Webinar describing and providing case study examples relating to the Planning and Implementation capability of the Adaptation Capability Framework.

Adaptation is a long-term challenge that requires strategic planning and implementation to achieve outcomes. That is why Planning and Implementation is one of the four capabilities comprising the Adaptation Capability Framework, the Adaptation Scotland programme’s guidance to support public bodies to adapt to climate change. By developing this capability you will set appraised options into an adaptation strategy and action plan, adopting an approach that maintains flexibility and seeks pathways for an adaptation transition.

During this webinar Mairi Davies from Historic Environment Scotland and Victoria Barby from the Scottish Parliament gave us their first hand accounts of how they are approaching the ‘Planning and Implementation’ capability from our Adaptation Capability Framework to make their respective organisations more resilient to a changing climate.

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Webinar describing and providing case study examples relating to the Planning and Implementation capability of the Adaptation Capability Framework.

Webinar on the Organisational Culture and Resources capability of the Adaptation Capability Framework

To make progress with adaptation, it will need to fit with your organisational culture and resources. Organisational Culture and Resources is one of the four capabilities comprising the Adaptation Capability Framework, the Adaptation Scotland programme’s guidance to support public bodies to adapt to climate change. By developing this capability, you will find ways to align adaptation activities with your organisation’s priorities. Over time they will become mainstreamed into plans, policies and procedures – part of business as usual for your organisation.

During this webinar Dr. Roddy Yarr from Strathclyde University, and Alan Gale together with Isla McCaskie from Forestry and Land Scotland, share their experiences and insights on making progress with adaptation and finding the right fit for it in their organisational culture and resources.

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Webinar on the Organisational Culture and Resources capability of the Adaptation Capability Framework

This briefing discusses what can be done to build climate resilience at a local level in a way that also benefits health.

Working together for change

The Adaptation Scotland programme worked with Public Health Scotland (PHS) and the Improvement Service to develop this introductory briefing on working together to build climate-resilient, healthy and equitable places.

This resource is for local government and partners such as Health Boards, Community Planning Partnerships, and local organisations. It sets out how our changing climate can affect health and health inequalities both directly, and indirectly through impacts on housing, transport, and access to goods and services, which are the building blocks of good health.

People who are socially and economically disadvantaged often experience significantly poorer health and are more vulnerable to climate impacts. These inequalities are underpinned by poverty, lack of power and the unequal distribution of resources and assets in the community.

The briefing discusses what can be done to take a preventative approach to building climate resilience at a local level in a way that also benefits health. It starts with understanding how the challenges are interconnected, adopting a whole system approach and working together to identify actions that address the underlying causes. The resource includes a range of tools and case studies to support this.

Climate resilient infrastructure and construction

The Adaptation Scotland and Climate Ready Clyde programmes have collaborated to produce a toolkit for assessing and addressing risks in the development of infrastructure, built environment and regeneration projects. The guidance covers early screening to full risk assessments and adaptation planning, in a way which is aligned to the processes required by the majority of international financing and funding institutions, to reduce the barriers to successfully financing adaptation projects.

The toolkit outlines the changing financial and regulatory contexts for project development. It provides practical tools to allow organisations to consider risks alongside the development of business cases and delivery of projects. It also includes four project examples from Glasgow City Region which are embracing this approach. The toolkit is flexible and designed to be customised to fit individual organisation’s or area’s own unique context.

The guide has been informed by best practice approaches, including the Climate Change Committee’s UK Climate Change Risk Assessment and the ISO14091 Standard on climate change adaptation and risk assessment.

This toolkit can be used along with editable versions of the risk assessment and adaptation planning templates available to download below.

Download workbook templates

Strategic Risk Assessments

The Adaptation Scotland programme has developed guidance and tools to support organisations in undertaking climate change risk assessments. A strategic climate risk assessment is used to evaluate climate risks across your organisation or for key services / asset portfolios. This strategic ‘scan’ helps to understand the changing likelihood and consequence of a range of potential risks for your organisation. It enables you to prioritise climate risks, allowing you to better focus limited resources.

The guide has been informed by best practice approaches, including the Climate Change Committee’s UK Climate Change Risk Assessment and the ISO14091 Standard on climate change adaptation and risk assessment.

‘Connecting climate risk and strategic priorities: Guide to strategic climate change risk assessments’ can be used along with editable versions of the risk assessment templates in the accompanying Excel spreadsheet.

John Burnside is the Environment & Sustainability Manager with NHS Highland. He sets out below how NHS Highland have piloted a climate change risk assessment toolkit across their operations and estate.

NHS Highland has responsibility for over 230 buildings spread across an area equivalent to the size of Belgium. Many of the communities that we service are remote and rural, which creates particular challenges when thinking about climate risk. To ensure that we are able to provide high quality health services to the diverse communities in the Highlands, we are piloting a climate change risk assessment toolkit. The initial approach to assessing climate risks was developed in collaboration with NHS National Services Scotland as part of a cross sector Risk Assessment Working Group, which brought together Scottish Water, Aberdeen City Council and Historic Environment Scotland and was facilitated by Adaptation Scotland. An internal NHS working group was then established to oversee the development of the risk assessment tool, ensuring that it is user friendly for Health Boards.

At NHS Highland, we were the first Board to use the risk assessment tool to undertake a comprehensive regional assessment of current and future climate risk to health care facilities. SEPA data on flood risk and a high level Climate Change Impact Assessment for NHS Highland were used to inform the process. We also undertook internal workshops to understand how past extreme weather impacted on the delivery of healthcare services across our Estate. Over the past year, the risk assessment toolkit has been tested and reviewed by our estate managers. Their practical insights and feedback have helped us to develop an easy to use resource that can be applied to our main regional hospitals and smaller community health centres. We have also spent time building internal capacity around climate change risk and adaptation.

Our estate is managed to a 12 month maintenance cycle, and staff are used to thinking about their roles their workplaces within this 12 month context. This can make it difficult to think about long term challenges of climate change in their day to day jobs. As we roll out the climate change risk assessment toolkit, we’ll be working with staff on site to ensure that climate risk and adaptation are well understood, and adaptation is integrated into the way we manage our health care facilities.

Once we have collected information on the climate risks relating to the estate, these will be incorporated into site-based risk registers, which will feed into our corporate risk register and strategic risk register.

Building a strong evidence base for climate risk and embedding it into our risk registers will give us a clear understanding of the long term challenges and opportunities of maintaining healthcare facilities across our estate.

Scottish Canals are responsible for managing over 4100 assets that comprise our five Scottish canals, as well as the bridges, buildings, locks, water supply reservoirs and landmarks like the Falkirk Wheel and the Kelpies that make up Scotland’s inland waterways network. Much of this 140-mile network is inland, with only 6 coastal connections that are vulnerable to rising sea levels. The rest of the network is reasonably resilient to climate impacts in the short term, and can even contribute to resilience more broadly through initiatives such as the Glasgow Smart Canal Project. The Smart Canal is helping to manage flood risk and move water resources during projected hotter and drier summers.

Each one of its diverse assets has unique management and maintenance challenges which must be addressed to ensure that they remain safe and available for the millions of visitors who use the network each year. In the long term climate change will alter the way the assets deteriorate, and Scottish Canals’ Asset Management Strategy ensures that when making management decisions, climate impacts are taken into consideration, such as potential changes in rainfall, temperature and extreme weather that will contribute to the deterioration of assets.

To respond to uncertainty around how climate change will interact with its assets in the long term, Scottish Canals have developed a flexible planning approach to manage its assets in a way that is responsive to emerging risks. The Asset Management Strategy outlines how they will manage their priorities until 2030 to ensure the safety and long term sustainability of their assets. This long-term strategic direction is delivered through a 3 year forward looking Asset Management Plan that is reviewed and updated on an annual basis. This flexible management cycle allows Scottish Canals to take new and emerging risks into account, including those related to climate change.

Our flexible, risk-based approach to asset management is agile and responsive to direct and indirect climate impacts, allowing us to prioritise and plan a work programme that keeps Scotland’s canals safe and productive

Peter Robinson

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Video of Scottish Canals case study

Horticulture and visitor services staff at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and its Regional Gardens are already adapting to climate uncertainty – dealing with floods, prolonged periods of low rainfall, unseasonable temperatures and high winds, and the impacts of pests, diseases and invasive non-native species. This case study looks at the process used to investigate the impact of weather events across the different gardens and how this can be used to best deal with projected climate change.

Some adaptation measures include:

• Planting a mix of species. This increases resilience to pests and diseases, and provides a more effective windbreak and structure to shelter belts.
• When re-designing garden infrastructure, locate facilities such as visitor centres and cafes outside the pay zone to provide access even if the garden is closed.
• When planning staff resource and time, include allowance for clearup and remedial work following extreme weather events.
• Replacing paths with gravel or other porous materials.
• Providing additional drainage and factoring in staff time for keeping drains clear.

On 1 October 2021, chief executives, directors and other senior leaders from 70 organisations in Scotland participated in the Scottish Government-hosted National Climate Resilience Summit. This Summit was an opportunity to raise collective ambitions for an inclusive, resilient, net zero Scotland and demonstrate support for a global deal on adaptation at COP26 in Glasgow.

A National Climate Resilience Summit ambition statement was proposed to provide delegates with an opportunity to demonstrate and communicate enhanced ambition and collective leadership on climate resilience through their own networks and channels, in support of a global deal on adaptation at COP26. More than 50 organisations and senior leaders have to date endorsed this statement or committed to taking it to their board or appropriate governance structures.

Read more about the Summit in the report below.

Local Authorities in Scotland are taking action to increase resilience and adapt to the impacts of climate change.

Here we present a simple directory of local authority contact points for Climate Change Adaptation related enquiries. This directory may be useful for individuals, community groups or businesses who want to find out more about climate change adaptation in their area. You can read more about our work with Public Bodies through our Public Sector Climate Adaptation Network.

You can check which local authority you are in by using the Postcode checker tool.

Please note we cannot guarantee that information provided is up to date. If you would like to contact us about this resource, please email [email protected]