The Church of Scotland joined with climate change activists this week to put pressure on the Scottish Government to commit to ambitious new greenhouse gas reduction targets.
The Church, which is a member of the Stop Climate Chaos coalition, took part in a rally outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh on Monday as MSPs debated the first stage of a bill proposing cuts to emissions.
Activists came together to tell MSPs that the world and its leaders are running out of time to take action against the effects of climate change.
Over the weekend, bell ringers from churches across Edinburgh made a similar statement as they gathered outside St Giles Cathedral to mark Earth Hour by ringing hand bells. Earth Hour is an annual climate change awareness event in which the lights of major landmarks are turned off.
The Church said that "bold" emissions targets would bring climate justice one step closer to realisation.
Adrian Shaw, Climate Change Officer at the Church of Scotland, said: "We are profoundly concerned by the growing climate emergency.
"Our partner churches across the world tell us about the damage that climate change is doing to their countries and individual communities.
"We strongly support the idea of a just transition to a low carbon economy.
"On behalf of church congregations across Scotland, we call upon the Scottish Government to take action and make Scotland a net zero carbon emission country by 2050 – at the latest."
The Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Bill was introduced to the Scottish Parliament in May 2018 in response to the 2015 Paris Agreement which committed country leaders to taking action to keep global warming to 1.5C.
The Bill proposes increasing Scotland's greenhouse gas reduction targets from the current 80 per cent to 90 per cent by 2050.
It received the unanimous backing of MSPs in Holyrood on Monday but the Scottish Government has said that it wants to wait for a new report from the UK Committee on Climate Change coming out in May before moving the legislation to stage 2.
The report in May is expected to address the warning issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released last year that a global warming increase of over 1.5C will have catastrophic consequences for the planet.
