Climate change: Scottish National Adaptation Plan 2024-2029

Ministerial Foreword

The climate is changing globally and Scotland is already feeling tangible effects of this. Despite substantial progress on reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Scotland, we know the planet’s temperature is set to increase, with some impacts already locked in for decades to come.

We are experiencing extreme weather events more often. We’ve seen severe flooding due to intense rainfall that damages homes and livelihoods, as well as disrupting and putting increasing pressure on our public services. On the other hand, we also face periods of drought and have seen recent instances of water scarcity with risks of more, affecting our food producers, households and nature. Nine out of ten of our hottest years have all come in the 21st century. As we adjust to this new reality, how we manage precious resources like water will become ever more important. Nature is one of our greatest and most precious tools at our disposal in building resilience to the impacts of climate change. Yet, climate change threatens the survival of many plants and animals as well as our world-renowned landscapes.

Across the country, the impacts affect us all in different ways. Whether you live in a small island community or a large urban centre, the risks from a changing climate are very real and will affect everyone. From coastal erosion and rising sea levels threatening the safety of our coastal communities, to exposure of key infrastructure to extreme weather like our transport network and the very buildings we work and live in, to biodiversity loss and the impacts of that on our food supply chains and human health and welbeing: these risks impact lives and livelihoods, and that’s why it’s important that we take early action.

This Scottish National Adaptation Plan is how the Scottish Government will address these issues. It responds to independent assessment of the risks facing Scotland carried out by the Climate Change Committee – our independent statutory advisors. It also responds to the feedback we received through our consultation on the draft plan which we published in January 2024. While government has a responsibility to protect citizens and ensure our public services can be delivered for future generations, everyone has a role to play. That is why we will continue to carry out extensive public engagement to raise awareness so that people can take better, more informed adaptation decisions. I am greatly encouraged at the substantial engagement from individuals and groups which has shaped our national response and would like to thank all of those who have contributed. Through our consultation we received almost 250 responses from individuals, community groups, delivery partners and businesses.

Some communities are more vulnerable than others to the impacts of climate change. We also know that certain people and groups – for example, those on lower incomes, women, minority ethnic communities, older people, and disabled people – often face particular challenges in being able to respond. Our series of nearly 50 workshops and engagements in island, urban and rural places across the country has enabled us to reflect the needs of those communities, ensuring that we are responding to the impacts of climate change in Scotland in ways that are fair and account for the impacts on different parts of society, aligning with our commitment to a just transition to become a net zero society.

The Climate Change Committee’s advice is to plan for a global temperature rise of 2°C and assess the risks up to 4°C. While we know it is vital the world comes together to avoid such catastrophic scenarios, early planning and preparation is always better than late response and recovery.

This Adaptation Plan sets out the actions we will take to make our public services, communities, natural environment and Scotland’s economy more resilient to the damaging impacts of climate change.

These steps include investing approximately £400 million to make our railways more resilient; developing adaptation plans with all health boards; improving flood warning and preparedness; enhancing coordination at a regional level through adaptation partnerships; taking a strategic approach to adaptation financing; strengthening our Community Climate Action Hubs; and continuing to be committed to the Adaptation Scotland programme.

This Adaptation Plan demonstrates, once more, our commitment to play our part in the global movement to respond to the climate emergency.

Despite the very real impacts of climate change in our society, the steps set out here show that we can build a more climate resilient Scotland now and for generations to come. I look forward to working with communities, local authorities, businesses and our other public bodies to deliver this Plan to ensure we are taking the required adaptation actions today, for a climate resilient future.

Gillian Martin MSP, Acting Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy