Climate campaigners stage “Love Trees, Axe Drax” protest

Climate justice campaigners from groups including Extinction Rebellion Edinburgh, Biofuelwatch, Fuel Poverty Action, Stop Burning Trees, Protest in Harmony and Parents for Future Scotland have staged a musical and dance demonstration in Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh as part of a UK-wide mobilisation for Drax’s AGM which is taking place in London today. 

Drax is the UK’s single largest carbon emitter and the world’s biggest tree burner.

The ‘Love Trees, Axe Drax’ protest featured speeches, dancing by the Scotland Tree Gees to ‘Staying Alive’ by the Bee Gees as well as singing led by Protest in Harmony, including Drax-themed lyrics to ‘Hit the Road Drax’ and ‘Money Money Money’ by Abba.  

The Edinburgh demonstration is part of a wider online and in-person mobilisation for Drax’s AGM today, with other protests happening in York, Liverpool and outside the AGM in London to call for an end to Drax’s tree-burning subsidies.  

In 2024, Drax received £869 million in green subsidies from UK energy bills, whilst making nearly £1.1 billion in profit and giving its CEO, Will Gardiner, a salary of nearly £3m.

In February this year, the Government announced plans to use UK energy bills to extend Drax’s renewable subsidies until 2031, contrary to the advice of the Climate Change Committee [4], and with no obligation for the company to capture any of the carbon dioxide it emits.

Sally Clark from Biofuelwatch said: ‘There is nothing green or sustainable about Drax’s tree burning, climate-wrecking emissions and harm to communities and wildlife. The Government needs to reconsider its catastrophic plans to grant huge new tree-burning subsidies for Drax

‘If we are to keep global temperature rises below 1.5 degrees and ensure a liveable future for all, we need to protect and restore the world’s forests, not allow big polluters like Drax to log and burn them.’ 

Cathy Allen from Extinction Rebellion Edinburgh said: ‘It is shocking that Drax is receiving billions in renewable subsidies from our energy bills to burn trees and pollute communities around the world.

“This is the opposite of green energy and the government’s plans to waste even more of our money on new subsidies for Drax will be a disaster for the planet if they go ahead. 

‘If the Government is serious about climate leadership, it should invest in real solutions like warm homes and wind and solar power, not send our futures up in smoke with even more money for Drax’s climate-wrecking tree burning.’

Drax has repeatedly been accused of driving ‘environmental racism’ by communities in the Southern US living near Drax’s pellet mills, which emit harmful pollutants linked to asthma, cancer and pulmonary health issues.

Earlier this month, the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality refused Drax’s permit application to expand air pollution at its wood pellet mill in Gloster, Mississippi due to public health concerns and following multiple fines for Drax over air pollution violations.

Merry Dickinson, Lead Campaigner for the Stop Burning Trees Coalition said: ‘Today, Drax is gathering with its shareholders to discuss the profits it’s made from ripping off bill payers, burning forests and polluting communities abroad. Drax’s profits are built off scamming bill payers, destroying vital forests and polluting Black and low income communities in the US. 

‘It is a disgrace that the Government has just granted Drax more of our money to continue polluting our planet. We will not stand by and allow Drax’s destruction to go unchecked. The future is in real green energy and green jobs, not Drax’s dirty tree burning and pollution.’

Stuart Bretherton from Fuel Poverty Action said: ‘To stick further costs onto our energy bills, to continue subsidising record breaking profits from Drax’s destroying and burning of vital forests, is criminal.

“It’s not hard to find the solutions that could reduce bills and boost energy security without betraying our climate targets and harming communities here and abroad.

“This government should be looking at why the unit price of electricity is still tied to that of gas, forcing us to pay far more to heat our homes this way even though renewable electricity is much cheaper to produce. 

“And why are we paying out huge sums of public money for wind and solar farms to switch off during the highest periods of production, when this excess clean energy could power our homes for next to nothing, literally for free?” 

Last week, a new report by the Public Accounts Committee raised concerns that wood-burning companies like Drax are ‘marking their own homework’ when it comes to meeting sustainability standards.

BBC Panorama investigations have found that Drax is continuing to log primary forests in British Columbia in Canada and the company has failed more than once to report that it is sourcing wood to burn from previously untouched forests in Canada.

Time To Divest!

PROTEST TONIGHT at 6pm HAYMARKET SQUARE

Join us at 6pm tonight for a demonstration outside the offices of the Lothian Pension Fund Committee at 9 Haymarket Square.

Let’s make the councillors who sit on the LPF feel the pressure for divestment that is building globally.

Unite CEC branch: Budget Demo

The City of Edinburgh Council will decide its budget for financial year 2025 to 2026 at the Full Council Meeting next Thursday – 20th February 2025.

A demo will take place outside the City Chambers on the High Street from 8.30am to 9.30am on the day.

The council budget debate starts at 10am and is also broadcast live on the City of Edinburgh Council webcast site

Our branch will send a deputation to the meeting to speak on behalf of our branch members.

Look at the council budget papers on the council website for more details on what is being planned

More voices speak out against devastating EIJB funding cuts

EDINBURGH INTEGRATION JOINT BOARD PLANS TO END £4.5 million GRANTS TO 63 COMUNITY PROJECTS

SCOTTISH COUNCIL of VOLUNTARY ORGANIATIONS (SCVO)

SCVO response to proposal by Edinburgh Integrated Joint Board to remove grant-funding from voluntary organisations:

Letter to Councillor Cammy Day, Leader of City of Edinburgh Council,

Professor John Connaghan OBE, Chair of NHS Lothian 

cc Pat Togher, Chief Officer EIJB

Proposal by Edinburgh Integrated Joint Board to remove grant-funding from voluntary organisations  

I am writing to add SCVO’s voice to the protests regarding the IJB’s proposal to withdraw funding in-year from charities and community groups. 37 of our members are impacted by this decision. 

The intention outlined in the board paper to take a more strategic and collaborative approach in the future has been totally undermined by the impact of reneging on this year’s grant funding.

Trust is a fragile thing, and it will take a long time to rebuild any sense that the council and the health board have an understanding of, or respect for, the voluntary organisations that do so much to support our communities.

When you look to build your strategic partnership in 2025, many of them simply won’t be there because they will have gone out of business. 

Far from saving money, this will generate significant costs to public services as people fall through the cracks, and the additional millions of pounds voluntary organisations bring in from trusts and foundations or the private sector through match funding and other fundraising activities will disappear. A truly strategic approach would be looking to maximise that income-generation, not cut it off. 

It appears that over 100 people who were already in a precarious enough position will lose their jobs. And the discretionary effort of hundreds more volunteers will be lost. 

It is evident that when money is tight, which I recognise it is, the council and the health board have retrenched and focused on short-term savings rather than the public good.

The table in the board paper which illustrates where the money could be “better spent” says it all – to the IJB, acute services matter more than prevention or early intervention. As well as being short-sighted ethically and financially, it flies in the face of all the evidence around what communities need and the rhetoric around person-centred services and prevention.  

I would urge you to intervene and stop the IJB making a decision everyone involved will regret. 

Yours sincerely,

Anna Fowlie
Chief Executive, SCVO

BIG HEARTS: “The value the charity sector brings to our local communities should never be in doubt.”

VOLUNTARY HEALTH SCOTLAND:

VHS Chief Executive @MistryTej has commented on the recent cuts being proposed by Edinburgh IJB.

What will it take for recognition of the crucial work the third sector are doing to reduce health inequalities?

#WEAREVITAL

VOLUNTEER EDINBURGH:

Along with the rest of the sector we are extremely concerned by the proposed early cessation of EIJB grant funding to 64 voluntary sector organisations.  As well as the loss of important services and the associated job losses, this will impact volunteering.

Volunteers are at the heart of the affected organisations, contributing 206,000 hours of support to people in the community worth over £2m. These volunteering opportunities are not only a lifeline to people they help support.

They also enable local people to be active in their communities, build confidence, develop skills, reduce isolation – all of which contribute to better health outcomes for volunteers themselves.

The impact of the loss of these volunteering opportunities cannot be understated.

LIVING RENT:

64 charities are at the risk of closure due to £4.5 million worth of proposed cuts. This will have devastating effects for tenants, for workers and for communities across Edinburgh.

Let’s defend our community centres, services & jobs.

Join us to say NO to Labour-led cuts!

SCOTT ARTHUR MP:

I have today (Wednesday) written to the Cheif (sic) Officer of the EIJB opposing the proposed cuts to the third sector in my constituency – I expressed my concerns in the strongest possible terms.

I support @cllrcammyday fully in his call for fair funding for Edinburgh.

Edinburgh Integration Joint Board meets TOMORROW (Friday 1 December) in the Dean of Guilds Room at The City Chambers at 10am.

The following organisations will make their case against the cuts at the meeting:

Papers for the meeting are below:

Victory for campaigners fighting to defend the right to protest

WILLIE BLACK CLEARED

ANTI-WAR campaigners won their own battle yesterday when the Procurator Fiscal dropped charges against North Edinburgh activist Willie Black.

Protesters celebrated outside Edinburgh Sheriff Court on the news that three charges of organising illegal protests had been dropped.

A victory for those campaigning to defend the Right to Protest.

✊
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NOW WE RISE!

We’re joining the COP28 Global Day of Action in Edinburgh!

Let’s show that Scotland is united for action – to tackle the climate and nature crisis, secure sustainable jobs & a fairer, greener society.

Saturday, 9th December

Scottish Parliament, Holyrood Edinburgh

https://climatefringe.org/cop28-scotland

Divestment Day of Action

Climate campaigners in Edinburgh join national protests against fossil fuel investment

Demonstration took place in Edinburgh yesterday (24 March) as part of UK-wide divestment day of action
– More than 30 groups across Britain joined “Divest from Crisis, invest in our future” events to call for an end to council investments in fossil fuels
– Climate campaigners highlight the Lothian and Falkirk Pension Funds’ investment in big polluters by staging a theatrical depiction of the love triangle between the Pension Funds, fossil fuel companies and green investments outside City Chambers

Climate justice campaigners from Edinburgh and Falkirk staged a theatrical demonstration outside Edinburgh City Chambers today (24 March) to call on the Lothian and Falkirk Pension Funds to stop investing in fossil fuels.

Local campaigners from Divest Lothian, Friends of the Earth Falkirk and Stop Rosebank staged a short period-costume drama, taking inspiration from Martin Scorsese’s classic film ‘The Age of Innocence’, to depict the love triangle between the Lothian and Falkirk pension funds, big polluters and green investments.

The Edinburgh protest is one of over 30 demonstrations taking place across the UK today as part of a “Divestment Day of Action” to urge councils, pension funds, and financial institutions to take action to address the crises of fuel poverty, climate breakdown, and energy security by removing investments from fossil fuels.

The Lothian Pension Fund, administered by the City of Edinburgh Council for the four Lothian councils, invests an estimated £229 million in fossil fuel companies which are driving climate breakdown, including BP, Shell, ExxonMobil and Equinor.

The Falkirk Pension Fund, which is run by Falkirk Council, invests an estimated £123 million in some of the world’s biggest polluters, including BP and Shell.

Joan Forehand, campaigner with Divest Lothian, said: “All paths to a livable and economically viable future start with ending the exploration for, and development of, new sources of fossil fuels and instead investing in the rapid development of clean energy.

“The last year has shown fossil fuel companies doubling down on further expansion of oil and gas whilst continuing to distract the public with greenwashing. All responsible investors have a part to play in recognising that they hold great power, via divesting, to signal to policymakers that these companies are on a path that is no longer morally or economically supportable.”

In 2022, both the City of Edinburgh Council and East Lothian Council passed motions calling on the Lothian Pension Fund to divest from fossil fuel companies, but the fund has not yet changed its policy.

Sally Clark, divestment campaigner at Friends of the Earth Scotland, said: “The spiralling cost of living and the breakdown of the global climate are both symptoms of an unstable and unjust fossil fuel energy system that is devastating communities around the world.

“By continuing to invest in big polluters like BP and Shell, the Lothian and Falkirk Pension Funds are literally gambling with our futures. It’s time for both funds to end their investments in climate-wrecking fossil fuels and instead invest in warmer homes and renewable energy that can help ensure we have a liveable planet for future generations.”

Luke Henderson, Chair of Unison West Lothian Branch, said: “More and more public sector and private sector pension funds are making the switch to fossil free investments. The Lothian Pension Fund needs to catch up with them.

“Fossil fuel companies are not effectively responding to the fact that they need to move to renewable energy in the future and currently invest only a tiny fraction of their investments in green energy. History is littered with once dominant companies that did not respond to changes and who suddenly disappear.

“Companies like Olivetti refused to move from typewriters to computers or Kodak who refused to move to digital photography. We should switch our investments before it is too late and the fossil fuel companies stock value plummets.

“Furthermore, in the face of extraordinary economic challenges ahead, we need to reset and create a new economy that places the health of us all above the wealth of a few. Local government pension schemes can play a part in this by mobilising the money they move out of fossil fuels into socially useful investments in the local economy.”

Homeless Project Scotland to hold peaceful protest this morning

It is said that the mark of a civilised society is how we treat our most vulnerable citizens; what does this say about our society?

Homeless Project Scotland are holding a peaceful protest outside the Glasgow City Chambers in George Square this morning at 10:00 am.  

A spokesperson for the campaign group explained: “The aim of the peaceful protest is simply to demonstrate to elected members that Homeless Project Scotland’s call for a building will not be ignored. Our soup kitchens are now becoming a service operating 7 days per week and are attracting over 200 members on average. 

“We have asked Council Leader Susan Aitken and Scotland’s First Minister to bring our most vulnerable and those experiencing homelessness in doors to have warmth, care, compassion and nourishment that is essential to us all to survive. The time for talking is over. It is now the time to cut the keys. 

“We are hearing time after time from people on social media outlets that we are bringing people into the city centre, in actual fact it is the council.

“Since 2020 the council has had 4 Glasgow Hotels all located walking distance from our current unit under the Central Station Bridge and indeed, the removal of dinner from these accommodations is, among the cost of living and the COVID-19 pandemic, to a sharp incline. Poverty is now becoming the fastest spreading epidemic and we need action now. 

“Our peaceful assembly is welcome for everyone to come and partake in and is potentially going to the circuit Scotland’s Streets.

“Homelessness is not invisible, these are people, it is ridiculous that in this day and age that people are pushed to choose heat or eat. There is a tenfold increase in the number of service users we are seeing and a tenfold increase in the number of street outreach clients. 

“It is said that the mark of a civilised society is how we treat our most vulnerable citizens; what does this say about our society? 

There will be refreshments and a good old fashioned Scots Broth Soup for those in attendance.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

WE STRIKE TOGETHER: Demonstrations across Scotland

Striking workers, tenants, football supporters and campaigners are set to come together this Saturday to rally against the unprecedented attacks on working people.

Large numbers are expected to gather for the Enough is Enough campaign day of action, which will be held tomorrow (Saturday 1st October). .

A number of organisations are involved in organising the event including the CWU, RMT, Living Rent, Power to the People Glasgow, Glasgow Strike Solidarity group and Fans Supporting Foodbanks Scotland.

The campaign is encouraging people to show solidarity with striking workers on the picket line on Saturday morning – with particular emphasis on the RMT and ASLEF picket line at Glasgow Central and the CWU picket line at the Royal Mail delivery office on Baird Street.

Speakers at Glasgow’s 12 noon rally will include STUC General Secretary Roz Foyer, CWU National Assistant Secretary Davie Robertson, the RMT’s Scottish Organiser Gordon Martin and UNISON’s Kirsteen Fraser, who is currently involved in the industrial action at the University of Glasgow.

Representatives from Fans Supporting Foodbanks, Living Rent and Power to the People Glasgow will also be speaking at the Glasgow event.

Commenting ahead of the day of action, the CWU’s Regional Secretary for Scotland Craig Anderson said: “The Government’s disastrous budget last week has intensified the unprecedented attacks on working people’s living standards.

“For months teachers, nurses, firefighters and all other workers, including CWU members in Royal Mail, the Post Office and the BT Group, have been told that giving them a real pay rise would be inflationary. Well, now we know it’s the government handing out tax cuts to the super rich that is causing the real economic crisis for working people in this country.

“People are angry. Workers are striking back and working class people are taking to the streets to campaign against soaring energy bills and rip off rents. 

“Collective campaigning delivers victories for working people. Join us on Saturday, show solidarity with your posties, rail workers and all other workers taking action to defend living standards and tell the establishment – Enough is Enough.”

The Enough is Enough campaign is also supporting demonstrations in Dundee, Aberdeen and Edinburgh. The details are:

Glasgow – Buchanan Street steps from 12noon onwards

Dundee – meeting at 12pm, 110 Blackness road, DD1 5PB

Aberdeen – meeting at 11am, Marischal college, AB10 1AB

Edinburgh – meeting at 10.30am, Waverley Bridge, EH1 1BQ

STUC: Scotland Demands A Pay Rise

March and Rally outside the Scottish Parliament

Thursday 8th September

Assemble 10:30am: Johnson Terrace, EH1 2PW March off: 11am

Rally at the Scottish Parliament 11.30 – 1pm

The Cost-of-Living Crisis is hitting people across the country. Public service workers in particular are facing a fresh set of real terms pay cuts on top of years of stagnating wages.

The STUC and our affiliated unions are campaigning for a range of urgent actions to stem this crisis, including action to reduce energy bills, support for those of all ages on benefits, rent caps and action to reduce transport costs.

The ultimate responsibility for the Cost-of-Living Crisis sits with the Tories at Westminster. However, this does not mean that the Scottish Government is powerless. It needs to start by funding inflation level pay rises for Scottish public service workers.

Join us, as we demand better for the public service workers of Scotland.