First Minister signs climate change agreement with New Jersey governor

Nicola Sturgeon has signed a joint agreement with the governor of New Jersey to tackle climate change.

The First Minister, on a visit to North America, announced the deal at a meeting with Phil Murphy on Tuesday.

It follows the signing of a climate change agreement between Ms Sturgeon and governor of California Jerry Brown on a previous visit to the US in 2017.

The First Minister said: “We all have a moral responsibility to tackle climate change and the Scottish Government has set ambitious targets to reduce emissions and increase our electricity from renewable sources.

“Climate change is a global problem and agreements like these, working in partnership with like-minded administrations, will help us tackle the harmful effects it has on the planet.

“I look forward to working with New Jersey as we work towards our shared ambitions.”

  • Share experience and best practices on tackling climate change.

  • Work with like-minded countries, states and regions to increase ambition on climate change.

  • Promote business and economic opportunities created by the transition to a low-carbon economy.

New Jersey has developed an offshore wind initiative and has established a goal of 3,500 megawatts (MW) of offshore wind energy by 2030.

Mr Murphy said: “As New Jersey progresses on the path to 100% clean energy, we are grateful to partner with Scotland to tackle the issue of climate change head on.

“Scotland has a world-class offshore wind industry and we are looking forward to learning from them as we establish offshore wind farms in our state.”

The agreement commits Scotland and New Jersey to sharing experience and best practices on tackling climate change; working with like-minded countries, states and regions to increase ambition on climate change, and promoting business and economic opportunities created by the transition to a low-carbon economy.

Meanwhile, the First Minister has announced the appointment of Barry Logue as the new renewables specialist for the east coast of North America, which Opportunity North East and Scottish Development International are co-funding.

The new role focuses on building connections for Scotland in the renewables sector in North America, identifying commercial opportunities in the supply chain and supporting Scottish companies to compete and win business in this emerging market.

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