Protestors take part in Edinburgh climate march
Activists marched through the city centre to the Scottish Parliament.
Last updated 16th Sep 2023
Climate campaigners have been protesting in the capital today, as part of 400 events taking place across the world.
Activists marched from the Mound to the Scottish Parliament.
Many expressed how they want to end new oil and gas developments in Scotland, and see the start of the transition to green energy.
Rosebank is the largest undeveloped oilfield in the UK, located about 80 miles off the coast of Shetland.
One of the organisers, Freya Aitchison from Friends of the Earth Scotland, feels these developments must not be progressed further.
She said: "Fossil fuels are at the moment driving the climate crisis.
"The impacts we're seeing of the heatwaves, floods, wildfires, they're all caused by the burning of fossil fuels.
"It's essential we move away from them and move towards cleaner, renewable energy to limit the impact of fossil fuels as much as possible."
One teacher, who is a member with Scotland's largest teaching union EIS, outlined how they were marching for the future of young people.
She said: "Obviously we're really dedicated to good futures for our kids.
"If we have a planet that's on a fire, they haven't got much of a future.
"We need well educated children in a planet that's survivable and habitable."
The Scottish Government say they're investing £5 billion into Scotland's net zero energy economy.
A spokesperson said: "The First Minister has made plain that climate change is a key priority for the Scottish Government and is committed to a just transition to the new economy.
"Earlier this year we consulted on our draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan, which sets out the importance of the development of Scotland’s future energy system for our economy.
"We are backing this up with almost £5 billion of investment in the net zero energy economy in Scotland over this parliamentary term."
A spokesperson for the UK's Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said: “The UK is a trailblazer in its ambitions to reach net zero by 2050 – forging ahead of many other countries and nearly halving emissions since 1990.
“While we respect the right to protest, the transition to non-fossil forms of energy cannot happen overnight.
"Even when we’re net zero, we will still need some oil and gas – the industry also significantly boosts the Scottish economy, estimated to support around 90,000 jobs.
"Independent research has shown domestically produced gas is on average four times cleaner than imports."