Patrick Harvie (born 18 March 1973) is a Scottish politician who served as Minister for Zero Carbon Buildings, Active Travel and Tenants' Rights from 2021 to 2024.

In September 2008, Harvie was appointed as male co-convenor of the Scottish Greens, serving alongside Eleanor Scott, Martha Wardrop and Maggie Chapman.

At a young age, Harvie became involved in politics, having first attended a Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament demo with his mother, while still in a pram.

[1] This campaign was successful, and he has stated that the experience prompted him to become more actively involved in politics, leading to his membership of the Scottish Green Party.

He became the male co-convenor of the Scottish Greens on 22 September 2008 after being the only person to stand for the position, after Robin Harper resigned.

[13] Despite working closer with the SNP, he remained opposed to the Scottish Government's infrastructure projects, including his longstanding opposition to the M74 motorway and their planning framework, claiming it represented only "more bridges, more airport expansion, and barely a thought for the major renewables projects that should be front and centre in a document like this".

[19] While he campaigned in-favour, not as a 'nationalist', Harvie stated the cause for independence was "for a vision of Scotland as a peaceful country with social justice, equality and environmental protection at its core".

[21][22] In 2017, Harvie supported the successful North Kelvin meadow campaign to take over an area of greenspace into community ownership, as part of a wider Green push for land reform.

After the result, he said Scotland "must keep open every option for protecting ourselves from this threat"[24] Since Brexit, he has voiced his support for the Scottish Government's proposal for a second independence referendum.

[25] When rumours emerged that Nicola Sturgeon was considering 'shelving' another referendum, Harvie called on the Scottish Government to "keep its promise to pass an independence bill to protect Scotland from a hard Brexit.

[29] In August 2021 after weeks of talks, he was at Bute House with his co-leader Lorna Slater and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to announce a power-sharing agreement that would see the Green party in government for the first time in the United Kingdom.

[34] During his tenure, COP26 was held in his home city of Glasgow and Harvie used to occasion to raise the issue of Scottish independence with world leaders.

Sturgeon had asked the British Government whether the new Cambo oil field near Shetland should be "reassessed" in light of the climate crisis.

However, Greenpeace said fence sitting was not good enough and urged the First Minister to "stop hiding behind Boris Johnson" and oppose the oilfield.

He and Lorna Slater proposed resigning from their ministerial posts in 2023 if the winner of the 2023 Scottish National Party leadership election and next First Minister delayed or rewrote the legislation.

[40] Ash Regan, an MSP who had defected from the SNP to the Alba Party, launched a motion of no confidence in Harvie's ministership for "siding with ideology over science".

[41] After ending the Bute House Agreement, thereby removing the Greens from government, Humza Yousaf said that SNP MSPs had been "upset" by Harvie's comments, but that it had not "necessarily" been a factor in the termination.

[42][43] Harvie consulted on a 'New Deal for Tenants' in 2021, which would include rent controls, a right to have a pet and eviction protections.

[47] The measures were extended for a final time in September 2023, with Harvie promising the introduction of permanent rent controls.

He has been highly critical of the British monarchy, calling for the monarch to be replaced with a "democratically accountable head of state", as well as describing the Royal Family an "outdated, discredited and totally undemocratic institution".