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, Sniffer, 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 Sniffer, 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.

Dundee Waterfront SuDS

Adaptation Scotland are supporting partners within Tayside (Dundee, Angus and Perth and Kinross) to develop a new Regional Adaptation Partnership to address climate risks at a regional scale.

The Partnership is at a very early stage in its development and are currently undertaking stakeholder engagement activities to involve a wide range of people and organisations across the region in defining a shared vision and priorities for the new partnership.

Over the course of this year, the Partnership aims to have a shared vision and approach to collaborative working that will support a business case to secure long term funding and support for adaptation action in Tayside.

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.

Sniffer 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.

Copyright: Lorne Gill

Outer Hebrides Community Planning Partnership Climate Change Working Group is supporting the Community Planning Partnership to improve climate resilience and deliver action as a whole-societal issue across the islands of the Outer Hebrides, grounded in what is important locally.

The vision of the Working Group is to respond to our climate challenge to enable a safer, healthier and flourishing Outer Hebrides. Through its work, the Group aims to integrate climate adaptation and resilience with societal issues, moving beyond sectoral responses and acknowledging a healthy environment as the support network that underpins everything.

Since being set up in 2019, the Working Group, with close support from Adaptation Scotland, has:

• Co-created a local evidence base, including developing a Climate Rationale setting out the shared climate challenge and an accompanying Case for Action providing a set of priority areas to improve climate resilience
• Involved communities and gathered local lived experience of climate impacts via a participatory mapping approach and working with a local artist to create a ‘Climate Storyline’
• Strengthened their partnership and outreach by connecting with creative partners in the islands
• Taken stock of successes and challenges, and understanding what enables adaptation for the Outer Hebrides

Members of the Working Group include: NatureScot, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, Community Energy Scotland, Community Land Scotland, Hebridean Housing Partnership, NHS Eilean Siar, Police Scotland, Scottish Youth Parliament, Fire and Rescue Service, SEPA, Tighean Innse Gall, Third Sector Interface Western Isles, University of the Highlands and Islands, Western Isles Libraries, and the Western Isles Emergency Planning Group.

Climate Hebrides has been formed as a “doing body” accountable to the Working Group, and is taking forward projects and actions that are comprehensive in outlook and inclusive in delivery.

Our Project Summary to tell the story of our work with the Group, and the lessons learned.

“We have worked very closely with Adaptation Scotland who have given us clear direction and support as we have collated evidence, considered risks, engaged with communities and produced our Climate Rationale and Case for Action. Putting it simply – we would not be in the position we are in today without their advice and support. There is still much to be done, but with our increased understanding of the issues and risks we are in a much stronger place.”

David MacLennan, Outer Hebrides Community Planning Partnership Working Group Chair, NatureScot

Aberdeen Adapts is a framework for city-wide working on climate adaptation. The framework incorporates the views of local organisations and communities and sets the direction to build long-term city resilience. Aberdeen Adapts acknowledges that the key to adaptation for the city is to collaborate, share experiences, build knowledge and understanding and work together to develop solutions.

41 local public bodies, businesses and communities participated in the development of the original Aberdeen Adapts framework, which was published in 2019. It was then refreshed in 2022 to align with the Net Zero Aberdeen Routemap and to take on board new information, policy drivers and climate risks.

The Aberdeen Climate and Nature Pledge has been created as commitment by the organisations and people of the City of Aberdeen to act within their own organisations and lives to contribute towards both the Net Zero Aberdeen Route map and Aberdeen Adapts framework.

Play video

Arts and climate adaptation – engaging communities in the Aberdeen Adapts project

Regional partnerships

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

The Climate Ready Edinburgh Plan 2024-2030, is the city’s second adaptation plan, following on from the 2016-2020 Edinburgh Adapts Plan. It sets out a vision for a “thriving, fair, resilient city and region where people, communities, business and nature flourish in a changing climate”.

Climate Ready Edinburgh has been developed by the Edinburgh Adaptation and Nature Partnership. This partnership reports to the Net Zero Edinburgh Leadership Board, and is made up of: City of Edinburgh Council, Scottish Water, SEPA, Edinburgh World Heritage, Historic Environment Scotland, NHS Lothian, NatureScot, Edinburgh Biodiversity Partnership, University of Edinburgh, Heriot-Watt University, Napier University, Edinburgh College, and Sniffer.

The Plan sets out actions across nine themes:

• Planning and the built environment
• Water management and resilience
• Coastal adaptation
• Sustainable transport
• Safeguarding and enhancing our natural environment
• Community, health and wellbeing
• Economy and culture
• Building understanding of climate risk
• Governance and invesment

Where a regional approach is required, delivery of the plan will also align with the wider work being developed through Climate Ready South East Scotland.