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]).

Naomi and Sharrell recording Campus-Cast: Showcasing Sustainability

We were delighted that Jonny Casey, Adaptation Scotland’s Programme manager at Verture, was invited to appear on Fife College’s CampusCast – Showcasing Sustainability podcast to discuss adaptation earlier this year.

The podcast series, hosted by Sharrell Carroll, a Fife College HND Media and Communications student, and Naomi Wadsworth, Fife College’s Sustainability Co-ordinator, takes an in depth look at their new Dunfermline Campus, which is a pathfinder project for the Scottish Government’s Net Zero Public Sector Buildings Standard. The podcast also discusses Fife College’s sustainability journey and the steps it is taking to meet the challenges posed by climate change and net zero.

Fife College is a member of Scotland’s Public Sector Climate Adaptation Network. Through this the programme has become involved in the College’s new flagship net-zero ready Dunfermline campus, advising on measures available to build resilience to climate change impacts in the estate and operations.

These range from design elements such as the type of plants used for landscaping, the type of paving used to prevent surface flooding and excess run-off to ensuring critical equipment is not located in areas which could be vulnerable to flooding. Discussions also included the buildings orientation, and how to minimise unwanted heat gain in South-facing parts of the building.

Adaption is not a requirement of the new standard, nor in other current building regulations; the College’s decision to incorporate it into its new Dunfermline Campus is very forward thinking.

The Adaptation Scotland programme Supported the College and its contractors Balfour Beatty to assess the risks posed to the campus by extreme weather events already experienced and future climate projections of hotter drier summers, warmer wetter winters, more storms, and more extreme wind. As well as the impact on the estate itself, they also considered how people move around the buildings and using space outside the building.

Jonny joined Sharell and Naomi to take an in depth look at this adaptation work and share the details of it with listeners. The guest interview first focuses on what adaptation is, and why it’s needed in Scotland. The trio then discuss adaptation being a lesser-known way of tackling climate change (compared to cutting emissions) – highlighting that even if globally, we were net zero emissions tomorrow, we would still experience the impacts of climate change for decades to come.

The discussion outlined how adaptation goes beyond changes to physical things such as buildings, instead branching out into the operation of things, planning, and behaviour change. Measures to respond to the impacts of climate change cross sectors, geographies, and people right across the country – from places of work and infrastructure responding to extreme weather events, to coastal communities facing erosion by the sea, to hits on food production as variable weather takes its toll on agriculture.

They also looked at what adaptation measures are being done in Scotland and the Scottish Government’s third National Adaptation Plan being drawn up this year, and consulted on during the time of recording. Throughout, Jonny stressed the long-term planning aspect to adaptation and that it requires behavioural change, with awareness being key to ensuring that proactive measures are taken rather than reactive changes being needed in future.

Reflecting on Adaptation Scotland’s work with Fife College, Jonny Casey, Adaptation Scotland’s Programme manager at Verture said:

“Fife College are pioneering new approaches to sustainability and thinking innovatively about how to operate in a changing climate. The CampusCast podcast series showcases some of the fantastic work they are doing, and how they are using Adaptation Scotland resources to drive organisation-wide action to respond to climate change impacts and inspire both their students, and other colleges too.”

Sharrell Carroll, HND Media & Communications Student, Fife College:

“In a recent episode of our CampusCast podcast, Jonny Casey delivered a powerful message on the critical need for climate adaptation. This episode sparked a significant response, with many people expressing a newfound awareness and a commitment to incorporating adaptation strategies into their lives. This conversation has opened the door to more in-depth discussions about how we can all contribute to building a future that is both sustainable and resilient. Adaptation isn’t just a backup plan; it’s a necessary strategy for survival.”

Naomi Wadsworth, Sustainability Co-ordinator, Fife College:

“Jonny was a fantastic guest speaker on CampusCast– climate adaptation is a vital part of the puzzle to tackle climate change and we’re excited to both promote climate adaptation and what we’re doing at Fife College to improve our resilience to climate change. It is my hope that future projects which adopt the Net Zero Public Sector Buildings Standard will rise to the challenge of including adaptation in the project – something that Fife College has trailblazed with the help of Adaptation Scotland”.

We’re also delighted to be able to share that Sharrell won two awards at the 2024 FCSA and Fife College Awards – Winner for the FCSA Climate Impact Award and one of the winners in the FCSA Outstanding Performance category.

PSCAN members at the recent gathering

We were delighted to be joined by over 70 participants for the Adaptation Scotland’s Public Sector Climate Adaptation Network at our recent gathering. The Network is made up of public bodies who work together to benchmark their progress against the Adaptation Capability Framework and identify and share learning on climate change adaptation.

The latest gathering was held in Edinburgh with around half of the attendees there in person, and half joining online from around Scotland. Organisations represented included local authorities, universities and colleges, infrastructure providers, and other public bodies.

The first session from the ECCI’s Adaptation Community of Practice session looked at the challenges faced by the Netwok in implementing adaptation within their organisations, and what was preventing change from happening. Its breakout discussions were centred on what a well-adapted Scotland would look like and what needs to change or improve in organisations and communities for this to happen.

Harper Loonsk, Climate Change Adaptation Coordinator of Highland Adapts at Verture, who attended online found this session brought some interesting discussion amongst attendees:

“It was interesting to have different perspectives and points coming through from those working across Scotland and to see where different minds went with the same questions. I find the network helpful to connect with people outside of the Highlands and to keep up to date on what is going on across the country.”

There were also updates from the Scottish Government on the National Adaptation Plan draft (SNAP3) with the opportunity for feedback from participants. The public consultation remains open until 24^th April.

Three members of the network – Police Scotland, Scottish Parliament, and Creative Scotland – shared their experiences of implementing adaptation measures at their organisations.

Police Scotland gave an overview of how adaptation is being incorporated into every aspect of its work from embedded it with its staff to reviewing its buildings and fleet vehicles, as well as tackling environmental hazards such as increased tick prevalence.

The Scottish Parliament outlined the journey it had gone on undertaking a risk assessment through the framework and learning from previous experiences of extreme weather events.

Creative Scotland shared how adaptation is being incorporated into the organisational culture and the work being delivered through it.

Looking back over the day Maureen Lynch, Environment and Sustainability Advisor at the Scottish Parliament said:

“Being part of the network is great for building connections, learning about the latest developments in Adaptation, as well as a space to ask for advice and share progress which enables public sector bodies to support each other on our adaptation journeys.”

The Network continues to expand, and it was great to have some new members with us.

Laura Burnett, Climate Change Adaptation Technical Lead at Scottish Water, joining the Network for the first time in her new role at Scottish Water, said:

“Attending PSCAN has resulted in many opportunities for collaboration, be that in place-based adaptation work, or shared learning in protecting front-line emergency response workers. I was struck by the curiosity, support, and knowledge of those in the room.”

We’re looking forward to our next gathering later in the year with more opportunities to share learning and advice and make connections with those going through their own adaptation journeys. To find out more about the network and how to join visit its webpage here.

Benbecula from South Uist

Through the Adaptation Scotland programme and in partnership with five Climate Hubs, Verture is organising a series of workshops to discuss climate change impacts across Scotland and how the draft Scottish National Adaptation Plan 2024-2029 – currently out for consultation – aims to address them.

We have been to Annan with Dumfries and Galloway Hub already, are in Montrose with the Angus Hub today, and over the next few weeks will be in Golspie with the Highlands and Islands Hub; Daliburgh in South Uist with the Outer Hebrides COP; and Glasgow with the Glasgow Hub.

These workshops are run as part of the public consultation on the Adaptation Plan and inform its final version that will be published in Autumn. If you are interested in attending them please contact: [email protected]

Find out more about the Plan and share your views on it until 24 April.

PSCAN members at a recent meeting

The public sector has a crucial role to play in enabling Scotland to adapt to climate change. Taking a strong, collaborative and proactive approach will ensure that vital public assets, infrastructure and services are fit for current and future generations and able to deliver positive outcomes across society in a changing climate.

We are pleased to share that the Adaptation Scotland programme’s Public Sector Climate Adaptation Network has now reached a total of 50 active members, representing a large portion of Scotland’s public sector, including local authorities, infrastructure operators, university and colleges, and land managers.

This Network, formerly known as the Benchmarking Working Group, is made up of practitioners who are leading, or closely involved with implementing adaptation work within public sector organisations. Participants benefit from opportunities to network and receive support from peers, as well as training and skills development.

The Network’s inception was in 2019, spurred into action by the development of the award-winning Adaptation Capability Framework – a common approach for public bodies to respond to climate impacts and develop their capabilities to adapt to new risks. The Network is an example of how learning exchanges can help drive forward adaptation ambition and action.

Roddy Hamilton, Falkirk Council, who has been involved with the group since 2020, reflects on the benefits of the Network:

“The group has been, and continues to be, a fantastic source of information, inspiration, peer-to-peer support, and networking in relation to climate change adaptation and by extension adaptation-adjacent topics including ecology, and climate change mitigation.As the group has grown and developed to reflect the needs of the group, the Adaptation Scotland team and members of the group have maintained a welcoming, inclusive, and supportive environment and a great sense of camaraderie.”

Members this year new include Angus Council, Argyll and Bute Council, Crown Estate Scotland, Dundee and Angus College, Highlands and Islands Airports, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, SPT, SRUC and the University of Edinburgh.

Arlene Barclay, SRUC (Scotland’s Rural College), who joined the network this month, reflects on aspirations for adaptation:

“SRUC are excited to be announced as one of ten new members of Adaptation Scotland PSCAN Network where we intend to utilise Adaptation Scotland’s digital platform resources, (such as the Benchmarking Tool), establish SRUC’s Adaptation Framework and Risk Register and contribute towards PSCAN’s activities. We very much look forward to the peer-to-peer support and networking with this incredible portfolio of professionals.”

Next year, Scotland will publish a new statutory adaptation programme, and it is expected the role of a collaborative public sector will be vital to support Scotland’s effort to build resilience to climate impacts.

In 2024, the Adaptation Scotland programme, which is funded by the Scottish Government, will update and enhance existing adaptation tools and resources, to continue to support public sector partners to take stronger action to adapt to climate risks, developing and empowering public sector leadership to drive a step change in adaptation action, including in cross-sector collaboration and connecting adaptation to other policy areas.

PSCAN members at a recent meeting

The Adaptation Scotland programme is excited to announce the opportunity for public body organisations to join the Public Sector Climate Adaptation Network, formerly known as the Benchmarking Working Group. The Public Sector Climate Adaptation Network is comprised of public bodies who work together to share learnings and progress on climate change adaptation.

The group started in June 2019 and includes 40 major organisations including local authorities, infrastructure operators, universities and national public bodies. We are now offering the opportunity for a further 10 organisations to join the Network in October 2023.

A framework for the public sector

The Adaptation Capability Framework, launched in 2019, provides guidance and tools to help public bodies adapt to climate change. To support the use of the Framework, a Benchmarking Tool was developed to measure progress on adaptation, track the impact of actions and illustrate an organisation’s adaptation journey.

The Public Sector Climate Adaptation Network:

• Facilitates peer to peer support
• Provides training and skills development
• Develops case studies and shares good practice
• Supports organisations to use the Benchmarking Tool
• Provides feedback to inform further development of the Adaptation Capability Framework

Public sector adaptation requirements

The public sector has a crucial role to play in enabling Scotland to adapt to climate change. Taking a strong, collaborative and proactive approach will ensure that vital public assets, infrastructure and services are fit for current and future generations and able to deliver positive outcomes across society. It also has a unique leadership role in driving climate action and influencing change across society.

The public sector is subject to legislative climate change duties that require action to adapt and report progress. As set out in the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009, a “public body must, in exercising its functions, act: in the way best calculated to help deliver any (Scottish statutory adaptation programme).” This means that all public sector organisations must ensure their activities and programming are designed so as to best deliver Climate Ready Scotland: climate change adaptation programme 2019-2024. Many public sector organisations make use of the Adaptation Capability Framework to work towards these requirements.

Mandatory Public Bodies Climate Change Reporting began in 2015/16, and includes both mitigation and adaptation reporting requirements. Sustainable Scotland Network (SSN) supports public sector organisations to address their climate change duties. SSN and Adaptation Scotland align their work to ensure a comprehensive landscape of support is available for the public sector.

Who can join the Public Sector Climate Adaptation Network?

The Public Sector Climate Adaptation Network is open to practitioners who are leading, or closely involved with implementing adaptation work within public sector organisations.

What level of commitment is expected from members?

Members are expected to:

• Commit to benchmarking adaptation progress of their organisation using the Adaptation Capability Framework Benchmarking Tool
• Participate in at least two in-person/hybrid events per year. These events provide training and support to progress adaptation work and are designed in collaboration with the Network.
• Optional: Take part in monthly one hour Drop-In sessions to share experience and learning

What will participants gain from being involved in the group?

Participants benefit from:

• Opportunities to network and receive support from peers
• Training and skills development covering topics such as risk assessment, public engagement and project planning
• Advice and support on how to use the Adaptation Capability Framework and Benchmarking Tool
• Space to reflect on learning and share experience with others

How can I get involved?

To apply to join the Public Sector Climate Adaptation Network, please contact the Adaptation Scotland programme team at Verture by Friday 27th October 2023 with details of:

• Your name, role and organisation
• Confirmation that you are able to meet the commitments asked of Network members
• A couple of sentences setting out how you hope to benefit from and contribute to the Network

Please note that places are limited to 10 new organisations to join the Network at this time. If demand exceeds available places, Adaptation Scotland will prioritise allocations to ensure a wide variety public sector organisations and locations are represented.

New members will be invited to an introductory session to take place online on Monday 6th November.

If you have any questions, or would like to have an informal chat about the Network before deciding to join, please contact the Adaptation Scotland programme team at Verture.