Scottish National Adaptation Plan Archives

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.

Tuesday 25 February 2025, 10 am – 3.15 pm, Edinburgh Climate Change Institute and online

The 3rd Scottish National Adaptation Plan has set an ambition to extend mature regional collaborations on adaptation to all of Scotland by 2029. The Scottish Government will be starting work with local government partners in 2025 to develop a route map to achieving this ambition. Join the Adaptation Scotland programme alongside current and prospective regional partnerships from across the country to reflect on the success of collaborations to date, to share learning and innovation, and to identify shared challenges and opportunities ahead.

About the event

This event aims:

To enable established, emerging and potential regional climate adaptation partnerships to raise the profile of their work, and to share learning and innovation from across Scotland and beyond
To co-design the Adaptation Scotland programme’s approach and priorities for supporting, extending and strengthening regional collaborations and partnerships over the next two years
To inform the Scottish Government’s approach to working with local government partners and others to develop a routemap by 2025 for extending mature regional adaptation collaborations to all of Scotland by 2029

This free event is for any public, private or third sector organisations currently, or seeking to work collaboratively to build climate resilience at a regional scale across Scotland including local authorities, NGOs, businesses, government agencies, infrastructure operators, researchers and government.

The event will be fully hybrid, at ECCI in Edinburgh and online, and will include a mix of presentations and interactive discussions. See the Eventbrite page for the full programme and latest details, or contact Ben Connor, Head of Climate Ready Placemaking, Verture, with any questions about the event.

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!

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.

Listen to the podcast

Pollock Park in Glasgow

As part of the public consultation for the Draft Third Scottish National Adaptation Plan (SNAP3), Adaptation Scotland is supporting the Scottish Government to deliver workshops to gather feedback and input from a variety of communities, infrastructure providers, business, industry and finance.

Five place-based workshops were facilitated around Scotland in collaboration with local Climate Hubs. These took place in Annan, Montrose, Golspie, South Uist, and Glasgow. The aim was to support participation of people vulnerable to climate change to help inform the further development of the Plan, gathering their lived experiences of climate change, and supporting their engagement in adaptation policy and action in Scotland. More than 100 people took part overall.

Snapshot from Golspie

In Golspie, the workshop gave the local community an opportunity to learn about SNAP3, and for the Scottish Government’s Adaptation Team to hear directly from some of the Highland regions most immediately vulnerable places. As of 2021, more than 100 Golspie properties lie within 50 metres of the current mean high-water springs (MHWS). According to Dynamic Coast, unchecked, present maximum coastal erosion rates may increase with sea level rise resulting in ~-330 m retreat by 2100 across Golspie. This is what many coastal communities in Scotland may experience in the future. Golspie residents have become powerful adaptation and resilience communicators, developing the skills and knowledge needed to accurately and passionately convey their community’s needs.

Engaging stakeholders

In addition to this, Adaptation Scotland programme has also supported a series of thematic workshops with the Scottish Government. This has included sessions at the Scotland’s Flood Resilience Conference in Edinburgh, a session as part of the bi-annual Public Sector Climate Adaptation Network event with over 50 participants, and an online session with stakeholders involved in nature, land use, and marine environments. Further events focused on business and finance, infrastructure, and economic development are taking place throughout April.

The consultation remains open until 24^th April 2024 and we would encourage readers to review the Draft SNAP3 plan, and contribute to the online consultation.

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.