Scotland's contribution to the Paris Agreement: indicative Nationally Determined Contribution

Part 3: Further Information On Scotland's Action On Adaptation And Resilience^[68]

(a) National circumstances, institutional arrangements and legal frameworks;

The Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 sets the statutory framework for Scotland to adapt to climate change. The legislation requires a programme for climate change adaptation to be set out every 5 years. This must address risks identified in the statutory UK Climate Change Risk Assessments (UKCCRA), which are also updated every five years, based on independent expert advice.

Annual reports are required on progress towards achieving the goals of the Adaptation Programme^[69]. Regular independent assessments of how well Scotland is preparing for climate change are also published by the UK Committee on Climate Change^[70].

The Scottish Government also funds the Adaptation Scotland programme^[71] to support capacity building and action on adaptation by the public sector, businesses and communities in Scotland. This includes developing Scotland's pioneering place-based approach to climate change adaptation. The programme also supports public bodies to develop adaptation capabilities that enable them to take adaptation action at the right time and in an effective way through their award-winning Adaptation Capability Framework.

(b) Impacts, risks and vulnerabilities, as appropriate;

Climate projections from the UK Met Office provide key information about recent climate trends in Scotland, and projections on how these changes are likely to continue and intensify in coming decades. These find that Scotland will experience warmer, wetter winters with more intense rainfall events, hotter drier summers with greater extremes, and that sea levels will continue to rise^[72].

The most recent complete (2017) UKCCRA then draws from these projections to identify the priority climate risks specific to Scotland^[73]. The risks are categorised by whether more action is needed immediately, whether the evidence base needs improving, whether current action is sufficient or whether the risks should be kept under a watching brief. The risks cover the natural environment, infrastructure, people and the built environment, business and industry, international and issues which cut across these themes. The evidence reports for the next (2022) update of the UKCCRA were published by the UK Climate Change Committee in June 2021^[74].

(c) National adaptation priorities, strategies, policies, plans, goals and actions;

The statutory 2019 Scottish Climate Change Adaptation Programme ("the Programme") sets out around 170 policies and proposals to respond to the risks to Scotland published in the 2017 UK Climate Change Risk Assessment over the period to 2024^[75].

The Programme takes an outcomes-based and people-centric approach to climate change adaptation in Scotland. This cross-cutting approach promotes co-benefits and integrates adaptation into wider Scottish Government policy development and service delivery. The seven high level outcomes – closely aligned to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (see diagram 1 on following page) – are as follows:

• Outcome 1: Our communities are inclusive, empowered, resilient and safe in response to the changing climate
• Outcome 2: The people in Scotland who are most vulnerable to climate change are able to adapt and climate justice is embedded in climate change adaptation policy
• Outcome 3: Our inclusive and sustainable economy is flexible, adaptable and responsible to the changing climate
• Outcome 4: Our society's supporting systems are resilient to climate change
• Outcome 5: Our natural environment is valued, enjoyed, protected and enhanced and had increased resilience to climate change
• Outcome 6: Our coastal and marine environment is valued, enjoyed, protected and enhanced and has increased resilience to climate change
• Outcome 7: Our international networks are adaptable to climate change

Among the policies, frameworks and linked strategies to deliver these outcomes are^[76].

• SEPA's second National Flood Risk Assessment^[77], which gives a clear picture of flood risk in Scotland. The Scottish Government is also accelerating investment in flood risk and coastal change adaptation as part of a green and resilient recovery from the impacts of COVID-19.
• The Scottish Government's Land Use Strategy^[1] has a place-based focus and sets out our long term vision for sustainable land use in Scotland, our objective and key-policies for delivery. Climate change adaptation is integrated throughout the Strategy as is the positive role that both nature based solutions and wider green and blue infrastructure can have in helping Scotland to achieve its various national targets and priorities.
• A package of Community Adaptation Action resources^[78] which describe 20 practical actions that communities can take to increase resilience and adapt to changes in the climate.
• Scottish Water's 25-year strategic plan – Our Future Together^[79] – outlines the impact of the changing climate and how the organisation will reduce emissions to become net-zero by 2040. The plan highlights how future investment in vital infrastructure and assets, must combine with innovative and sustainable ways of dealing with climate change and supporting economic growth.
• NatureScot has developed eight Adaptation Principles^[80] which contribute to natural environment climate change adaptation work and uses these principles in land management and advice on the effects of climate change on species and habitats.
• Scotland's Forestry Strategy^[81] aims to improve the resilience of Scotland's forests and woodlands, and increase their contribution to a healthy and high quality environment.
• The Marine Climate Change Impacts Partnership (MCCIP)^[82], brings together scientists, policy makers, government agencies and NGOs to provide coordinated advice on climate change impacts and adaptation in the seas around the coast.

The Programme also includes a comprehensive research programme which aims to address evidence gaps around adaptation in Scotland and inform research-led policy making. Recent areas of focus include building the evidence around soil health and its vulnerability to climate change and the impacts of climate change on delivery of social care services.

(d) Implementation and support needs of, and provision of support to, developing country Parties;

The Scottish Government recognises that climate change adaptation requires international cooperation and also, as part our commitment to championing climate justice, that those who experience the greatest impacts may need more support to adapt. In recognition of the need for increased climate finance globally, the Scottish Government has committed to double our Climate Justice Fund over the next four years.

The Climate Justice Fund embodies the practical action the Scottish Government is taking to support developing countries. Through the Climate Justice Fund's programmes of the Climate Challenge Programme Malawi (CCPM) and the Climate Justice Innovation Fund (CJIF), we have supported some of the most vulnerable communities in Malawi, Zambia and Rwanda to address their respective climate challenges. Our gender responsive approach recognises that women are disproportionately impacted by climate change, yet systematically excluded from decision-making and access to climate finance. The Fund supports projects that increase women's meaningful participation.

In Malawi the CCPM takes a collaborative approach, helping communities to design and implement their own solutions. For example, addressing agricultural resilience through new irrigation schemes and training farmers in climate-resilient agricultural practices. The CCPM centres the voices of vulnerable rural dwellers, especially those not normally in leadership positions like women, in regional government discussions on climate action. Meanwhile the CJIF focuses on innovative solutions that empower women, youth and other vulnerable groups. Projects have included resilient coffee growing, biogas for sustainable energy for schools, artesian well capping or support for communities to hold NGOs and other service providers to account for water provision.

(e) Implementation of adaptation actions and plans, including:

(i) Progress and results achieved;

Progress is being made towards the implementation of the policies detailed in the current Scottish Climate Change Adaptation Programme. For example, since September 2019:

• The 2020-21 Programme for Government^[83] is investing in our resilience to climate change as part of a green recovery from COVID-19, with additional support for flood risk management and coastal change adaptation. The Scottish Government has also launched its new Living with Flooding Action Plan^[84] to promote the benefits of flood resilient properties.

• Dynamic Coast: Scotland's National Coastal Change Assessment^[85] provides the evidence base of past and anticipated coastal changes on Scotland's erodible coast, to support better resilience and adaptation planning. The second phase, Dynamic Coast 2, considers how sea level rise could further accelerate erosion rates. This helps us to improve our coastline planning, ensuring that we protect the natural defences that are protecting Scotland's communities and assets from the sea.
• A key outcome of the Programme is ensuring that our society's supporting systems are resilient to climate change. With this goal in mind, the Scottish Government's Infrastructure Investment Plan^[86] supports environmental sustainability and the transition to net-zero emissions.

• The Scottish Place Standard tool (PST)^[87] is a simple and award-winning tool that can be used by communities and professionals to evaluate the physical, social and economic aspects of places with a view to identifying areas for improvement, A new version to be launched by the PST implementation partners^[88] will incorporate enhanced prompts within relevant themes to strengthen the contribution of the tool towards informing place-based action around climate change adaptation (and mitigation). This will build on the existing strengths of the tool to deliver co-benefits around health and wellbeing, environment and tackling inequality as part of a just transition.
• The Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 has strengthened the role of climate change adaptation considerations in the planning process by requiring Ministers to have regard to statutory adaptation programmes when preparing future iterations of the National Planning Framework. The Act's provisions relating to the National Planning Framework were among the first to be commenced, in November 2019, enabling work to begin on Scotland's fourth National Planning Framework^[89].
• Historic Environment Scotland has published a Guide to Climate Change Impacts on Scotland's Historic Environment^[90].
• The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has published its Climate Change Response Plan to 2045^[91].

Further details on the progress of the implementation of the Scottish Climate Change Adaptation Programme is available in the second annual progress report to the Scottish Parliament (published May 2021)^[92].

(iii) Cooperation on enhancing adaptation at the national, regional and international level, as appropriate;

Regional and National

The Scottish Government funds the Adaptation Scotland programme^[93] to support capacity building and action on adaptation by the public sector, businesses and communities in Scotland, in support of the outcomes in the national Climate Change Adaptation Programme (see above).

Adaptation Scotland supports the development and expansion of regional initiatives within Scotland such as Climate Ready Clyde, Aberdeen Adapts, Edinburgh Adapts and Highland Adapts which are driving effective adaptation action across cities, regions, islands and localities, aligned with the interests and needs of communities. The programme also convenes expert working groups that enable cooperation and address challenges such as adaptation finance, climate justice and use of climate information.

International

The Scottish Government recognises that climate change adaptation requires international cooperation and that, in line with our commitment to championing climate justice, those who experience the greatest impacts may need more support to adapt. As part of our commitment to international cooperation on adaptation, the Scottish Government signed an Adhesion Declaration to join the global RegionsAdapt initiative in October 2019. RegionsAdapt was created alongside the 2015 Paris Climate Conference (COP21) as a framework for regional governments' action, collaboration and reporting on climate change adaptation.

The Scottish Government also continues to engage on adaptation with the British and Irish governments as well as the governments of other Devolved Administrations through the British-Irish Council.

(iv) Barriers, challenges and gaps related to the implementation of adaptation;

The Scottish Government recognises that the COVID-19 pandemic has been a significant challenge to the implementation of adaptation policy. However, we are firmly committed to the delivery of a green, sustainable and inclusive recovery from the pandemic and recognise that a key part of this will be building greater resilience to the impacts of climate change as part of a just transition that prioritises fairness in our climate action. The pandemic impacts every area of society and emphasises the importance of systems that can be resilient to both immediate and longer-term challenges.

We also recognise that there are important ongoing knowledge gaps around adaptation and resilience. The 25 research outcomes set out in SCCAP2 aim to help fill these gaps. The global climate and nature emergencies are key drivers of evidence building and research across Scottish Government, as set out in the draft strategy for Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture research for 2022-2027^[94]. Bodies such as ClimateXChange and the Centre of Expertise for Waters (CREW) play an important role in building this evidence base in Scotland.

(v) Good practices, lessons learned and information-sharing;

The Scottish Government recognises that sharing of good practices across the adaptation policy space is crucial to good collaboration. Adaptation Scotland has developed an Adaptation Capability Framework^[95] which is being implemented across Scotland to encourage a change in the way that organisations adapt to climate change. It recognises that risk-based approaches cannot account for the complex processes required to bring about change in organisations and provides a holistic approach which matures over time and is used by the public sector, businesses and communities. In September 2020, Adaptation Scotland was awarded an IEMA Sustainability Impact Award for the Adaptation Capability Framework.

NatureScot has developed eight Adaptation Principles^[96] to help nature adapt to climate change and to ensure we can continue to benefit from the ecosystem services such as clean water, flood risk management, biodiversity and carbon storage. These principles are tested, refined and demonstrated on our National Nature Reserves and monitored to see which adaptation methods work best in which situations. Case studies are published, so that others can benefit from this knowledge. To help track progress, they have also developed a set of adaptation indicators^[97] with ClimateXChange. These can be used to assess how well Scotland's natural environment is adjusting to climate change.

(vi) Monitoring and evaluation;

The Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 includes a statutory framework for monitoring progress on adaptation. Under this framework, the Scottish Government reports annually to the Scottish Parliament on progress to the national Scottish Climate Change Adaptation Programme. Statutory independent assessments of these Programmes are also undertaken by the UK Climate Change Committee on a regular basis^[98].

(f) Adaptation actions and/or economic diversification plans, including those that result in mitigation co-benefits;

The Scottish Government is implementing a number of initiatives which deliver co-benefits for both adapting to climate change and reaching net-zero. A key focus is Nature Based Solutions (see Part 1), but examples of these and other initiatives are detailed below:

• Increasing the adaptability and resilience of forests and woodlands is a priority within Scotland's Forestry Strategy 2019-2029 which also delivers co-benefits with mitigation efforts^[99]. The Strategy aims to increase forest and woodland cover to 21% of the total area of Scotland by 2032 as set out in Scottish Government's Climate Change Plan update^[100]. Increasing forest area helps mitigate the impact of climate change through absorbing carbon from the atmosphere while contributing to natural flood management, providing shelter for livestock and improving biodiversity.
• The Scottish Government is investing in peatland restoration which delivers co-benefits through carbon sequestration and adaptation for natural habitats and flood risk management. This support demonstrates Scotland's commitment to nature-based solutions to the climate crisis and will enable large-scale restoration projects to be developed, enhancing biodiversity in some of the most important habitats in Europe and securing jobs in the rural economy.
• The Scottish Government is investing in active travel initiatives, which both reduces emissions and encourages individual adaptive action through providing alternative options when public transport and road infrastructure may be affected by extreme weather.

(g) How adaptation actions contribute to other international frameworks and/or conventions;

At a global level, Scotland supports the UN Paris Agreement on climate change, which puts a strong emphasis on adaptation and resilience, as well as the urgent need to reach net-zero global emissions of greenhouse gases. Scotland's adaptation actions are closely aligned with the UN SDGs (see Diagram 1 above). These form the structure of SCCAP2 and ensure that human rights and equity are central in guiding Scotland's policy approach to adaptation and resilience.

Scotland's adaptation actions on biodiversity, strengthening the resilience of the natural environment, contributes to achieving the UN Convention on Biological Diversity's (CBD) vision to 2050. Since biodiversity is fully devolved in Scotland, the Scottish Government has committed to reporting direct to the CBD on its performance against the twenty international targets agreed in 2010 in Aichi, Japan, alongside the UK Government's national report. We were the first country in the world to do so in 2015 and reported in 2021 on data to 2019. Our record against the international Aichi targets compares favourably with the global picture.

(h) Gender-responsive adaptation action and traditional knowledge, knowledge of indigenous peoples and local knowledge systems related to adaptation, where appropriate;

The Scottish Government takes a climate justice approach to tackling climate change both domestically and internationally, recognising that it is those least responsible for climate change who are suffering first and worst from its effects. Details of how our climate justice fund utilised a gender-responsive approach to adaption that includes traditional and local knowledge is outlined in section (d).

One of the key outcomes of the current Scottish Climate Change Adaptation Programme is to ensure that the people in Scotland who are most vulnerable to climate change are able to adapt and that climate justice is embedded in climate change adaptation policy. Associated actions include involving vulnerable groups in climate action to engage and empower communities, and ensuring that our health and social care systems are resilient to climate change. This is exemplified in policies such as the Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan which embeds the principles of Fair Work (respect, opportunity, security, fulfilment and effective voice) in skills policies by actively targeting interventions at underrepresented groups, including, for example, targets for equal representation across apprenticeships to increase diversity.

Since 2017 the Scottish Government has supported The Women's Environment & Development Organization (WEDO) implement capacity building and training programmes for women - from Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDs) - to engage in UNFCCC international talks and supported them to integrate gender considerations into the negotiation outcomes. Beyond providing travel and support, WEDO facilitates Night Schools on "UNFCCC Negotiations Skills & Technical Language Training". While the curriculum of these events provides benefits, these night schools also provide a key opportunity for women delegates to connect and collaborate, with WEDO facilitating professional in-person networking events and mentoring. Scotland's contribution has directly supported delegates from Bhutan, Mozambique, Djibouti, Bangladesh and Malawi attend climate conferences. WEDO also provide the skills and the knowledge needed to change the financial system and secure funding for gender-just, community-based climate solutions.