Climate change - adaptation programme: progress report 2021

Chapter 1: Progress toward "our communities being inclusive, empowered, resilient and safe in response to the changing climate"

The communities we live in and places around us have taken on a new importance over the past year and it is therefore apt that SCCAP2 focuses first on community resilience and empowerment. The resilience of our communities in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the enhanced appreciation of, and comfort in, our local surroundings have all been brought to the fore. As Scotland begins to recover from COVID-19 both socially and economically we must ensure that resilience to climate impacts continues to be both considered and developed.

The 2020-21 Programme for Government announced significantly increased investments in both flood risk management and coastal change adaptation. An extra £150 million for flood risk management (in addition to continuing to provide £42 million annually to local authorities) as well as £12 million for coastal change adaptation were announced to increase the resilience of Scotland's communities and assets. These investments, which will be spent during the 2021 - 2026 parliamentary term, are putting the resilience of Scotland's people and places at the centre of our approach to a green recovery from COVID-19.

Placemaking is a central theme across SCCAP2 and particularly under this high-level outcome. This is the idea that a place should be planned, designed and managed to suit the needs of the people who live there and should be shaped by those same communities. This is also a core component of a just transition, which would ensure the development of social consensus through engagement with communities. Updates on progress are set out below.

There are considerable overlaps in terms of policies between this chapter and others within the SCCAP2 format. In particular, updates on progress around the Scottish Flood Forum and flood forecasting and warning services can be found in Chapter 2 of this report.

Examples of progress on cross-cutting policies in support of this outcome

Implementation of the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 - continues to strengthen the role of adaptation considerations in the planning process by requiring Ministers to have regard to statutory national adaptation programmes (currently SCCAP2) when preparing future iterations of the National Planning Framework (NPF). The Act's provisions relating to the NPF were among the first to be commenced, in November 2019, enabling work to begin on Scotland's fourth National Planning Framework (NPF4). The Scottish Government announced in 2020 that publication of the draft NPF4 would be delayed to autumn 2021, given the impact of the COVID-19 emergency. NPF4 will combine the National Planning Framework and Scottish Planning Policy in a single document and will have development plan status for decision-making under the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997. The Scottish Government published a NPF4 Position Statement in autumn 2020 as a discussion document to set out thinking on the direction for NPF4 following consultation earlier in 2020. It sets out four key outcomes for NPF4: net zero emissions; resilient communities; a wellbeing economy and better, greener places with climate change adaptation aspects throughout the document.

Examples of progress on policies in support of sub-outcome that: "People in Scotland's diverse communities are informed, empowered and adapting to climate change"

The Place Standard Tool - The improved version of the Place Standard Tool (PST)^[1] will be launched in early summer and will incorporate enhanced content to strengthen the contribution towards engaging communities and stakeholders around climate change at a local level. The improved tool, guidance and resources to support use will be launched on a new Place Website which will also highlight the important relationship between place-based approaches and climate adaptation. A design version of the PST – aimed at architects, spatial planners and development interests specifically to support design & delivery processes - integrates prompts around climate change adaptation and mitigation wherever appropriate. A project to create a "PST with a climate lens" toolkit is underway, this is intended to support projects with a specific climate-action focus to take a place-based, collaborative, and community-led approach.

Community Flood Volunteer Project - The Scottish Government continues to support citizen science through grant funding for The Conservation Volunteers Scotland (TCVS). Through community-led citizen science flood monitoring projects important long term data is gathered for Clackmannanshire and Stirling councils.

Volunteers are trained by TCVS to safely collect data and take photographs at designated sites to monitor the sediment and debris in local river courses. The volunteers then upload this information to the local authority's website, recording which areas have been inspected and when. This alerts the local authority to the areas where further inspection may be required to help reduce potential flooding. Working with volunteers helps raise awareness of flood risk and the wider climate change agenda at a local level.

Examples of progress on policies in support of sub-outcome that: "Scotland's buildings and places are adaptable to climate change"

SEPA Flood Risk Maps - SEPA's flood maps continue to undergo regular update and improvement. A new, public-focussed online map viewer was launched in November 2020 to improve access to flood risk information. Further development of online tools will support improved and specific access to flood risk data for partners and stakeholders. As part of the new viewer, SEPA published the first climate change maps of Scotland's rivers and the sea - reflecting the flood hazard in the 2080s for a high global emissions scenario. SEPA is also currently planning the development of a suite of future flood hazard and risk information to reflect a broader range of climate scenarios to 2100 and beyond. As of February 2021, SEPA was tendering for consultant services to support the update of national surface water flood maps. This wholesale development will reflect the most up to date climate information as well as wider updates in rainfall data and developments in mapping.

SEPA Flood Risk Management Strategies - SEPA are progressing the development of the 2021-2026 Flood Risk Management Strategies in partnership with Responsible Authorities. The cyber-attack that SEPA has suffered (see introduction section of report), in conjunction with COVID-19 restrictions, have meant that timescales and the content of the consultation have had to be reviewed leading to a delay to its second phase. The publication date of the Strategies is being continually reviewed.

Property Flood Resilience Action Plan - The Scottish Government continues to work with a range of stakeholders on the Property Flood Resilience Delivery Group to deliver the Living with Flooding action plan. New research with ClimateXChange (CXC) published in June 2020 estimated that 81,000 properties could benefit from property flood resilience; a third of all properties at risk in Scotland.

Energy Efficient Scotland - Effective installation of energy efficiency measures, such as external wall insulation, can improve the resilience of Scotland's buildings to the increased adverse weather projected as a result of climate change, as well as reducing emissions. The Scottish Government continues to provide support, including grants and low costs loans, to property owners to help them retrofit their properties to make them more energy efficient and convert to zero emission heating. Home Energy Scotland and the Energy Efficiency Business Advice Service continue to offer impartial advice on energy retrofit and energy saving measures. The Scottish Government recently published its draft Heat in Buildings Strategy which updates the 2018 Energy Efficient Scotland Route Map.

New Housing Standard for Scotland - In the Scottish Government's Housing to 2040 strategy, published in March 2021, the Scottish Government set out its intention to consult on a new Housing Standard for Scotland, which will go beyond a minimum standard to include aspects related to future-proofing and resilience such as being free from serious disrepair, minimum space standards, digital connectivity, accessibility and additional safety standards. We must ensure that works to the fabric of the building and new zero emissions heating systems also serve to increase comfort and affordability for fuel poor households, and that there will be no margins of tolerance, no exemptions and no "acceptable levels" of sub-standard homes. The Scottish Government will consult on a new standard in 2021.

The Scottish Housing Quality Standard (SHQS) and the Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing (EESSH) - The SHQS requires social housing to be in a reasonable state of repair. EESSH is part of SHQS and requires social housing to have a minimum standard of energy efficiency. Landlords are now working towards a second EESSH milestone for all social homes to be Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) band B or as energy efficiency as practically possible by 2032. These policies require houses to be in a good physical condition, reducing water penetration and heat loss, all of which increases their resilience to impacts of climate change as well as reducing their emissions. To accelerate the progress in decarbonising social housing, and to draw out lessons for other sectors, Ministers have set up an independent Zero Emissions Social Housing Task Force (ZEST) from April 2021. The Climate Change Plan Update indicates that the review of EESSH2 will be brought forward to 2023 to make sure that the role of the social housing sector is aligned with our overall aims to deliver net-zero emissions from heat. As part of this review, we will also consider the links to the proposed Housing Standard and the opportunities to combine energy efficiency improvements with other work needed to make homes sustainable.

Historic Environment Scotland's Climate Action Plan 2020-2025 was launched in February 2020. The Climate Action Plan (CAP) sets out 69 actions across seven strategic themes, including Climate Impacts and Adaptation, which are HES' focus for climate action 2020-2025 and beyond. Despite COVID-19 restrictions, progress has been made in implementing the Climate Impacts and Adaptation and Circular Economy actions. Significant progress has been made with the Climate Ready HES project, including the completion of online staff workshops and climate risk data being embedded in Properties in Care projects. Together with partners, HES has been granted funding by the Arts and Humanities Research Council for its Climate Vulnerability Index (CVI) Africa project, which is now underway. HES was also successful in winning Royal Society of Edinburgh funding for Scottish CVI workshops to run in 2021 and 2022, following on from the Heart of Neolithic Orkney CVI in order to roll out the methodology across Scottish cultural World Heritage Sites. A steering group has been established and planning is underway for the Old and New Towns of Edinburgh CVI with online workshops to be held in May-June 2021. Historic Environment Scotland also continues to implement Our Place in Time: the Historic Environment Strategy for Scotland and to monitor against its 13 key performance indicators. The most recent Our Place in Time Annual Report was published in December 2020.

Adapt Northern Heritage project - this Historic Environment Scotland project, as part of the EU Interreg Programme, concluded with an online conference in May 2020. The conference explored impacts of climate change on historic places across the Northern Periphery and Arctic and how adaptation measures can help protect these places or manage their loss. Special themes of the conference were the cultural heritage in Arctic regions and of northern indigenous communities. The recorded proceedings of the conference are available on the Historic Environment Scotland YouTube channel. The toolkit, case studies and adaptation plans developed during the project are available to download from the Adapt Northern Heritage website.

ERDF Green Infrastructure Fund - Led by NatureScot, the Fund has seven Phase 1 projects (around £20 million total investment) across Scotland, of which four are complete. The other three are due to complete in 2021 or 2022, as COVID-19 has caused some delays. Sites selected for projects have been designed to truly benefit the community and provide space for nature. They create nature-based solutions to addressing adaptation and resilience, through flood mitigation, habitat creation, enabling active travel and access to quality greenspace, and community food growing, for example. The completed sites have already attracted heavy use, with resounding positive feedback and have attracted international interest. This provides further evidence of the need for more investment in designing multi-functional greenspace for adaptation, which delivers for nature and people simultaneously and successfully.

How the Adaptation Scotland programme is supporting this outcome

Despite practical limitations on some modes of engagement during the pandemic, the Adaptation Scotland programme has seen significant progress in driving forward new place-based adaptation initiatives across Scotland during 2020-2021. Examples of instances where the programme has contributed to local and regional planning to manage risks include;

• In the Outer Hebrides, where the programme is working closely with the Community Planning Partnership to develop a new adaptation plan for the Islands, supported by a NatureScot graduate placement. The plan will be shaped by community involvement and closely aligned with the Local Outcomes Improvement Plan. It will also benefit from an innovative new work partnership with the Met Office to develop climate storylines for the Outer Hebrides.
• The programme has supported partners in the Highlands to set up and secure funding for a major new Highland Adapts initiative which will develop a community focused approach to adapting to climate change.
• The programme has supported the new Climate Ready Ken localities project in Dumfries and Galloway.

Adaptation Scotland also continues to champion and support more established regional initiatives including Climate Ready Clyde, Climate Ready Aberdeenshire, Aberdeen Adapts and Edinburgh Adapts, helping to share learning across these initiatives and support development activities including new risk assessments and locality projects. Sharing learning from the Climate Ready Clyde initiative^[2] will be a particular focus of activity during 2021, with the COP26 summit coming to Glasgow. This will include sharing the significant new evidence and learning on systems change, finance and funding and cultural engagement generated through the EU-funded Clyde Rebuilt project over the course of 2020, which has informed the European Commission's thinking for the new EU Adaptation Mission and will be reflected in the first Glasgow City Region Adaptation Strategy and Action Plan, due for publication before COP26.

Adaptation Scotland continues to collaborate closely with Historic Environment Scotland to ensure that heritage and culture are an integral part of Scotland's adaptation response. In January 2021, HES and Sniffer (contract holders for the Adaptation Scotland programme) announced a formal Memorandum of Understanding for Mutual Collaboration. Some highlights from this work have been noted above but a further example is that the programme has worked with Historic Environment Scotland to provide input to Scotland's Climate Assembly on the role that heritage can play in supporting resilience and enabling society to adapt to climate change.