recording record profits while our household energy bills keep going up.

One of the most painfully misleading things we’ve heard from the Tories is the suggestion that climate action means that people having to suffer. The reality is that it’s their anti-green decisions which have resulted in everything from energy bills to food prices skyrocketing.

Tackling the climate crisis on the other hand, will also create green jobs and make our homes easier and cheaper to heat.

The Scottish Government, with limited powers and a far smaller budget than Westminster, is embracing the opportunities of a green economy.

This month saw the launch of another Scottish Greens policy, the trial removal of peak-time rail fares for six months.

For example, this means mean that a peak-time return ticket from from Helensburgh Central to Glasgow will cost £7.90 instead of £12.40 and to Edinburgh will cost £23.90, down from £41.00 This will help the planet by making public transport a more viable option for thousands of commuters, taking cars off the road every rush hour. It’ll also help make life more affordable for many people who had previously been forced to pay a premium because of the time they had to travel. I’m proud that the trial is happening as a direct result of having the Scottish Greens in government.

This goes hand-in-hand with our hugely successful roll-out of free bus travel for under 22s. Some 8,149 young people in Argyll and Bute have taken 637,428 free journeys free journeys so far.

Every pound saved on a commute is money that can instead go towards heating, eating, and other costs which continue to rise as a result of Westminster’s cost-of-living crisis.