Climate change: Scottish National Adaptation Plan 2024-2029

Outcome Four: Economy, Business, and Industry (B)

Economies and industries are adapting and realising opportunities in Scotland’s Just Transition.

Climate change poses profound risks to our economy. The costs to the Scottish economy, resulting from climate change, are no longer hypothetical. The Climate Change Committee have estimated the impacts of climate change already cost the Scottish economy billions of pounds per year^[2]. By 2050, research led by the European Union, estimates the economic costs at potentially being between 1.2% to 1.6% of GDP per year. Taking action to build greater resilience to climate risks, will be crucial to ensuring the long term security and prosperity of Scotland’s economy.

With a changing climate there are not just costs, however, but also innovation and economic opportunities. These come, for example, from the growth of sectors, new services and products which help Scotland, and the rest of the world, adapt to future climate conditions and build resilience. The opportunities emerging from an increase in peat restoration activity (highlighted in Outcome 1) are a prime example.

Over the next 5 years, The Scottish Government and the private sector can take action to minimise the scale of the costs, invest in measures to generate value, and harness innovation opportunities. The National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET) sets out our commitment to a new culture of delivery where partners come together as ‘Team Scotland’ to deliver the actions needed to transform the Scottish economy. This includes ensuring that businesses and communities are involved in the pursuit of the strategy’s ambition of a more prosperous, fairer, wealthier, and greener country – a wellbeing economy.

This chapter sets out four objectives that collectively focus on how Scotland can build resilience to the economic impacts of a changing climate and maximise the innovation opportunities for businesses, people, and communities. The policies in this chapter support Scotland’s just transition to a climate resilient, net-zero economy.

Objective: Increasing business understanding of climate risks and adaptation action (B1)

Businesses understand the risks posed by climate change and are supported to embed climate risks into governance, investment, and operations, and are collaborating on effective adaptation action.

SG Directorate lead: DECC/DED

Scotland’s changing climate poses growing risks to businesses across Scotland. This can include through physical damage to business premises or assets, health and safety risks to employees and customers, disruption to supply chains, reduced access to finance or insurance coverage and increased risks to employee health and safety.

Adapting to external conditions is not new – it is already a core function of successful businesses. Preparing for, rather than reacting to climate impacts, makes good business sense. Long-term cost saving, greater business continuity, reduced disruption, increased productivity, and employee safety can be achieved by building better climate resilience and preparedness. There are further competitive advantages to be had by businesses who can support in delivering innovative adaptation solutions. As such, consideration of climate risks and opportunities must become part of wider business planning to ensure we can deliver the green economic growth required to support Scotland’s Just Transition.

Businesses must consider their own climate risks and take action. There is a role for the Scottish Government and its partners to raise understanding of adaptation and climate risks amongst businesses. This includes through delivering support and advice for businesses on what action to take. This in turn, aims to support Scotland’s wider economic resilience.

This objective details policy to:

• Support increased business understanding of climate risk;
• Publicly available advice and support for businesses on what to do about climate risks; and
• Support for businesses and workers on managing multiple climate risks – including flooding, coastal change, and water access.

Increasing business understanding of climate risk

Ensuring businesses understand the risks posed by climate change, and action they can take to build resilience, will be key to building a more climate-resilient economy.

Our Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) are critical to a thriving Scottish economy, representing 99.3% of all private sector business and supporting an estimated 1.2 million jobs (Businesses in Scotland, 2023). The Climate Change Committee emphasise that SME’s are, however, both most vulnerable to climate-impacts and have least capacity to adapt. Recent insights show, that at present only 21% of SMEs are aware of and monitor climate-related risks to their business (BICS, 2023).

Action to support increased understanding of the climate-related risks for businesses in Scotland, including our SMEs will involve:

• Trusted partner business networks - the Scottish Government funded Adaptation Scotland programme, will work with and through Scotland’s existing ecosystem of business support services to promote understanding of climate risk and of adaptation action. This will include working in partnership with our Enterprise Agencies, trade unions and industry bodies, as an effective means of reaching businesses at scale across Scotland, by drawing on their established business networks and members. Action will include learning and webinars tailored to specific support services.
• Promotion of advice through business support channels - the Scottish Government will integrate dedicated Adaptation Scotland advice for businesses, including guidance on climate risk and actions to take, on Find Business Support.gov.scot from 2024. As the single-entry point for public sector business support in Scotland and a key resource for SME’s, Find Business Support will expand the reach of adaptation advice to a wider audience, and support greater mainstreaming of climate-risk in wider business planning and decision-making.
• Communications campaigns to build preparedness for severe weather events - the Scottish Government will continue to deliver public engagement campaigns through Ready Scotland. Ready Scotland communications, both via social media and Ready.Scot, will raise awareness of the need to build preparedness for emergencies, including severe weather events, which are increasing in frequency due to climate change, and how businesses can work together with their local community to build greater preparedness. As part of public engagement campaigns, Ready Scotland guidance is available to support businesses to plan and protect their businesses and staff from weather-related emergencies. Specifically, the Business Emergency Resilience Group’s 10 Minute Plan outlines steps designed to help SMEs prepare for, respond to, and recover from flooding.

Economy-wide adaptation action and investment will also require leaders of different types to collaborate and drive progress across sectors and places in Scotland. This includes leadership from larger private sector business and enterprises. To strengthen understanding of climate-related risk across our economy, facilitate business-to-business knowledge exchange and private-sector collaboration:

• Private-sector leaders network - the Scottish Government, through Adaptation Scotland, will explore the establishment of a network of private-sector adaptation leaders to champion adaptation by 2027. Through this network, Adaptation Scotland would look to support frontrunner businesses, industry leaders and organisations, to take a leadership role on adaptation, driving forward change in their respective sectors and collectively in Scotland.

To assess the effectiveness of action to increase understanding of climate risks and adaptation considerations amongst the private sector:

• Addressing data gaps on business risk monitoring - The Scottish Government, with the Office for National Statistics, will expand the established Business Insights and Conditions Survey (BICs) to include a standardised question set on adaptation. This will provide insights on how businesses of different sizes and sectors are monitoring climate risks, on preparedness and any impacts on businesses resulting from climate change.

Advice and support for private enterprises

To remain profitable, businesses must be able to assess climate risks and to adapt in advance. The Scottish Government will offer businesses in Scotland support and advice to aid their effective response to climate change.

The Scottish Government delivers support to businesses through its investment in the Adaptation Scotland programme which provides free, practical guidance and advice to help businesses prepare for, and build resilience to climate-related hazards. Adaptation Scotland's support includes Climate Ready Business tools and resources, finance guide, business cases and resources for workers. For example, on publication of this Adaptation Plan, Adaptation Scotland’s guidance ‘Is Your Business Climate Ready?’ has been downloaded more than 7,000 times.

To support businesses, including in sectors most vulnerable, to better assess climate risks and to identify practical adaptation measures they can take to build climate resilience:

• Simple tools for SMEs – the Adaptation Scotland programme will publish an enhanced suite of Climate Ready Business tools and resources for SMEs, co-developed through engagement with Scotland’s Enterprise Agencies, industry bodies and private sector networks in Autumn 2024. These tools will be made accessible through adaptation.scot and promoted via Find Business Support and through business support organisations.
• Sector specific support - the Adaptation Scotland programme will, by spring 2025, deliver industry-specific adaptation capacity-building workshops for SMEs in five industries identified as particularly climate vulnerable, to inform the development of tailored, industry-specific resources that will benefit workers and businesses. These will be developed by 2025, and cover the following sectors: agriculture and horticulture, Scotch whisky, wholesale and goods distribution, construction and built environment services. Adaptation Scotland will aim to work with relevant business support services, industry representative bodies and trade unions, where relevant, to design and deliver the industry-specific workshops.
• Building adaptation capacity of existing business support services – the Adaptation Scotland programme will support adaptation capacity building by delivering tailored training for business support services, including Scottish Enterprise and South of Scotland Enterprise, to ensure support services are sufficiently equipped to support private sector businesses, across a range of sectors and locations most affected by climate change impacts. This will enable the support to businesses, including SMEs, to be sustained and scaled over the 5-year Adaptation Plan.
• Using data to inform support needs - the Scottish Government will use business insights from the ONS BICS survey to ensure a strong Government understanding of how climate change is impacting our businesses of differing sizes and sectors. This will ensure guidance and support, delivered by Adaptation Scotland programme, is informed by and meets industry needs.

Case Study: Adaptation Scotland Programme support to deliver a climate resilient Dunfermline Learning Campus

On their work to construct a new, flagship building at Dunfermline Learning Campus for Fife College, Balfour Beatty and partners worked with the Adaptation Scotland programme advice and support to consider the current and potential future climate hazards facing the campus and its users.

The College campus spans over 20,000m², and is an innovative venture from Fife College, it is part of a state of the art, sustainable shared learning campus for Dunfermline (Dunfermline College Campus, St Columba’s RC High School, and Woodmill High School). The new Dunfermline Learning Campus is also the largest pathfinder project for the Scottish Government’s Net Zero Public Sector Buildings Standard in Scotland, which has established to drive net zero outcomes for new buildings and major refurbishments within the public sector. Fife College is the first project to explicitly include adaptation planning as part of the Standard in its design and delivery.

Resilience to climate change was identified as an important but equally new, and complex consideration for Fife College and Balfour Beatty, given the campus would need to withstand the increasing frequency and intensity of climate hazards such as heat, increased rainfall and windstorms over its long lifetime.

To best consider climate adaptation, Fife College and Balfour Beatty worked with the Adaptation Scotland programme, using the A Changing Climate for Development tool kit to assess the climate resilience of the new campus, and explored the climate-driven hazards during the construction phase, using the Adaptation Scotland programme’s Climate Hazards in the Workplace tool kit. The workshop explored the recent and projected changes to the climate in the Fife area, and how these climate-driven hazards would likely impact the structure and use of the new campus. The Adaptation Scotland programme team also supported participants to jointly identify potential adaptation actions, illustrated by case studies, and to prioritise those that could be implemented at this stage of construction.

From this work Balfour Beatty and its partners were able to identify actions to improve resilience including;

• Considering landscape design with climate resilient planting in mind – for instance, drought resistant plants, and more green space to provide cool areas during heat extremes;
• Considering prevailing wind directions and storm directions when designing rotating/automatic doors;
• Strategies for working during extreme weather, at the college, in design offices and on a construction site. When would people not be expected to travel into the facility and when could offices offer more comfortable alternatives to homes;
• The location of critical infrastructure such as IT servers, ensuring these are away from areas potentially more at risk from extreme weather conditions such as flooding.

With the advice and support of the Adaptation Scotland programme, Balfour Beatty, its partners and Fife College have been able to identify and implement practical measures that will be critical to ensuring a safe learning environment at the new Dunfermline Campus as the climate evolves.

A detailed case study of this work can also be found via the Adaptation Scotland programme website.

Scotland’s Enterprise Agencies, which includes Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and South of Scotland Enterprise, have a central role in driving economic development across Scotland.

As a vital source of business advice and support in Scotland;

• Mainstreaming adaptation in Enterprise Agency Net Zero support for businesses - our Enterprise Agencies will integrate an enhanced adaptation focus into existing advice on business development, supply chain resilience and business sustainability. This will build synergies with existing Enterprise Agency support and guidance on net-zero, to maximize relevance to businesses, including SMEs, and increase opportunities for efficiencies in business planning.

Adaptation is an important priority addressed in Scottish Enterprise’s Net Zero Framework for Action where its ambition is to lead, influence and create opportunities for Scotland’s just transition to net zero.

To support more businesses to take adaptation action:

• Scottish Enterprise Net Zero Accelerator Tool – Scottish Enterprise will continue to develop and promote the Net Zero Accelerator tool which encourages businesses to develop climate change plans which consider both adaptation and mitigation goals.
• Scottish Enterprise conditional grant funding – Scottish Enterprise will continue to explicitly link its grant funding to the development of net zero plans or (for grants under £10,000) to the completion of its Net Zero Accelerator tool. Scottish Enterprise encourages the integration of adaptation measures as part of the development of these plans.

Case Study: Scottish Enterprise Net Zero Accelerator Tool and Net Zero Academy

Scottish Enterprise’s Net Zero Accelerator tool is a benchmarking tool designed to support companies to identify actions that can form a climate change roadmap or plan. The tool specifically asks businesses if they have assessed the risk of climate change on their operations, products, and services, if they have developed an action plan and implemented measures to address climate risks. The reports generated for businesses highlight areas of strength and opportunities for improvement and makes targeted recommendations, including links to Adaptation Scotland and other sources of support.

The Net Zero Accelerator tool makes recommendations to businesses on how they can develop a practical, data-led and people-focused net zero road map. The tool helps businesses to understand the impact of their operations on the environment; to start to set net zero targets; and to identify opportunities to adapt and innovate. Companies using the tool receive a high-level action plan at the end of the diagnostic process, that will allow them to prioritise their net zero activities. The tool is focused on those companies taking their first steps towards developing their own net zero transition plan. Companies have access to this tool when a Scottish Enterprise supported project is initiated.

In addition to this tool, Scottish Enterprise’s Net Zero Academy, launched in 2023, supports cohorts of Scottish companies with expert advice and guidance on how to develop their own net zero plans. The first two cohorts successfully delivered in 2023, supported 26 companies.

Through five half day workshops that include presentations, videos, and interactive exercises, the academy provides delegates with globally recognised continual professional development through accreditation with the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA). One of the interactive exercises includes a worked example for delegates on the impacts of climate change, on a fictional but realistic business, which has suffered from the effects of severe weather events including both drought and flooding. Beyond the programme the Scottish Enterprise team of sustainability specialists are available to provide support and advice to support participants on their net zero and climate adaptation journey.

Supporting workers and businesses to manage multiple climate risks

Climate hazards and workplace safety

All workers, whether they work indoors, outdoors, offshore or travel for a living, will be increasingly vulnerable to disruption and potential injury from climate change impacts such as storms, flooding, and heatwaves.

Insights from Scotland’s Trade Union Centre’s (STUC) severe weather survey during Storm Isha and Jocelyn highlighted that many workers were expected to travel to work when they felt it was unsafe to do so.

As extreme weather events become more frequent due to climate change, workplace resilience and adequate protections will be increasingly important to ensuring worker safety and for security of pay. This is central to ensuring a just transition for workers.

To protect workers from increasing climate hazards will require:

• Adaptation Scotland Resources for employers, unions and workers – Adaptation Scotland will promote the Climate Hazards & Resilience in the Workplace resources, which identify the hazards that climate change could bring to a range of different workplaces and how employers, employees and unions can take action to protect workplace health and safety. The resources are designed to help workers and trade union representatives have a central voice in building workplace resilience and championing adaptation solutions which also tackle inequality and social justice. While the resources were developed in partnership with the trade union movement, they are applicable in all workplaces regardless of union status and offer valuable advice on no and low cost adaptation actions to increase resilience and improve workplace health and safety.
• Fair work, severe weather and trade union engagement - in line with the Scottish Government’s memorandum of understanding with the STUC, the Scottish Government will continue to engage with trade unions to help build workplace resilience to climate change. This will include exploring whether the principles within the Fair Work Charter for Severe Weather could act as a framework for managing climate hazards in the workplace.
• Further Research on Occupational Health and Safety Considerations - over the lifetime of the Adaptation Plan, the Scottish Government will commission research to establish the likely occupational health and safety considerations in different sectors that will contribute to a climate resilient workforce, and what measures need to be in place to protect workers and their rights.

Flooding and business sites

Exposure to flooding will pose an increasing and significant risk to business assets and core operations in Scotland as climate change brings both increased rainfall and sea level rise.

SEPA’s 2018 National Flood Risk Assessment shows that around 10,000 buildings of businesses and industry faced a high likelihood of flood risk, with this increasing under both 2°C and 4^oC warming scenarios. This bears significant financial implications for many businesses.

Recognising there are higher costs involved in responding to a flooding event than investing in early business adaptation action:

• the Scottish Government and SEPA will support businesses to build preparedness through measures including the Scottish Government’s National Flood Resilience Strategy, SEPA Flood Forecasting alerts, SEPA’s review of Potentially Vulnerable Areas and the Flood Risk Assessment Scotland (FRAS) which are outlined under Objective C3 of this Plan.

Policy relating to the control of major accident hazards (COMAH) sites can be found detailed in Objective PS2.

Coastal Change

The Dynamic Coast project has demonstrated that at least £20 billion of assets, including businesses, rail, and road, lie within 50 metres of Scotland’s coastline. Predicted sea level rise will also impact on businesses at the coast and on tidal rivers.

The Scottish Government has developed guidance to support local authorities in the preparation of Coastal Change Adaptation Plans (CCAPs). The guidance sets out how to assess and plan for coastal change. CCAPs will also feed into Local Development Plans which set out where development can take place.

Detail of policy commitments in relation to CCAPs can be found within Objective C6 of this Plan. Specifically guidance for CCAPs encourages businesses to:

• be involved in the process of producing local authority wide CCAPs;
• consider coastal change (coastal erosion and sea level rise) when moving or extending business premises; and
• engage with the relevant local authority for further information. A landowner can also draft their adaptation plan, based on the CCAPs guidance and information provided by Dynamic Coast and SEPA flood maps.

Water scarcity

Access to water is crucial to many core business functions – not least ensuring workers’ access to water and for sanitary purposes. Some business sectors rely more heavily on water – including manufacturing and its sub-sectors including paper and food and drinks. However, changes in Scotland’s climate could reduce resource availability and quality, and increase the likelihood of water scarcity.

There are business benefits to be had from managing water more effectively, including cost saving, ensuring drought preparedness, and reducing carbon emissions from water heating.

To support the long-term water supply for businesses in Scotland:

• Policy development for managing Scotland's water resources - the Scottish Government is developing policy with SEPA, Scottish Water and key sectors to develop a partnership approach to manage our water resources, understand the changing needs, future demands and continued availability of water to protect the future of Scotland’s environment and economy.

Objective: Agriculture, forestry, fishing, and aquaculture sector support (B2)

Farming, forestry, fishing, and aquaculture businesses are supported to adapt production and operations in a way that benefits livelihoods, resilience, and the economy in a changing climate.

SG Directorate lead: ARE/ENFOR/MARINE

Scotland’s agriculture, forestry, fishing, and aquaculture sectors are central to our nation’s identity, and our economy. Combined, these industries contributed £2.4 billion to the Scottish economy in 2023 (GDP National Accounts, 2024). For many rural and island communities, the sustainability of the local community is inextricably linked to the agriculture, fishing and forestry, and aquaculture sectors.

These sectors rely on natural resources and as a result are particularly vulnerable to climate change and biodiversity loss. As outlined in Outcome 1, protecting our natural capital that these industries rely on is a key adaptation action. Increased rainfall, droughts, changes in temperature and new pests and diseases may leave crop yields, livestock productivity, forestry health and fish stocks vulnerable or subject to change. There may however be opportunities relating to productivity in forestry, fishing, and agriculture, with future changes in climate offering potential improvements in crop suitability, growing seasons and for new fish species.

Adaptation action by these industries is needed to maintain business productivity and viability, over the next 5 years. The policies outlined, and locally tailored interventions, to support these sectors will also be of importance to increasing community resilience, supporting population retention and attracting new populations to rural and island communities, as set out within the Scottish Government’s Addressing Depopulation Action Plan.

The Scottish Government will work to ensure a just transition for farming, fishing and forestry, so that these industries can move towards practices which are responsive to Scotland’s changing climate and which support both business productivity and viability.

Agriculture sector support

As we transition to a net-zero and climate resilient economy farming, crofting and land management will continue to play an important role in maintaining thriving rural and island communities. Agriculture is vital for rural employment, accounting for between 12 and 15% of employment in rural areas and 2% of total employment in Scotland. The sector accounts for around 1% of Scotland’s economy in terms of value added and underpins other large Scottish industries such as food manufacturing, retail and tourism.

Land management in Scotland will change as we tackle the twin climate and biodiversity crises which will present both challenges and opportunities for farmers and crofters, building on their traditional leadership role in land management and stewardship. We know that agriculture is one of the sectors most exposed to the impacts of climate change while simultaneously being well placed to take adaptation actions, which also support climate mitigation – for example through riparian planting or hedgerow creation.

Scotland’s farmers and crofters can support adaptation at the farm, landscape, and national levels. Farmers will need to change their practices to ensure their business resilience as the climate changes but their actions will also enable wider benefits such as reducing the risk of downstream flooding and for Scotland's food security.

Climate change adaptation plays a key role in the Scottish Government’s agricultural policy. This includes:

• Vision for Agriculture - as set out in the Vision for Agriculture, the Scottish Government will transform how we support farming and food production in Scotland to become a global leader in sustainable and regenerative agriculture.
• Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Act - the Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Act represents a hugely important step in reforming our agricultural and rural support systems and the Government will continue to work closely with industry and stakeholders to realise our ambition to make our nation fairer and greener and to enable us to produce more of our own food more sustainably.

To support Scottish farmers and crofters to take action on climate adaptation:

• Agricultural financial support for adaptation - the Scottish Government will, from 2025, shift half of all agricultural funding to be conditional on delivering for climate and nature, including climate adaptation. We published a draft list of measures to offer examples to farmers and crofters of the types of activities they may be expected to undertake in future to receive agriculture support. As set out in the Agriculture Reform Route Map, the future framework will comprise four tiers.
• ARP and support for climate hazards - through the Agriculture Reform Programme (ARP), we will explore funding options to support farmers and crofters to reduce their exposure to climate hazards including flooding and drought.
• Cross compliance conditions in agricultural support - the Scottish Government will maintain existing cross compliance conditions as a minimum in the new support framework across all tiers. The conditions are being reviewed to identify ways to make them more impactful in the delivery of future policy outcomes.
• Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition (GAEC) - the Scottish Government will introduce new peatland and wetland standards to the existing GAEC 6. This condition aims to maintain soil organic matter by prohibiting a range of activities on peatland and wetland areas and requiring any new tree planting, which could impact peatlands and wetland, to follow the UK Forestry Standards.
• Whole Farm Plan - the Scottish Government will introduce from 2025 the first Whole Farm Plan conditions which require farmers and crofters to complete two baselining activities from a list of options including carbon audits, biodiversity audits, soil analysis, the creation of animal health and welfare plans or integrated pest management plans.
• Supporting landscape-scale collaboration - the Scottish Government will actively consider how landscape-scale collaboration could be supported within the future agricultural support framework, including helping rural communities to become climate-resilient and engage in natural capital projects. We will continue to engage with landowners and stakeholders, adopting the farmer-led design approach of the new future support framework.
• Agri-Environment Climate Scheme - the Scottish Government will continue to maintain financial support for farmers and crofters to adapt to climate change through the Agri-Environment Climate Scheme (subject to budgets) which is expected to continue to 2026, until the new Elective and Complementary Support is implemented. AECS currently provides funding for key adaptation actions on farms, for example the creation of irrigation lagoons which can reduce water scarcity risks and biodiversity actions which support adaptation across the landscape. The Forestry Grant Scheme (FGS) is expected to continue to support tree planting throughout the lifetime of the Adaptation Plan.

To support farmers and crofters in developing the knowledge and understanding of climate risks as well as the skills needed to adapt their business to ensure sustainability, resilience, and profitability;

• Farm Advisory Service Support - the Scottish Government will continue to deliver training, skills development, advice and guidance to farmers and crofters on how to adapt to climate change. This is currently delivered by the Farm Advisory Service, which provides guidance and advice on climate risks and adaptation action through varied approaches including high quality practical guides, group events and bespoke advice.
• Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation System - from 1 April 2027, as part of Complementary support of the Vision of Agriculture Support Package Beyond 2025, the Scottish Government will deliver a new, Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation System (AKIS) which will provide opportunities for training, education, and innovation. The AKIS will support continued professional development for farmers, and land managers, with the specifics informed by stakeholder consultation. Support on climate adaptation will consider how best to enable farmers to understand the risks and opportunities posed by climate change and communicate the benefits of adaptation actions.
• Land Use and Agriculture Just Transition Plan - the Scottish Government is committed to publishing a Just Transition Plan for Land Use and Agriculture which will focus on the livelihoods, skills, health, and wellbeing of those who live in and rely on Scotland’s land and agricultural sector for their livelihoods and wellbeing.
• Research informed guidance for agriculture - the Scottish Government will continue to update and refresh guidance and advice as research develops, and as the impacts of climate change continue to evolve. For example, where relevant, advice offerings may evolve to include detail on new climate-resilient varieties and technical innovations which can contribute to climate adaptation.
• Organic food research - we will continue to provide financial support, guidance and advice on the uptake of organic approaches, including their incorporation into non-organic farming systems, in alignment with the findings from the ClimateXChange rapid evidence review. This found that organic farming practices such as the use of cover crops and intercropping can support the resilience of agricultural systems against the impacts of climate change.
• Farmer and crofter peer-to-peer support - the Scottish Government will continue to facilitate peer to peer engagement on activities that support climate adaptation through a range of initiatives, for example the joint Scottish Government and Scottish Forestry Integrating Trees Network which won the 2024 Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental award for best practice in knowledge sharing.

As outlined in Outcome 1: Nature Connects there is an increasing risk of crop pest and disease incidence along with potential spread of Invasive Non-Native Species (INNS) associated with climate change. Climate change poses an increasing risk to crops from temperature (high and low) and water extremes (drought and flooding).

The Scottish Plant Health Strategy sets out our approach to protect plant health including agricultural and horticultural crops, in Scotland. The Scottish Strategy aims to work collectively with stakeholders to minimise the impact of plant pests and diseases. To prevent the introduction and spread of harmful organisms the Scottish Government carries out the following activities:

• regular surveillance to guard against outbreaks of specific pests;
• ensuring compliance with controls on the movement of plants and plant products within the EU (including within Scotland and the UK); and
• inspecting plants and plant products entering Scotland from countries outside the EU, or being exported to those countries .

Over the period of the Adaptation Plan, to support the sector from the threat to productivity from pests and disease we will:

• RESAS research on crop pests and diseases - RESAS research on the Scottish Government’s Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services Division (RESAS) will continue to fund research into the impact of climate change and extreme weather events (such as drought and waterlogging) on pests and pathogens of economically important crops. RESAS will also support by delivering integrated and sustainable crop protection strategies, by better understanding disease epidemiology, developing rapid diagnostic technologies, investigating alternative control measures including improved crop breeding and modelling the impacts of climate change.
• Scotland Plant Health Centre - Scotland’s Plant Health Centre, a virtual Centre of expertise funded through the RESAS Strategic Research Programme, will continue to enhance Scotland’s capacity and capability to respond to plant health threats posed by climate change and will assemble scientific evidence to inform policy. The Plant Health Centre will continue to facilitate interaction with industry and Government to establish areas of priority research and communicate findings. As part of their work, the Plant Health Centre work across plant sectors including forestry, natural environment, agriculture, and horticulture to ensure that action to support against pests and disease can be extended across sectors.
• SASA response to PCN and aphid transmitted viruses - Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA) will continue to develop approaches to support potato growers with Potato Cyst Nematode (PCN) and aphid transmitted viruses, including IPM planning.

Agriculture water management

Flooding and water shortages, caused by climate change, pose an immediate challenge to farmers and crofters. Flooding across Scotland is becoming more frequent and poses risks to agriculture through loss of crops and stock, infrastructure damage and negative impacts on soils.

Scottish Government and partner action across Scotland as set out in objectives B1 and PS3 will support the agriculture sector to minimise the impacts of flooding. As land managers, farmers and crofters will also play an important role in reducing flood exposure through on-farm actions like tree planting.

The risk of water scarcity for farmers and crofters is also increasing due to the changing climate, especially in eastern areas where drier summers are expected and demand for irrigation of arable land is highest. Beyond crops, water scarcity can impact on livestock farming through extra costs for livestock feed when grass growth is reduced.

To support farmers and crofters against the immediate and increasing risk of water shortage;

• SEPA engagement with farmer and crofters - Scotland’s National Water Scarcity Plan sets out how the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) will manage water resources prior to and during periods of prolonged dry weather. As part of this, SEPA will liaise with the farming community and their representatives on how to manage periods of water scarcity resulting from future changes in climate.
• RESAS research on water scarcity - the Scottish Government’s researchers will continue to collaborate with SEPA to refine the monitoring of water scarcity used to trigger voluntary and regulatory actions (under the Water Scarcity Plan), including the management of abstraction licenses for crop irrigation. Recognising this as an area where further research is needed the RESAS Strategic Research Programme is:
  • Developing models which will improve forecasting of water scarcity and highlight vulnerabilities within the agricultural sector, to help farmers plan for and adapt to periods of water scarcity.
  • Examining how land use and management which slows the flow of water through and over land during wet weather (natural flood management), can also help to store water and mitigate the impact of dry weather.
  • Exploring the development of crops which require less water and/or are more resistant to water stress.

Agriculture opportunities

To continue to support the sector’s long-term profitability, the Scottish Government will continue to support the development of innovative solutions and research on agriculture opportunities.

RESAS invests almost £50 million annually on a ‘Strategic Research Programme’ to ensure that Scotland maintains its position at the very cutting edge of advances in agriculture, natural resources, and the environment. The RESAS Strategy for Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture Research 2022-2027 recognises that research and development is required to support the industry to evolve practices and explore the opportunities posed by Scotland’s changing climate.

By 2027 RESAS will have invested in a programme of innovative research on Crop and Livestock Improvement for resilient agricultural production, as part of a wider theme on Sustainable Food System Supply. This work includes:

• Research on important Scottish crops, to establish varieties which can manage a combination of environmental stresses and use resources more efficiently. We will explore the development of novel crops and cropping systems for increased agricultural adaptability.
• Livestock research to support the development of feeding and breeding strategies for climate adaptable and resilient livestock, along with data driven innovations for improved sustainability.
• The development of approaches to increase adoption of best practices for adaptation and resilience, leading to a more productive and less vulnerable sector overall.

Forestry sector support

Forestry in Scotland is worth £1.1 billion per year to the Scottish economy and supports more than 34,000 jobs from direct forest management, timber processing and supply chain activities to forest based recreation and tourism. The sector is growing and has positive local impacts, especially for our rural communities.

Alongside their important economic value, forests have a crucial role to play in mitigating against climate change, tackling nature loss and in supporting the well-being of the people of Scotland.

The threat to forests and woodlands from extreme weather events and wildfires is expected to rise. Given the changing climate and greater globalisation of trade and travel, it is also anticipated that the threat to trees from pests and diseases will continue to grow.

Scotland has a highly successful industry based mainly around a single principal species. This principal species, Sitka spruce, makes up 43% of the forestry area in Scotland. This high dependence on one principal species is a considerable risk to the industry. As such, species choice has been identified as a key factor for building climate resilience.

Scotland's Forestry Strategy 2019–2029 identifies climate change as a key strategic driver and sets out a vision where by 2070 ‘Scotland’s forests and woodlands will be a more resilient adaptable resource, with greater natural capital value, that supports a strong economy, a thriving environment, and healthy and flourishing communities’.

Increasing the adaptability and resilience of forests and woodlands, is one of the strategy’s 6 priority areas for action. The second Forestry Strategy Implementation Plan (2022-2025), reaffirmed that the resilience of Scotland’s forests remains a key strategic driver.

Forests and woodland are long lived and cannot be changed quickly, so we aim to set the direction for managed progressive change, that builds resistance, increases adaptation and supports rapid and effective response and recovery when climate change events occur and have a negative impact on the resource.

To protect the productivity and increase the resilience of the forest resource and industry, Scottish Forestry, as the Scottish Government agency responsible for forestry policy, support and regulations will:

• Forestry Resilience Action Plan: Scottish Forestry will deliver a Resilience Action Plan in 2024, informed by stakeholder insights, research and a cross-sector Adaptation and Resilience Steering Group, which will outline actions to increase the resilience of the forest resource and industry. The delivery of these actions will be based on a cross industry collaborative approach, with potential delivery partners identified for each action.
• UKFS 5 alignment in forestry approvals: Scottish Forestry will ensure compliance with the revised UK Forestry Standard (UKFS) for all forestry approvals, from October 2024. UKFS is the Government’s reference standard for sustainable forest management. The standard was reviewed and revised with stakeholders, in 2023, to ensure that compliance with the standard, increases resilience.
• UKFS 5 training and support– Scottish Forestry will support the provision of training on the implementation of the new UKFS.
• Forestry Grant Scheme: Scottish Forestry will continue to develop the Forestry Grant Scheme (FGS) to support Government priorities.
• Forest Planning support: Scottish Forestry will continue support for the Forest Planning process. Forest plans are one of the principal tools used to manage the long-term changes to build resilience and increase adaptation action. As part of this, forest plans must demonstrate compliance with the UKFS.
• Scottish Forestry Tree Health Surveillance: Scottish Forestry will continue an annual surveillance programme of the forest resource, with survey levels reviewed through appropriate risk assessments. Statutory Plant Health Notices (SPHNs) will continue to be issued as required for notifiable pests and diseases.
• Industry wide communication on tree health risks: Scottish Forestry will maintain the Scottish Tree Health Advisory Group to ensure tree health risks, and mitigations, are communicated with industry.
• Tree Alert and Observatree: Scottish Forestry will support Tree Alert (Forest Research) and Observatree which allow members of the public to report tree health concerns. This is monitored by Forest Research and any reports of concern are passed to Scottish Forestry’s Tree Health Team to follow up as part of its wider surveillance work (as previously outlined).
• Climate Change Hub for forestry- Scottish Forestry will work with partners to continue to develop the Climate Change Hub website as a trusted resource for the sector on forest resilience and climate risks.

Fishing and aquaculture sector support

Fishing and aquaculture are central to Scotland’s culture, identity, and economy. In 2021, the Scottish aquaculture sector directly employed 2,300 people, generating £472 million Gross Value Added (GVA) and 4,241 fishers were working on Scottish vessels, with fishing generating £321 million GVA. In 2022, Scotland exported £1.04 billion worth of fish and shellfish, accounting for just over 60% of total UK fish and shellfish^[3].

The Scottish marine ecosystem and the fisheries it sustains face a dynamic and uncertain future due to a changing climate. Climate change will lead to a warming trend and a decrease in pH, known as ocean acidification, for our seas. These changes will affect the distribution and abundance of marine species, including plankton, shellfish, finfish, marine birds, and marine mammals.

It is essential that our aquaculture and fisheries sectors are able to adapt to the impacts of climate change and that Scottish Government policies support this response. Environmental protection is a key tool for adaptation for these sectors.

The Scottish Government’s Blue Economy Vision for Scotland is that, by 2045, marine, and inter-linked freshwater and coastal environments are restored, adapted and resilient to climate change and are sustainably managed. The following commitments support achieving this vision for adaptation across both aquaculture and fishing:

• Sector and coastal community engagement - through the lifetime of the Adaptation Plan the Scottish Government will work in partnership with marine sectors and coastal communities to support an effective Just Transition, and ensure a sustainable future for Scotland’s seas for the benefit of all.
• Evidence on climate impacts on the sector - the Scottish Government will ensure our approach to support the aquaculture and fishing sector to adapt, to climate-related impacts, is informed by the best available science and research. We will continue to identify and fill priority knowledge gaps, building on work already undertaken in this area, including recent ClimateXChange research.

To inform policy development over the lifetime of the Adaptation Plan, in 2024, the Scottish Government commissioned research through ClimateXChange to support our understanding of climate impacts on target fish stocks. This is of critical importance to supporting and future-proofing the fishing industry and marine economy.

• Implementing CXC research on fisheries policy - the Scottish Government will take a co-management approach to identifying and implementing the right solutions as explored by this initial ClimateXChange research, recognising the findings cannot be effectively implemented by the Scottish Government alone, but will require industry-wide and government collaboration.

In order to support the ongoing resilience of our fish stocks and the fishing fleets which rely on them, the Scottish Government continues to set fishing limits that are informed by the best available scientific advice. Underpinning this approach are:

• Fisheries Management Plans - the Scottish Government, in line with the Fisheries Act 2020, are working with the other UK fisheries administrations to jointly develop 22 Fisheries Management Plans , which will support us to increase or maintain sustainability of fish stocks and respond to changes in the status of stocks.
• Measures to reduce fish discarding - to deliver more sustainable and responsible sea fisheries management, the Scottish Government will develop and implement a suite of technical and spatial measures to both reduce levels of discarding of ‘unwanted’ fish catch and, reduce bycatch of sensitive marine species to ensure sustainable fisheries, with implementation by 2026.
• Vessel tracking and monitoring technology - the Scottish Government will develop and consult on a package of measures to help ensure that inshore fishing activity is managed responsibly. We will also enhance our management capabilities through the introduction of appropriate tracking and monitoring technology for all Scottish vessels under 12m by 2026, building on the measures already in place for vessels 12m and over in length.

Farmed salmon is a key sector of the marine economy. To promote an informed and collective response to the challenges posed by climate change to farmed salmon;

• Farmed Fish Health Framework - the Scottish Government’s Farmed Fish Health Framework includes a focus on understanding and adapting to climate change in order to help support the sector with aspects of its approach to adaptation (within the remit of the Framework). The Farmed Fish Frameworks promotes collaboration across the sector – between farmed fish producers, fish vets, innovation centres, regulators, and government to address key challenges to fish health in support of welfare and economic performance.

The Scottish Government’s Vision for Sustainable Aquaculture to 2045 sets out how the sector can contribute to our Blue Economy and Net Zero ambitions, while remaining globally recognised as innovative, productive, and sustainable. The Vision is supporting the sector to continue to thrive whilst placing a renewed emphasis on environmental protection and community benefit. It sets the future direction for the sector where it can reach net zero and adapt to the challenges arising from climate change.

The Scottish Government will deliver this Vision with stakeholders including local authorities, industry, and regulators. In implementation, key adaptation actions will include:

• Aquaculture Climate Resilience Plans - the Scottish Government, with partners, will support the aquaculture sector to put in place climate resilience plans to manage the risks and opportunities of climate change by 2029.
• Increasing aquaculture sector understanding of climate adaptation - the Scottish Government and key partners will work to increase sector awareness and understanding of the changing environment, to enable effective adaptation action on challenges such as warming seas, increased storm frequency and severity and fish health issues.
• The Sustainable Aquaculture Innovation Centre and the Sustainable Aquaculture Forum - the Scottish Government funded Aquaculture Innovation Centre promotes collaboration that can support Scottish aquaculture to respond to challenges related to climate change, including adverse impacts on fish health.

The Vision also commits to the following, which supports adaptation in aquaculture through reductions in marine pressures:

• delivering emissions reductions in line with Scotland’s Net Zero targets;
• partnering with innovators to explore further opportunities for the best use of aquaculture by-products; and
• increasing adoption of new and innovative technologies which achieve both positive environmental and health and welfare outcomes, including exploring the potential use of semi and closed containment systems.

Objective: Innovation and business opportunities (B3)

Scotland is a hub for innovative adaptation solutions and opportunities.

SG Directorate lead: DECC

The Scottish Government’s National Innovation Strategy 2023-2033 sets the vision for Scotland to be one of the most innovative small nations in the world – with our strong natural assets and excellence across academic and business communities providing the basis. Innovation creates jobs, develops fresh, exciting opportunities and supports economic and productivity growth.

The transition to a more climate resilient Scotland is, not only a necessity, but can also be seen as offering innovation opportunities. In 2016/17 the value of the Adaptation and Resilience to Climate Change sector for Scotland was £604m (Adaptation Economy of Glasgow City Region Report, 2019). We want our businesses to thrive and for their success to benefit all of society – its central to our vision for a wellbeing economy. As part of this, there are growing opportunities to be captured by our businesses and private sector to develop new, innovative products and services, that can help Scotland adapt.

While the innovation opportunities of the energy transition are recognised globally, the opportunities of the Adaptation and Resilience Economy are less-explored. This presents an opportunity for Scottish businesses to position themselves as innovators and gain competitive advantage. In Scotland, there are examples of businesses delivering innovative adaptation solutions – from civil engineering firms now delivering sustainable drainage solutions, to those developing battery storage to support the resilience of low-carbon energy sources, to those developing plant-varieties which will be needed to deliver nature-based solutions to climate change. The private sector, and its investment, can be catalytic for ensuring Scotland is at the forefront of this innovation.

Policies in this objective will support greater exploration of the opportunities presented by adaptation, develop Scotland’s reputation for developing innovative adaptation solutions and as a hub for expertise and knowledge on adaptation and resilience practices.

This objective includes sub-themes of:

• Adaptation and resilience economy evidence base
• Innovation support
• World leading research

Evidence base on the adaptation and resilience economy

The innovation and business opportunities resulting from climate change remain an underexplored and emerging area. Our plan to help businesses, sectors and regions identify the innovation and business opportunities arising from a changing climate, while also maintaining consideration of maladaptation, includes;

• Building our understanding of innovation opportunities - the Scottish Government will, over the period of the Adaptation Plan, grow a robust and evolving evidence base on the Scotland specific economic opportunities arising from adaptation, and the goods and services needed to support a more resilient economy. We will work to increase business awareness of these opportunities. This will include through adaptation advice and support outlined in Objective B1.
• Sector specific innovation opportunities - the Scottish Government and Enterprise Agencies will collaborate on specific research to identify market opportunities, the sectors where Scotland’s can show a first mover advantage in developing adaptation solutions, and current barriers preventing businesses in Scotland from realising these opportunities by 2025.

Innovation Support

In Scotland, public sector support for innovation is provided by our enterprise and skills agencies – Scottish Enterprise(SE), Highlands and Islands Enterprise(HIE), Skills Development Scotland(SDS), the Scottish Funding Council(SFC) and South of Scotland Enterprise (SOSE).

To specifically encourage innovative and entrepreneurial solutions which support adaptation and climate resilience:

• Integration of adaptation insights in business innovation support - the Scottish Government will work with Enterprise Agencies and the wider Business Support Partnership to share insights (as outlined above) on emerging innovation opportunities arising from climate adaptation with growth businesses.
• CivTech - the Scottish Government will work to explore specific CivTech challenge needs with relation to adaptation and fostering greater climate-resilience in Scotland, over the course of the Adaptation Plan. CivTech brings public, private and third sectors together to develop innovation solutions to ‘Challenges’ or, problems faced by a public or third sector organisation, for which there is no readily available solution on the market. Currently, Innovate for Nature is a joint initiative between CivTech and NatureScot which aims to identify and deliver a range of innovation projects which address both the biodiversity and wider climate crises, of which Mission 4 focuses on living with climate change and the role of nature-based solutions in building resilience to the impacts of climate change on our coasts and settlements. SEPA’s challenge to develop a flood warning system for local communities, was addressed by the solution RiverTrack (see detail in the below CivTech case study).
• FIRNS - to build capacity and overcome barriers to scaling responsible private investment in natural capital the Scottish Government launched The Facility for Investment Ready Nature in Scotland (FIRNS). Alongside technical advice and support, FIRNS aims to help develop a viable business case and financial models to attract private investment in projects that can restore and improve the natural environment and as such support wider climate resilience.

Case Study: CivTech Challenge RiverTrack Flooding Technology

In Scotland there are flood warning systems which can be used for cities and towns, however SEPA recognised a need for technology which could be used by smaller communities, to reduce exposure to flooding. In 2016 SEPA posed the CivTech Challenge: How can we develop an effective hyper-local systems to warn people of flooding, and give them the time to prepare?

The solution to this challenge was developed by Gary Martin, founder of RiverTrack. The RiverTrack solution is a robust, low-maintenance river level monitoring and alarm system which incorporates cost effective components and innovative design. Acoustic sensors measure river level changes and feed information to display units, which function independently of any communications infrastructure. It enables users to get almost real- time information regarding water levels in their area.

Innovative Research

Scotland is globally renowned for its research excellence. Our universities and research institutes play an important role in driving economic growth and supporting the innovation process. As part of this, climate change research is a specific area where Scotland’s academic institutions excel and are well regarded globally. Recent research, commissioned by the Scottish Funding Council, has highlighted the important contribution Scottish university research has made to delivering positive environmental impacts, including net-zero goals both domestically and internationally.

Research and development (R&D), alongside collaboration with academia, is vital to exchange knowledge, experience, and ideas to develop new products and services.

To harness this strength and the contribution our academic institutions can make in specifically supporting innovative adaptation solutions:

• Academic Knowledge Exchange Network - the Scottish Government will explore establishment of a forum on adaptation which will bring together key academics from Scottish institutions, to explore how we can mobilise Scotland’s strengths in scientific and technological innovation around adaptation goods and services. This will include consideration of how we can support commercialisation of end-products of innovation.
• Scottish Funding Council Support - t he Scottish Government, through the Scottish Funding Council continues to provide flexible funding that supports institutions to build their underpinning capacity to develop a breadth of world-leading research, and help deliver on Scottish Government ambition in priority areas, including advancing climate change goals . In addition, the Scottish Funding Council continues to fund a network of Innovation Centres and strategic initiatives such as the Alliance for Research Challenges which deliver positive and impactful results for adaptation in areas such as sustainable food systems and energy.

As outlined in objective B2, the Scottish Government’s annual investment of £50 million in the RESAS ‘Strategic Research Programme’ which includes research and innovation relating to climate adaptation opportunities.

• RESAS Centres for Expertise - the Scottish Government, through RESAS, funds five centres of expertise in areas of high policy importance: water, climate change, animal disease outbreaks, plant health and knowledge exchange. These are virtual centres that bring together expertise across the publicly funded research sector. As part of this, the Scottish Government funded Knowledge Transfer and Innovation Fund also supports sector driven projects to offer innovative solutions and knowledge transfer regarding climate change adaptation and biodiversity improvement.
• Strategic Research Programme [2027–2032] - in developing the next RESAS Strategic Research Programme for 2027 onwards the Scottish Government will ensure consideration of adaptation research needs. Based on industry needs, this could include exploring how climate change will impact land use and grassland and arable systems, the ways technological innovations (AI and robtotics) and molecular breeding could contribute to climate adaptation, as well as the opportunities to utilise improved season and annual variability forecasting.

Case Study: Adaptation research and development to support our whisky industry

Scotland is known internationally for the quality of its natural produce. A cornerstone of this reputation is its world-famous Scotch Whisky. Exported to more than 180 global markets, the whisky sector supports over 66,000 jobs across the UK, and in Scotland underpins the maintenance of vibrant rural communities. Having seen a 31% increase in export growth between 2018 and 2022, whisky now accounts for 77% of Scottish and 26% of all UK food and drink exports, valued at £7.1Bn GVA to the UK economy. High quality ‘malting’ barley is the key ingredient to whisky. Around 95% of the barley used to make a single malt Scotch Whisky, almost 1 million tons, is grown on Scottish farms. Demand from the whisky sector results in barley being Scotland’s most widely grown and most important agricultural crop, and by some measure. However, as with all agricultural commodities grown on farms today, barley production in Scotland is under threat by long term climate change. In anticipation, research at the James Hutton Institute (JHI) in Dundee and Aberdeen, funded by Scottish Government alongside other agencies and organisations, has focused for several years on understanding the likely impacts of climate change and the challenges that will be faced by farmers as they strive to maintain both yield and quality of the barley crop.

Innovative research at JHI has identified the best chance we have to respond appropriately to the impacts of the climate emergency and support our valuable whisky sector lies in the diverse genetics that exists within the barley crop itself. Barley has adapted to different environments since its domestication some 10,000 years ago. Some of the environments to which barley adapted closely mimic those we will undoubtedly face as a result of climate change in Scotland.

Current research focuses on understanding the role of genetics in adaptation. Practical outcomes include the characterisation of germplasm containing climate relevant traits, and the molecular information and tools required to allow desirable progenies to be identified in the laboratories of commercial plant breeding programs which can help avoid years of testing in the field.

In partnership with industry JHI aim to streamline the production of new, climate adapted barley cultivars that meet the demands of farmers operating in the ‘uniquely Scottish’ premium end use sector.

Objective: Climate resilient economic development and supply chains (B4)

Economic development is informed by climate risks and opportunities including identifying and managing supply chain vulnerabilities for vital food and goods.

SG Directorate lead: DECC/DED/DITI/ARE

Climate change will have impacts across our whole economy, including upon workers, critical infrastructure, business productivity, for how we invest, for insurance and crucially upon access and the costs of many vital goods and services. Disruption to supply chains, resulting from an increasingly volatile climate, is among factors threatening sustained access and the costs of food and goods that that are essential to sustaining our economy and public health. As part of this we know that a healthy population, is key to maintaining a thriving economy.

Given the scale of impacts it is crucial that economic development efforts, at both a national and regional level, encompass consideration of climate risks, include action to support resilience and explore opportunities. Action to manage vulnerabilities and build resilience of supply chains for vital food, medical goods and the critical raw materials needed to support our energy transition will be key, and will involve both industry and the public sector.

As earlier set out, investing in adaptation action is the only way we can minimise the costs to our economy and society. We will need to act to close the adaptation finance gap, and support public and responsible private investment in adaptation. The financial sector will also need to understand and disclose the climate risks in their portfolios.

To support an economy which can adapt to and thrive amidst climate change this objectives sets out;

• National economic development, including international trade;
• Economic analysis to support adaptation;
• Regional approaches to support climate-resilient economies;
• Financing adaptation and engagement with the financial sector;
• Public procurement;
• Supporting the safety and supply of food, vital goods including medical supplies and critical raw materials required for our energy transition.

National economic development

The Scottish Government’s National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET) sets our vision for a wellbeing economy – thriving across economic, social, and environmental dimensions.

This sub-theme captures work to support national economic development, with integral work to support regional economic development also captured later within this objective.

At a national level policies to innovate, build new markets and create new employment are underpinned by The Scottish Government’s vision for a wellbeing economy as set out in NSET. This includes embedding the principles of Community Wealth Building (CWB) and Fair Work First across everything we do.

• Community Wealth Building (CWB): The Scottish Government has embraced the internationally recognised CWB policy and approach to economic development as a key tool to build the Scottish economy; and to ensure our economy creates the prosperity that is necessary to support our people and communities and to protect against economic shocks, including those resulting from climate change. CWB acts as a framework for activity across five interlinked pillars that support economic activity:, Land and Property, Spending, Inclusive Ownership, Workforce and Finance.

Scotland’s economic development is supported by the availability of high-quality, appropriately skilled people. Our education and skills system is already adapting to climate change with institutions like colleges and universities acting as key anchor points for driving innovation (as outlined in Objective B3).

• Skilled workforce for our economic transition: Significant work is progressing to reform the education and skills system so that it can become even more responsive to our needs and ambitions. The Scottish Government will continue to invest in that system and the infrastructure that supports it, including schools, colleges, universities, apprenticeships and our Innovation Centres to support our response to climate change.

The Scottish Government also allocated over £307 million to Enterprise Agencies in 2024-25 to help drive economic development. Our agencies focus on building a strong and diverse economy, which facilities the transition to net zero. They provide a range of support for communities and businesses to help in their transition and to understand the climate risks and opportunities they face (as also set out in Objective B1).

In delivering their economic development remit Scotland’s Enterprise Agencies will support consideration of climate risks and opportunities:

• Enterprise Agency corporate planning - Enterprise Agencies will incorporate an enhanced focus on adaptation in all forthcoming corporate plans as part of their wider approach to support the transition to a resilient, net zero economy. For instance, adaptation is an important priority addressed in Scottish Enterprise’s Net Zero Framework for Action.
• Collaboration with adaptation partnerships - Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and South of Scotland Enterprise will continue to play a valuable role as part, of relevant, regional adaptation partnerships. As set out in Objective C1, regional adaptation partnerships drive collaboration on adaptation planning and investment with a broad set of partners involved.
• Enterprise Agency business support– Enterprise Agencies will mainstream action adaptation into their wider net zero and sustainability advice (as set out in Objective B1), including in relation to supply chain resilience and business innovation opportunities (and Objective B3).

As Scotland’s national economic development agency, Scottish Enterprise is central to a dynamic and innovative Scottish economy. To support more businesses to take adaptation action:

• Scottish Enterprise conditional grant funding – Scottish Enterprise will continue to explicitly link its grant funding to the development of net zero plans or (for grants under £10,000) to the completion of its Net Zero Accelerator tool. Scottish Enterprise encourages the integration of adaptation measures as part of the development of these plans.
• Scottish Enterprise infrastructure investments - Scottish Enterprise’s internal project appraisal processes will ensure climate adaptation is considered in project development so that infrastructure and investments supported by Scottish Enterprise today will be climate-resilient over the coming decades.

International trade is essential to ensuring Scotland has a globally competitive, flourishing economy. Scotland’s Vision for Trade, is our strategic approach to trade and sets out the principles which underpin our trade decisions and relationships. This strategy identifies the key interactions between climate and trade policies. Additionally, the Scottish Government’s national export growth plan, A Trading Nation, is our 10 year rolling programme that seeks to boost Scottish exports, particularly in areas of strength such as net zero technologies.

Climate change poses risk to the functioning of the strong, global supply chains and international trade routes that we rely on. This includes through increased exposure to climate hazards in key transportation channels, often known as maritime chokepoints, and causing disruption to the delivery of goods.

Recognising the importance of supporting climate-resilient trade to a thriving Scottish economy:

• Free Trade Agreements - the Scottish Government will press the UK Government to consider climate resilience and vulnerabilities in supply chains as part of their impact assessment for each new Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
• UK Government and International collaboration to improve global resilience of trade routes: the Scottish Government will continue to pursue strong UK and International engagement on matters of trade and supply chain resilience. The Scottish Government recognises that a collaborative approach, based on strong multilateral and bilateral partnerships, will be key in responding to the evolving risks from climate change and to maximising opportunities to improve global trade resilience.

National economic analysis

Within the Adaptation Plan we have outlined the vision for a well-adapted Scotland, and policies which will take us towards this. As part of policy design, we have sought to understand the economic costs and benefits of our adaptation interventions. Quantifying the costs and benefits of adaptation interventions is a challenge faced not just by Scottish Government but globally. This is because:

• There is a high degree of uncertainty about the scale of future climate risks and thus the level of adaptation needed;
• The estimates of future adaptation costs and benefits vary given different future warming scenarios and the sectors and risks included.

It is widely accepted that adaptation action generally has near-term costs with benefits often expected to occur over the longer-term. In the below case study, of Scotland’s trunk road network, we have explored this in more detail.

The Scottish Government will take a strategic approach to building the economic evidence for adaptation. This will support wider understanding not only of the losses avoided through adaptation intervention, but of the wide ranging economic, social, and environmental benefits for Scotland. We will conduct policy, cost and investment focused economic analysis:

• Policy focused economic analysis - we will undertake further analysis of the costs and benefits of adaptation interventions as detailed in the Adaptation Plan, with the aim of improving the degree of appraisal using Green Book methodologies where possible.
• Cost focused economic analysis - we will undertake analysis focused upon the costs of specific climate change risks, alongside the costs of climate change to specific sectors in Scotland.
• Investment focused economic analysis - to drive efficiency in the use of public funds, we will undertake mapping of current public sector spending on adaptation. This will act as the basis to identify interventions which require public, responsible private and blended finance.

Case Study: Cost benefit analysis - towards a well - adapted trunk road network

The Vulnerable Locations Operational Group scheme, which was set up to improve adaptation of our trunk road network, delivered six cost-effective actions in 2022/23. These actions are spread across Scotland with:

• A78 Seamill: upgrading of drainage system including upsizing eight pipes
• A76 West Polquhirter/ Brunton Farm: new filter drain system
• A75 Barlae: verge and filter drain works
• M80 River Carron to Haggs: drainage improvement scheme
• A889 Dalwhinnie
• A83 Rest and Be Thankful: Hillside watercourse realignment

Investment into a co-ordinated programme for adaptation of trunk roads is critical to protect the gross asset value of £27.6 billion.^[4] The delivery of adaptation schemes on the trunk road network has a budget of £6.1 million in 2024/25. With all adaptation measures there are upfront costs but these come with wide-ranging benefits including sustaining economic activity and, in the case of physical infrastructure, avoidance of future maintenance costs. Trunk Roads are crucial to the Scottish economy representing 6% of the total Scottish road network; 35% of all traffic and 60% of heavy good vehicles. Sustaining the quality of our trunk roads prevents damages caused by identified risks such as flooding, landslides, scour, high winds, high temperatures and coastal erosion.

Effective adaptation of the road network prevents indirect costs of supply-chain disruption for both businesses and households, whilst supporting wider sustainable transport programmes such as the Road Safety Framework and investment in active travel and bus prioritisation.

Financing adaptation actions

Supporting an economy which is not only capable of managing the impacts of climate change but one which is growing in an inclusive and sustainable way, will require financing lots of different types of adaptation action. This will include investment in measures to respond to immediate impacts, and to protect against future, anticipated climate changes.

In line with our NSET Team Scotland approach, building a more climate-resilient economy will require contributions from multiple actors. Ensuring public, responsible private and philanthropic investment and appropriately blending funding from these sources, will be crucial if we are to deliver the pace and scale of action required to support Scotland’s climate resilience, economic growth, and a thriving society.

Insights work funded by the Scottish Government, and delivered by Adaptation Scotland, scoped opportunities to overcome well-recognised barriers to financing adaptation. This included identifying pathways to mobilise greater responsible, private investment in adaptation.

Transparency and scrutiny of the Scottish Government’s public investment in adaptation action will be supported through the annual Climate Change Assessment of the Scottish Budget, an outcome of the Scottish Government and Parliament’s Joint Review of the Budget on matters as they relate to climate.

To support the development of Scottish adaptation investment strategies over the lifetime of this Adaptation Plan the Scottish Government will:

• Expert taskforce - the Scottish Government will establish a short-life adaptation finance taskforce to bring together experts, recognising that closing the finance gap and successfully financing adaptation projects in Scotland will be accelerated by drawing on specialist knowledge and skills. This short-life taskforce will focus on focus on implementation opportunities of key actions identified in our adaptation finance insights work.
• Maximising synergies between nature finance and adaptation outcomes: the Scottish Government’s commitment to develop a Biodiversity Investment Plan for Scotland, which supports the delivery of the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy, will extend to encompass support for the Adaptation Plan. The Biodiversity Investment Plan will set out a suite of actions which will aim to mobilise public, private, and philanthropic finance. This work recognises that action which supports nature recovery is also key to supporting our resilience to climate change.
• Mainstreaming of adaptation in existing and emerging codes - the Scottish Government will explore opportunities to mainstream adaptation into existing market codes and standards, to support the grounds for adaptation outcomes to be identified and monetised. This will include integration of adaptation outcomes into existing codes and standards for nature and biodiversity markets, including the Principles for Responsible Investment in Natural Capital in Scotland and forthcoming initiatives including the Natural Capital Market Framework.
• Develop high integrity, values-led adaptation markets - recognising adaptation responses extend beyond nature-based approaches, the Scottish Government will consult with investors on the establishment of distinct adaptation market codes and standards, as a means of supporting values-led engagement between project developers and the private sector.
• Blended finance for adaptation projects - to drive efficiency in the use of public funds and encourage partnership in the development of projects designed to deliver transformative change, the Scottish Government will explore how blended finance models could be used to support adaptation action. Blended finance model involves combining public and private capital for projects, with public funds used strategically to encourage this co-investment from private sources. This has been demonstrated conceptually through the Adaptation Scotland, Craigleith Retail Park case study.
• Grant funds for project development – to maximise adaptation finance opportunities, the Scottish Government will explore how existing grant funding schemes could integrate a focus on measuring and delivering adaptation outcomes, including in any future rounds of The Facility for Investment Ready Nature in Scotland (FIRNS) scheme, as a means encouraging responsible, private investment. This will support understanding for future grant schemes on how technical assistance can best support in moving projects with an adaptation benefit, from a concept to an investable business model - and if this can support increased confidence for potential private finance providers.
• Infrastructure Investment Plan – The Scottish Government’s Infrastructure Investment Plan 2021-22 to 2025-26 sets out our long term vision for infrastructure in Scotland, which supports the transition to net zero emissions, drives inclusive economic growth and builds resilient and sustainable places. It recognises in response to climate change, we need to adapt current infrastructure and design future assets to be more resilient, that we need to invest in natural infrastructure and nature-based solutions to climate change, which also help to tackle biodiversity loss and create wider socioeconomic benefits.

The Scottish financial services sector has a critical role to play in supporting Scotland’s transition to a greener, fairer and growing economy. The financial services sector can show leadership on adaptation, and exert positive influence, through consideration of climate risks and opportunities in how they chose to lend, invest and insure.

To support the conditions for climate-resilient decision-making by investors and businesses action will include;

• Climate Risk Disclosures - the Scottish Government will engage with UK Government on work to further improve reporting via climate related financial disclosures. The largest businesses in Scotland are now required to disclose climate risks as part of the UK’s Sustainability Disclosure Requirements, and as previously outlined by the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TFCD) framework. The Scottish Government recognise climate risk disclosures are a key lever for raising awareness among private sector organisations, particularly financial institutions, of climate change risks to assets and operations. Increased visibility of disclosure information over the lifetime of the Adaptation Plan, may also act to encourage businesses to develop adequate plans to minimise their exposure and sensitivity to climate risks.
• UK Green Taxonomy - as part of providing investors with clarity on the sectors, and activities, that make a substantial contribution to climate change, the Scottish Government will work with the UK Government to ensure adaptation is effectively integrated into the UK Green Taxonomy and, as set out in the UK Government’s Green Finance Strategy. We are supportive of the principle-based approach to undue harm, noting that activities, must not hinder net-zero or nature ambitions, or prompt maladaptation.
• SNIB climate risk assessments - the Scottish National Investment Bank (SNIB), established by the Scottish Government as the UK’s first mission-oriented investment bank in 2020, invests in line with its net-zero mission and will continue to consider climate risk across all their investments. The Bank invests in line with its three missions and considers climate risk across all of its investments. This consideration forms the basis for incorporating climate change risk and opportunities into the Bank's investment evaluation and due diligence process. Through its due diligence process the Bank;
  • Seeks to identify, understand, prioritise, and alleviate risks posed by a changing climate, including transition and physical risks, and provide evidence and support to inform decision-making.
  • aligns with internal and external climate reporting, including through the adoption of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures framework.

To foster greater collaboration and communication with the sector on adaptation and climate resilience, including discussion on adaptation finance and insurance we will take the following steps;

• FiSGAD engagement on adaptation finance and climate risk - the Scottish Government, through the Financial Services Growth and Development Board (FiSGAD), will engage with the Scottish financial sector on adaptation finance and climate risk, as part of our continued engagement on key issues and opportunities facing the sector. As the Scottish Government’s main forum for engagement with the sector FiSGAD, discussions will focus on identifying appropriate action to be taken by the sector and/or government with regards to adaptation finance and climate risk.
• Engagement with UK public financial institutions -the Scottish Government will pursue engagement with the UK public financial institutes, including the UK Infrastructure Bank, on adaptation finance.

Public Procurement

Public sector organisations play an important role in economic development and community wealth building as employers, commissioners but also importantly as purchasers of goods, services, and infrastructure. The Scottish public sector spends £16 billion a year buying goods, services and works.

Sustainable procurement can act as a lever for the Scottish Government and the public sector to drive resilience and adaptation action. This includes through action to support the resilience of supply chains for vital goods procured by the public sector and ensuring procurement on long-term investments, for instance around infrastructure, consider future climate scenarios and risks.

The Sustainable Procurement Duty within the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 requires publicly funded bodies to consider and act on opportunities to improve the economic, social, and environmental well-being of their constituency. All public bodies in Scotland must publish an organisational procurement strategy setting out how it will comply with the duty.

To support greater consideration of adaptation in public procurement activity, including the resilience of public sector supply chains from climate risks:

• Sustainable Procurement Tools for the public sector - the Scottish Government will continue to maintain and promote the Sustainable Procurement Tools, including Climate Literacy and Circular economy eLearning and guidance, to support public sector procurers to adjust to a more resource-efficient and sustainable procurement practice. These tools underpin the Sustainable Procurement Duty and provide a practical methodology to steer public bodies on opportunities to address adaptation and mitigation in their procurements.
• Analysis of climate risks to national collaboration frameworks – building on risk management exercises that were conducted relating to previous supply chain shocks, the Scottish Government will recommence work to map climate risks to national collaborative frameworks to establish potential vulnerabilities by 2025.
• Implementation of Public Procurement Strategy - the Scottish public sector will continue to implement the Public Procurement Strategy for Scotland, its focus is on supply chain resilience, the climate crisis and environment. Public bodies’ individual procurement strategies and annual procurement reports should reflect alignment with the aims of the Strategy.
• Climate and Procurement Forum - the Scottish Government will work collaboratively through the cross-sectoral Climate and Procurement Forum, to provide leadership on addressing climate challenges through procurement.

Regional economic development

While national economic development approaches were previously set out under this objective, the Scottish Government recognises the impacts of climate change will be felt differently across our regional economies. It is therefore vital that we support effective regional action and do so in ways that fairly respond to the needs of communities.

A just transition means becoming a net zero, climate resilient economy in a way that seeks to tackle inequality and injustice. This includes ensuring economic development and growth is supported in all of Scotland:

• Regional Just Transition Plans - the Scottish Government will develop an approach to Regional Just Transition plans over the course of 2025. It will outline challenges and opportunities faced by regions and identify appropriate action to both mitigate and realise these. We will work with key partners, including the Just Transition Commission, existing regional partnerships, and local authorities, to explore options.
• Rural Delivery Plan - the Scottish Government will publish a Rural Delivery Plan within the lifetime of the current parliament. The Rural Delivery Plan will set out the actions that the Scottish Government is and will be taking which impact rural communities, placing a new focus on rural delivery.

A complimentary approach is Community Wealth Building which aims to create the conditions that supports our entrepreneurs and businesses to thrive, grow and create wealth that improves not only their business resilience and viability but that of our local economies, and supports sustainable local supply chains.

Case Study : Community Wealth Building, North Tolsta (Tolastadh bho Thuath) Wind Turbine

North Tolsta on the east side of the Isle of Lewis derives revenue from a community owned wind turbine. This supports several local jobs and important community organisations. Tolsta Power Ltd owns and operates a 900kW Enercon E44 wind turbine. It has been supplying power to the grid since 2013. The land where the turbine is sited is owned by The Stornoway Trust, the democratically elected community landlord. Comhairle nan Eilean Siar officials cite this enterprise as a CWB success. It may have happened without the policy. However, adoption of the policy has an aggregator effect that can scale up activity like this across the Highlands and Islands. Profits from the turbine support:

• community purchase of the local shop and post office and providing revenue assistance with on-going running costs
• establishing a community polytunnel to provide fresh vegetables to the community shop
• supporting fuel poverty interventions including support payments to every household in the community
• supporting housing minor works scheme (replacing windows, doors etc.)
• providing student bursaries and supporting driving lessons
• supporting local village organisations including the Tolsta Youth Club, children’s playpark, Church summer club and Tolsta Cemetery Trust.

As outlined in Objective C1 the Scottish Government will work in partnership with local government and a broad range of others to facilitate mature regional adaptation partnerships and collaborations covering all regions in Scotland by 2029.

• Regional Climate Economic Opportunity Assessments – the Scottish Government will explore support for regional adaptation partnerships to undertake regional climate change economic risk and opportunity assessments over the period of the Adaptation Plan. This will help identify implications for sectors of regional importance, and ensure the opportunities associated with adaptation can be realised and action.

Regional and City Region strategies sit across NSET, and are vital to inclusive, economic development and will be key to delivering a more climate resilient economy through:

• Regional Economic Partnerships - Scotland’s Regional Economic Partnerships (REPs) bring together key economic actors to enhance regional interests, focus and align resources, and share knowledge and expertise. REPs in Scotland are increasingly recognising the importance of climate adaptation in their strategies and activities. Specific actions and strategies vary from one regional economic partnership to another based on local priorities.
• City Region and Growth Deals – the Scottish Government invests in City Region and Growth Deals as a core part of our work to grow regional economies. Each deal is tailored to its region, reflecting its individual economic strengths and weaknesses, and comprises a programme of interventions to support positive, transformative change. The Scottish Government encourages all deal projects to apply a Community Wealth Building lens to investment and spending activity.

The below case study sets out how adaptation action is considered in regional economic strategies.

Case Study – Regional Economic Partnership and City and Region Deals

Regional economic strategies recognise the climate emergency and set out projects aimed at reaching the region’s climate ambitions, including on climate resilience. Examples of how the changing climate is integrated into strategic priorities include:

• Climate adaptation and resilience is embedded within the Glasgow City Region Economic Strategy, and the region’s wider approach to economic development. One of the three missions of the Strategy is that by 2030, “the Region will have the most advanced city-region economy in the UK in the race to net zero and climate resilience”. This commitment is reflected in the programmes being taken forward through the Regional Economic Strategy Action Plan. This includes Clyde Mission, a place based mission to make the River Clyde an engine of economic success. A strategic masterplan is underway to help form and guide an investment and implementation programme which will embed climate resilience and adaptation. Climate resilience also features strongly within the Glasgow City Region’s Sustainable Procurement Strategy, which aims to encourage resilience within the supply chain to ensure businesses can deal with vulnerabilities caused by climate change. This approach to economic development reflects the close alignment between the City Region’s Economic Strategy, and the Climate Ready Clyde Adaptation Strategy. It also responds to the regional Climate Risk and Opportunity Assessment, which highlighted the potential for climate change to pose annual economic costs to the region of several hundred £million/year by the 2050s without adaptation action.
• An ambition for South of Scotland is to create a low carbon society that is increasingly resilient to the effects of climate change. Both Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders Councils have declared climate change emergencies with Borderlands Inclusive Growth Deal funding a regional energy masterplan with an ambition to establish a regional energy investment company. The region is actively exploring and piloting nature-based solutions utilising the region’s natural capital, focussing on the marine, agriculture, and forestry sectors. The dairy sector plays an important role in the South of Scotland and work is underway to establish a new Dairy Innovation Centre that will drive transformational research and innovation to decarbonise the dairy sector and move it towards a circular bioeconomy.
• A number of opportunities are being explored by Edinburgh and South East Scotland to support adaptation and the transition to a zero-carbon emission region. These include exploring sustainable modern methods of construction, utilising the existing energy assets within the region to transition to a low carbon economy; and a programme of work to identify projects that will help the region adapt to and build resilience to future climate changes.
• The North East of Scotland aim to deliver stronger advice to employers to help them transition to net zero and contribute to climate resilience. Climate Ready Aberdeenshire is currently creating a climate change adaptation and mitigation strategy. The region is currently working with partners such as the UK MET Office, ScottishWater, SEPA, NatureScot and others to better understand local climate and nature challenges and develop investable, place based, blue and green network infrastructure plans, integrated with enhanced active travel networks for the benefits of people and nature.
• Ayrshire recognises the fundamental importance of rising to the challenge of climate change and doing all that is possible to restore and enhance the natural capital within the region. This was the motivation for including natural capital as a priority theme in their strategy. Ayrshire intend to better understand the natural capital that exists across the region and to develop a regional energy masterplan.

Food Security

Climate change poses an increasing risk to food production, safety and affordability, in Scotland and around the world.

The loss of resilience for food imports is an increasing risk in Scotland, as climate impacts intensify internationally. Many countries, including those in Europe, are already struggling with the effects of climate change. As such, the international food sources we have always assumed are available may not continue to be so. This has resulted in the weather-related fresh produce shortages we have seen in supermarkets in recent years, and can have implications upon the costs of nutritious food in Scotland. Affordability is a barrier to being able to eat a healthy and balanced diet. When the price of fresh, healthy produce increases due to climate induced supply shocks, it can disproportionately affect lower-income households and widen health inequalities.

Work is underway in Scotland to try to improve food security and preparedness including from climate-related shocks:

• Food security unit –following a recommendation from the Short-life Food Security and Supply Taskforce, that Scottish Ministers established together with industry in the immediate wake of the Ukraine conflict, a new, dedicated Food Security Unit has been established in the Scottish Government. The Food Security Unit will ensure food security is considered in the development of wider Scottish Government policy.
• Food security monitoring – the Scottish Government’s Food Security Unit is developing an evidence-based system to monitor risks or threats to the supply chain to help mitigate future shocks and impacts on food security.
• Food security research - the Scottish Government will continue to draw on new insights from the RESAS Strategic Research Programme 2022 to 2027 which focus on sustainable food systems and supply; as well as developing resilient, high-quality crops and livestock, while minimising the increasing threat from pests and disease, to support the food and drink industry.
• International collaboration on food security – the Scottish Government will strengthen its collaborative approach with the UK Government, the EU and other international food security actors, such as the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, on international food supply and security issues, including those resulting from climate change. This includes for example via the International Food Summit held in Scotland in June 2024.
• Promoting local food - the Scottish Government Local Food Strategy brings together strands of work that support the local food agenda via three pillars: connecting people with food; connecting Scottish producers with buyers; and harnessing public sector procurement. The strategy outlines current action to support locally-based production and circular supply chains, cut food miles and enable more people to grow and eat food locally, which offers benefits for adaptation, sustainability, equality and health outcomes.
• Community food organisations: As set out in Scotland’s Diet and Weight Delivery Plan the Scottish Government continues to invest in community food organisations, which supports those facing food insecurity to access healthy food in a dignified way. Community food organisations are an important asset during times of rising food prices, can help increase local food production and improve access to fresh healthy food for all.
• Good Food Nation – Under the Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act 2022 Scottish Ministers, health boards, and local authorities, are required to prepare Good Food Nation Plans. The importance of: sustainable food systems; resilient supply chains; and availability of high quality, nutritious and culturally appropriate food are principles that require to be taken into account as part of this.
• Scottish Government statement on food security – the Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Act 2024 introduces a requirement for the Scottish Ministers to, prepare and lay before the Scottish Parliament a statement on food security in Scotland, not less than once in every period of 3 years. It also requires Scottish Ministers to have regard for the need for sustainable food systems and supply chains in delivering food security, when preparing or amending a rural support plan.
• Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) and food – the Scottish Government is working closely with the other UK nations to build more structure and formality to support UK-wide working on emergency food planning and resilience. The Scottish Government is also working to better understand critical inputs that may impact food security in Scotland.

Food Safety

With regards to food safety, increases in extreme weather and changes in annual temperature are among factors which can lead to increasing occurrences of bacteria, viruses and parasites in crops and livestock which can be harmful for human health.

Food Standards Scotland (FSS) is responsible for implementing and monitoring food safety regulations for Scotland. FSS’s strategy for 2021-26 recognises the potential impacts of climate change on food safety and commits to ensuring its work to protect Scotland’s population from foodborne illness takes account of these impacts.

To protect the safety of food produced and sold in Scotland from the impacts of climate change:

• Ensure businesses understand the risks and comply with food safety laws – FSS will continue to work with local authorities to implement official controls that ensure food is produced safely; providing support to businesses through specific guidance on the control of food safety risks. This includes bacterial pathogens and natural toxins that are impacted by weather events.
• Strengthen horizon scanning and surveillance of the food chain – FSS will continue to invest in horizon scanning and surveillance activities to help identify and understand new and emerging risks to domestically produced and imported foods, including those which may arise due to the impacts of climate change.
• Monitor trends in foodborne illness – FSS will continue to work with Public Health Scotland (PHS) to monitor trends in reported foodborne illnesses, such as Campylobacter and Salmonella infections; including work to understand associations with changes in weather patterns and adverse weather events, to support measures which help to protect the public from exposure risks.
• Collaboration on food safety research needs – FSS will continue to collaborate with the RESAS Strategic Research Programme, the Food Standards Agency, and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) to identify evidence gaps and commission research which improves our understanding of the potential impacts of climate change on food safety risks, and supports the development of interventions for mitigating these risks.
• Support innovative approaches for strengthening the resilience of Scotland’s food chain – FSS will continue to work with the Food Standards Agency to assess the safety of novel food and animal feed products, production systems and packaging innovations which help to promote sustainable, secure supply chains and reduce the environmental impacts of food production; enabling them to be placed on the market.

Medical supply chain resilience

A healthy, thriving population is key to our economy. Alongside other major geopolitical risks, such as conflicts, inflation, and global instability, climate change presents a major potential risk to NHS supply chains that has to be kept under review.

Climate change presents significant risks to supply, as global temperatures and increasing serve weather, can prevent transportation, change manufacturing conditions and affect the whole chain of many vital medical goods.

To ensure a continuous supply of vital medical equipment, and to assess any risks that may disrupt this supply:

• Surveillance of medical supply chains – NHS National Procurement will continue to routinely monitor supply chain resilience to ensure there is a continuous supply of vital medical equipment and to assess any risks that may disrupt this supply, including from climate hazards. All potential suppliers have to undergo stringent assessments of their capability to maintain supply, in the event of any disruption before being awarded a place on national procurement frameworks. This assessment incorporates an assessment of climate risks.
• Diversity of medical stocks and supply – NHS National Procurement will collaborate with suppliers to continue to identify potential risks, including emerging threats posed by climate change, with risks prioritised based on severity and likelihood. NHS National Procurement maintain stock levels that consider identified risks and allow for disruptions within a certain timeframe (contingent timescales). This helps to buffer against short-term supply chain issues. The product portfolio is tracked by country of origin, allowing for quick identification of potential problems based on geographical factors.
• Sustainable Procurement Tools and guidance – as outlined in the NHS Scotland Climate Emergency Strategy, the Scottish Government has provided tools and guidance to assist all public bodies, including NHS Scotland, in fulfilling sustainable procurement duties. Both the Scottish Government and the NHS will continue to work together, not only to make sure that supply chains are not disrupted due to the impacts of climate change, but to ensure their own supply chains reduce carbon emissions as much as possible.

Food and drink industry supply chain resilience

Riks to agricultural production, distribution networks and food safety mean Scotland’s important food and drink industry is particularly exposed to the impacts of climate change.

The industry is of significant economic value to Scotland - representing £5.4 billion in Gross Value Added (GVA) and is Scotland’s third largest sector employing some 129,000 people, many in our rural and island communities.

Enhancing the resilience of the food industry from climate impacts will require both industry-led action and Scottish Government support.

To support the resilience of the food and drink industry from climate impacts;

• Scotland Food & Drink Industry Strategy – Scotland Food & Drink’s industry strategy ‘Sustaining Scotland, Supplying the World’ recognises resilience as an overarching mission over the next ten years. As part of the strategy activity, a cross-Partnership team has been created to provide practical interventions to support the sector in making a just transition to net zero, helping to ensure that it has the resources and expertise required to sustain prime environmental credentials.
• Scotland Food & Drink supply chain security work – Scotland Food & Drink will take forward a Supply Chain Security programme of work to create the right conditions for businesses to operate successfully and optimise national food security, so we can respond to supply chain shocks and volatility, including those resulting from climate change. Action underway includes conducting an ongoing assessment of industry wide resilience and food security, undertaking research and pathfinder work on factors such as logistics and processing and developing an import substitution initiative.
• Investment in Scotland Food & Drink Strategy – the Scottish Government will support investment in delivery of the Scotland Food and Drink Partnership’s industry strategy, including the specific Supply Chain Security programme of work. To date the Scottish Government has invested £10 million (Year 1 - £5 million and Year 2 - £5 million) of funding to support the delivery of the strategy.

Supply of critical raw materials for Scotland’s energy transition

Our transition to a net-zero and climate-resilient economy will rely on the secure and adequate supply of critical raw materials (minerals and metals) and technologies which form the basis of many industrial supply chains.

Insights from Scottish Enterprise have shown materials Scotland requires to support our energy transition and economic growth are experiencing supply security risks –including from exposure to climate hazards and related supply chain disruption. For instance, copper and lithium, which are of high importance to wind energy, EVs and battery storage, are particularly vulnerable to water stress, given their high water requirements. Over 50% of today’s lithium and copper production is concentrated in areas of the world with high water stress levels, which will increase under climate change. To increase resilience:

• Green Industrial Strategy – Scottish Government strategies supporting our economic transition to net-zero will recognise supply chain vulnerabilities for critical raw materials and the need to support resilience, including the Green Industrial Strategy. The Green Industrial Strategy forms a core part of our National Strategy for Economic Transformation, and sets out economic opportunity areas for Scotland from the global transition to net zero.
• Circular economy – the Scottish Government will explore how best to build supply chain resilience through recycling and remanufacturing to help deliver a Circular Economy. This will include supporting remanufacturing, recovery, reuse, and recycling to support economic resilience and mitigate risks associated with critical raw material and technology access.
• Supply chain vulnerabilities research and mapping - over the course of this Adaptation Plan the Scottish Government will take a continued and collaborative approach to research, working with partners including Enterprise Agencies, UK Government and our research institutes, to better assess the implications of different climate scenarios on our supply chains for vital goods and materials. Through this work we will support opportunities to share relevant analysis and insights with businesses.
• UKG and International collaboration – the Scottish Government will engage with the UK Government and international partners on supply chain resilience, recognising a collaborative approach is required to respond to global challenges and in order to identify opportunities to improve global supply chain resilience.

Transportation and Distribution

Transportation and distribution are key to sustaining economic activity, as demonstrated in the case study of costs benefit analysis of adaptation action on our trunk road networks. Our transport networks ensure goods, foods and vital supplies can move across Scotland and support international exports.

As detailed in Objective PS4 climate change will continue to place our transportation and distribution networks, under strain. This has implications for economic growth, stability and ensuring equal access to essential goods.

Detail to support a more climate-resilient transport and distribution systems, can be found in Objective PS4. Support in managing risks to distribution networks from climate impacts includes:

• ACCAR - Transport Scotland (TS) will implement their Approach to Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience (TS ACCAR) and the vision for a transport system that is resilient to weather related disruption.
• Trunk Road Adaptation Plan – Transport Scotland will develop a Trunk Road Adaptation Plan, which identifies areas of the trunk road network vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and a programme of interventions.