Developing and Scaling Climate Resilience Across Scotland 

On Tuesday 25^th February 2025, the Adaptation Scotland programme, funded by the Scottish Government and delivered by Verture, was proud to host Scotland’s Regional Climate Adaptation Partnerships: From Foundations to Maturity, bringing together experts, policymakers, and local leaders to explore the future of climate adaptation partnerships across the country. 

Scotland has been at the forefront of place-based climate action, with regional adaptation partnerships emerging to address unique local climate risks. From Climate Ready Clyde, initiated in 2012, to newer collaborations like Highland Adapts, Climate Ready South East Scotland, and initiatives in Tayside, Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, and the Outer Hebrides, these partnerships play a crucial role in strengthening resilience at a regional level. 

As climate impacts vary across Scotland, regional partnerships must work collaboratively across sectors and places, navigate governance structures, and ensure inclusive, community-driven responses. At the event, speakers and participants explored key challenges and opportunities, including: 

• Developing shared evidence bases for climate risk assessment 

• Setting strategic adaptation priorities 

• Securing long-term investment and leadership 

• Engaging communities in a just transition 

A key theme was Scotland’s National Adaptation Plan (SNAP3), which sets an ambitious goal: by 2029, all regions should have mature adaptation partnerships in place. With the Scottish Government now working on a roadmap to achieve this, today’s discussions provided valuable insights into what’s needed to scale and sustain regional collaborations. 

The event featured contributions from leading adaptation initiatives, as well as insights from international speakers on place-based climate resilience in Northern Ireland, Ireland, and elsewhere in Europe. Acting Minister for Climate Action, Dr Alasdair Allan MSP, also joined for a short address and Q&A session, reinforcing the Scottish Government’s commitment to adaptation action at all levels. 

As Scotland moves toward a climate-resilient future, the role of regional partnerships will be more critical than ever. This event marked an important step in building momentum, strengthening collaboration, and shaping the pathway forward. 

What’s next? 
The insights from this event will contribute to the Scottish Government’s roadmap for regional adaptation partnerships, due by 2025. The Adaptation Scotland programme will continue supporting, expanding, and refining Scotland’s approach to local-led climate resilience. 

Stay connected for updates and more opportunities for you to be involved in action in your area. 

Scotland’s Climate Week kicks off today, Monday 23rd September. This annual event is a celebration of the positive action people are taking across Scotland to lower our climate emissions, and increase our resilience to climate impacts.

Stories for Change

This year’s theme is “Stories for Change” which aims to encourage individuals, communities, and organisations to share their personal experiences and actions of what they’re doing to adapt to and combat climate change. Sharing stories is a powerful tool for connecting people and inspiring this necessary collective action. By sharing our journey and solutions on social media using #ScotClimateWeek, we can help others understand the impact of climate change and motivate them to take action.

If you’re feeling inspired by the #StoriesForChange being shared, we’ll be posting lots of ways you can help tackle climate change through the Adaptation Scotland programme’s activities and partners.

Get involved

Wondering how to get involved? The Scottish Government has provided free resources to help you get started. Visit the Net Zero Nation website to access the free toolkit.

Throught the week, the Adaptation Scotland programme is running a series of events, including:

• Training for business advisors at Scottish Enterprise and South of Scotland Enterprise
• Our bi-annual Public Sector Climate Adaptation Network event
• Sharing the new Highland Adapts Economic Assessment of Climate Change Impacts
• Launching our new business resilience tools and case studies
• And much more!

Highland Adapts brings communities, businesses, land managers and public sector together to facilitate transformational action towards a prosperous, climate-ready Highland.

The Highland Adapts partnership was formally established in 2021 when nine founding partner organisations committed to working together: Forestry and Land Scotland, NHS Highland, The Highland Council, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Changeworks, Verture, NatureScot, Highlands and Islands Climate Hub, Zero Waste Scotland.

These organisations agreed to distribute power throughout the partnership, recognising that diverse partners should be involved in Highland Adapts. Knowledge sharing and collaboration are key to everything that Highland Adapts does.

The objectives of Highland Adapts are to:

• develop a strong knowledge and evidence base, setting out the climate risks and opportunities that will affect the region
• facilitate information sharing through a range of resources
• identify opportunities to reduce and overcome these climate risks
• develop a shared adaptation strategy and suite of action plans
• support others to use plans to form the basis of projects and activities across the public sector, community, land management and business sector plans, strategies and investments
• support the public sector to embed climate change adaptation throughout their business
• support community climate change action

Highland Adapts is currently developing the first regional climate change risk and opportunity assessment for Highland, and has recently published a pioneering Economic Assessment of Climate Change Impacts.

Climate Ready South East Scotland is a new project to support collaborative climate action in the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region. The project is being led by Verture, working in partnership with the region’s six local authorities: City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Fife, Midlothian, Scottish Borders and West Lothian.

Between November 2023 and March 2025, Climate Ready South East Scotland will carry out a detailed assessment of the climate risks and opportunities faced by the region. This assessment will both draw on the best available scientific evidence, and work with communities across the region to gather and share their experiences of climate change. The assessment will inform decision-making across the region, laying the foundation for collaborative climate adaptation action

Climate Ready South East Scotland will:

• Identify and prioritise the risks and opportunities from climate change to Edinburgh and South East Scotland’s society, economy and environment between now and 2080.
• Lay the foundation for a transformational approach to climate adaptation and resilience for the city region.
• Support a Just Transition to a net zero and climate resilient economy, in a way that delivers fairness and tackles inequality and injustice.

The project is being delivered as part of the Regional Prosperity Framework, with support from Capital City Partnership. It is funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and Scottish Government.

Climate Ready Clyde is a leading cross-sector initiative funded by 12 member organisations and supported by the Scottish Government, to create and deliver a shared vision, strategy and action plan for an adapting Glasgow City Region. The initiative is the most established regional climate adaptation partnership in Scotland, and was initiated through the Adaptation Scotland programme in 2011.

In 2021 Climate Ready Clyde published the Glasgow City Region Climate Adaptation Strategy and Action Plan. This offers a blueprint to guide the way to a region that can thrive in our future climate. The Strategy and Action Plan is recognised as leading example in Scotland and in Europe. It sets out an ambitious shared vision and takes a transformative, whole-systems approach to climate adaptation, with an emphasis on fairness and ‘just resilience’.

The Strategy includes eleven strategic interventions that form a statement of ambition for the next decade, and sixteen Flagship Actions to accelerate progress by 2025. It is informed by a comprehensive Climate Risk and Opportunity Assessment, and by the Clyde Rebuilt project.

Verture provides the technical secretariat for Climate Ready Clyde, acting as a catalyst to create the enabling environment for transformative adaptation. The current members of the partnership are: East Dunbartonshire Council, East Renfrewshire Council, Glasgow City Council, Inverclyde Council, North Lanarkshire Council, Renfrewshire Council, SEPA, South Lanarkshire Council, SPT, University of Glasgow, University of Strathclyde and West Dunbartonshire Council.

Climate Ready Aberdeenshire (CRA) is a voluntary cross-sector network to create and coordinate Aberdeenshire’s climate change adaptation and mitigation strategy. It brings together the views and expertise of a range of stakeholders from public, private, and third sector organisations, to set out how they can work collaboratively to meet the challenges of a changing climate in Aberdeenshire.

In 2022, CRA published its Regional Strategy for Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation.

CRA’s objectives are:

• Increase the understanding and awareness of climate change risks, challenges, and opportunities within Aberdeenshire
• Encourage the use of a place-based approach when engaging with communities on how to mitigate and adapt to climate change
• Support decision-makers to contribute to the delivery of local and national commitments to climate change that mutually benefit Aberdeenshire’s environment, economy, and people
• Ensure that network members are best placed, within their remit, to provide knowledge, advice, and support on climate change mitigation and adaptation action, including helping to signpost businesses, community groups, and individuals to resources, projects, and funding opportunities to deliver change

The CRA network includes: Aberdeenshire Council, Cairngorms National Park Authority, Historic Environment Scotland, NatureScot, NESCAN, Nestrans, NHS Grampian, Offshore Energies UK, Scottish Water, SEPA, The Barn Arts, James Hutton Institute, University of Aberdeen and Visit Aberdeenshire.

Regional partnerships

Place-based collaboration on climate adaptation is at the heart of the Adaptation Scotland programme.

The adaptation finance challenge

There is a significant shortfall between the finance available for adaptation and the amount required – ‘the adaptation finance gap’. These resources aim to support development of the knowledge and skills needed to help to close this gap and successfully finance adaptation projects in Scotland.

Finance for climate adaptation related projects (both when adaptation is a primary and secondary objective) is required. This finance will need to consider climate risks and impacts, as well as adaptation benefits and costs, and must be aligned to the relevant legislation and regulations.

The third UK Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA3), and the Climate Change Committee’s Investment for a Well Adapted UK report, have highlighted the high economic costs of climate change, but also the high economic and societal benefits of adaptation, reporting that investing in such action is extremely effective and efficient.

The Adaptation Scotland programme has worked with industry experts to develop a suite of resources to help build a deeper understanding of the opportunities presented from investing in or financing adaptation action, the common barriers to financing adaptation, and case studies of businesses models that could be replicated to increase the speed, quantity, and scale of adaptation finance in Scotland.

Guide to adaptation finance

The Guide to Adaptation Climate Finance was developed in partnership with a ‘Climate Finance Working Group’, made up of industry experts across Scotland. It introduces adaptation finance, identifies current barriers, and aims to support development of the knowledge and skills needed to successfully finance adaptation projects in Scotland. It is relevant for a wide range of sustainability, finance and project development professionals; anyone assessing financing options for climate adaptation related projects. It explores three use cases: public, blended and place-based adaptation finance.

Insights and opportunities report

This report builds on barriers identified in our Guide to Climate Adaptation Finance, to identify opportunities for stakeholders in Scotland to address those barriers, and unlock finance for scalable, inclusive adaptation. This report is informed by a series of semi-structured interviews with key informants, alongside a review of relevant literature, news stories, and blogs.

The report identifies 12 opportunities for overcoming barriers to financing adaptation and mobilising private finance. These actions cover policy, market development and frameworks, data and information sharing, research, and industry-led action. The report also highlights that much can be learned from the nature finance sector, where there is innovation in market-based approaches to financing action. Opportunities exist to maximise synergies between nature finance and adaptation outcomes, but adaptation responses extend beyond naturebased approaches, so will require their own distinct market development and business models.

Developing adaptation finance business cases

The Developing Adaptation Finance Business Cases resource was commissioned in collaboration with the working group and produced by Paul Watkiss Associates. It examines the opportunities for public, private, blended and third sector finance for three projects that would have traditionally been public grant financed.

• A coastal managed realignment at Inch of Ferryton in the Firth of Forth
• A flood management project in Newcastleton in the Scottish Borders
• A community climate resilience project in Uist in the Outer Hebrides

Adaptation Finance Case Study: Craigleith Retail Park

This case study, produced with Paul Watkiss Associates, explores the financing options support the retrofit of blue-green infrastructure in an urban setting. This project developed a potential business model to finance the work, reducing current and future flood risk (and to an extent, future heat risk) whilst increasing property values, footfall, biodiversity and air quality.

Craigleith retail park in Edinburgh

Railway tracks

Infrastructure across Scotland operates as a connected system and not in isolation. It means impacts from extreme weather and climate-related risks can cascade from one sector or operator to another, causing significant disruption to essential services, transport, and business operations. To effectively respond to and manage these shared climate-related risks, infrastructure organisations across Scotland need to work together to share knowledge and resources.

The Adaptation Scotland programme recently worked alongside Network Rail to co-host a collaborative industry-led workshop in Edinburgh, bringing together more than 50 organisations to share experiences of impacts from climate change and extreme weather, and ideas on how organisations present could best work together to collaboratively build resilience to future risks.

The event had 4 key objectives:

• To provide a space for owners and / or operators of infrastructure in Scotland to share their approaches to understanding climate-related risks on their assets and operations.
• To showcase some of the latest climate adaptation plans published by operators of critical national infrastructure in Scotland.
• To gather views on co-commissioning a national level climate change risk assessment focussed on risk interdependencies between infrastructure operators in Scotland.
• To gather views and inform the further development of the Scottish National Adaptation Plan (SNAP3).

Presentations from infrastructure operators – including Scottish Gas Networks, Network Rail, Scottish Water, and Scottish Power Energy Networks – set the scene for the challenges of adapting to climate change and the barriers to working together with other infrastructure operators to adapt to shared climate risks, as well as good examples of adaptation in action.

Presentations from experts including Professor Paul Davies, Principal Fellow in Weather and Climate Extremes and Impacts at the Met Office, Caitlin Douglas, Senior Analyst UK Climate Change Risk Assessment at the Climate Change Committee, and Dr Helen Adams from King’s College London, who provided an overview of the recently announced ‘Maximising UK adaptation to climate change (MACC) Hub’, where Verture will lead the Scotland ‘spoke’ alongside the University of Glasgow.

Following a series of collaborative activities, participants identified a shortlist of key activities to take forward future research and action by working together. These include:

• Mapping key climate-related risk interdependencies shared between owners and operators of infrastructure in Scotland;
• Developing common principles in undertaking climate change risk assessments, sharing of best practice, and development of collective climate-related data requirement;
• And developing guidance, common principles and additional requirements that would support stronger on-the-ground collaboration of adaptation interventions (e.g., co-funding flood resilience works in an area of shared risk).

To take this work forward, a new ‘Climate Ready Infrastructure Forum’ for Scotland has been proposed. This will be an action-oriented group, to take forward discrete, and tactical research and development initiatives, with the initial priorities being those emerging from the workshop. The Adaptation Scotland programme will continue to support this industry-led initiative and help to connect the Forum with adaptation action being led by regional adaptation initiatives.

I was really heartened to see the enthusiasm in the room during the event, and the strong desire from others to work closer together to address the shared challenges associated with our changing climate in Scotland. We’ll now turn our efforts to formalising a ‘group’ that will build on the momentum gained at this event’, and look to foster the closer collaboration that many of us know will be essential to creating infrastructure and services in Scotland that are resilient to changes in climate.

David Harkin, Weather Resilience and Climate Change Adaptation Strategy Manager, Network Rail

To find out more about the event and the Forum, please contact David Harkin ([email protected]) or Jonny Casey ([email protected]).

The Tay Bridge

The Adaptation Scotland programme is supporting the formation of a new regional adaptation partnership in Tayside to address climate risks. We are inviting local people and organisations to help shape a shared vision and priorities through sector-specific events.

The climate in Tayside is changing and the region is experiencing warmer, wetter weather, increased storms, and higher sea levels, all of which is set to continue even if we achieved net zero tomorrow. We need to adapt to these changes to allow us to become more resilient and ensure Tayside can continue to flourish.

At this early stage, we want to involve people and organisations across the region in defining a shared vision and priorities for the new partnership. Four sector specific events have been designed to provide opportunities for different groups to have a say in what the partnership could be, what it could do and how it could work, and we are inviting people who live or work in the area to join in.

• Public Bodies – 28th August 2024, 12.30 – 3:00pm, Perth Civic Hall, High St, Perth.
• Existing Climate Projects – 5th September 2024, 12.30 – 3:00pm, Dundee West Church, 130/32 Perth Rd, Dundee DD1 4JW.
• Communities – 2nd October 2024, 12.30 – 3:00pm Dundee West Church, 130/32 Perth Rd, Dundee DD1 4JW.
• Local businesses including agriculture – 30th October 2024, 12.30 – 3:00pm, Webster Memorial Theatre, 64 High St, Arbroath DD11 1AW.

Each workshop will explore how a regional partnership can advance adaptation in Tayside, using these three key questions:

• How would you describe current work on adaptation in Tayside? What works well and what are the challenges?
• What do you hope to see in Tayside in 2050, as the result of good adaptation action?
• How can the regional partnership help move Tayside from the current situation to the future we want to see in 2050?

Each event will run from 12:30pm – 3pm with lunch available from 12:15pm. Space is limited, so we ask you to register no more than 2 people per organisation or group. If you want more people to attend, please contact the Adaptation Scotland programme team at Verture, and we will do our best to accommodate you.

Please register via Eventbrite for the event most relevant to you. Each event will be tailored to that audience. If you are unable to attend your preferred event, please contact us rather than booking onto another event.