Climate Action Summit 2024

As world leaders prepare to gather for COP29, the Holyrood Climate Action summit and Climate Action Awards will return to Edinburgh in October 2024 in a decisive year for the future of Scotland’s climate targets. In light of the Scottish Government’s legislative changes, the summit will ask what steps can be taken to urgently cut emissions in key polluters such as agriculture, the built environment, energy, and transport.  

 

In response to a progress report submitted by the Climate Change Committee, the Scottish Government formally declared its 2030 targets unachievable in April 2024. An expedited policy package was subsequently announced to help Scotland achieve its 2045 Net Zero goals. 

Holyrood’s Climate Action Summit will once again partner with the Sustainable Scotland Network (SSN), and Edinburgh Climate Change Institute (ECCI) to explore on–the–ground solutions and innovations for how Scotland’s public sector can decarbonise. Across two days, the themes of leadership for success and funding decarbonisation will be showcased through local and international case studies. 

 

Delegates from the public sector will be joined by the private and third sectors will hear from leading voices from across the Scottish and global climate action space to exchange best practice and practical insights on how Scotland’s public sector can reach its decarbonisation targets. 

 

To view pictures from last years summit, follow this link to our Flickr.

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Following the publication of the Climate Change Committee’s Progress report which labelled Scotland’s 2030 climate targets “unachievable”, the Scottish Government announced a series of new climate action measures. These included the introduction of multi-year ‘carbon budgets’ to replace annual targets and a revised policy package to keep legally binding Net Zero 2045 commitments in sight. 
 

With 2024 also marking the deadline for parties signed up to the Paris Agreement to submit their first biennial transparency report (BTR1), global progress on climate action remains under intense scrutiny in a critical global election year. 

 
As world leaders prepare to gather for COP29, this session will ask whether Scotland’s hope of keeping Net Zero 2045 alive is achievable as we look ahead to 2025.

Scotland’s 2021-2026 Land Use Strategy sets out a long-term vision for land management. This incorporates a series of nature-based solutions, including afforestation and peatland restoration, to help Scotland achieve a 31% reduction in agricultural emissions by 2032 from 2018 levels. 
 

In April 2024, Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Net Zero and Energy, Màiri McAllan, announced plans for further agricultural reform. This included a proposed pilot scheme with some Scottish farms, to establish future appropriate uptake of methane supressing feed. 

 
In the light of recent changes to Scotland’s climate action targets, this session will ask what progress that has been made in sustainable land management. It will also explore how Scotland is delivering on place-based adaptation such as crop varieties management, land use change and innovative breeding.

Two billion people in the world currently suffer from malnutrition, with 60% more food needed to feed the global population by 2050.  

 

The Scottish Government’s consultation on the National Good Food Nation Plan, published in January 2024, set out a clear connection between food systems and climate and biodiversity impacts. Yet, in their 2023 Progress Report, the Committee on Climate Change highlighted the need for more detail on the “emissions reduction potential of dietary choices.” 
 
This session will examine how we create a climate-resilient food system whilst taking the necessary strides to reduce emissions at every stage of the supply chain. Spotlighting examples of best practice from the Scottish food and drinks industry, we will ask how climate resilience, and the potential of dietary choices, can be embedded all the way from (sustainable) farm to fork.

All homes and buildings in Scotland must significantly reduce their energy to achieve Net Zero by 2045. The Heat in Buildings Bill consultation has proposed a series of measures, including giving Scottish Ministers the power to require non-domestic buildings to end their use of direct emission heating after the purchase of a property.  

 
However, the Climate Change Committee have called for a clear plan on how energy efficiency improvements and low-carbon heating in non-residential buildings would be delivered. 
 
Join us as we explore how these decarbonisation and adaptation measures can be adopted at a critical juncture for Scotland’s built environment.

Urgent reform is required to cut the fifth of Scotland’s greenhouse gas emissions currently being produced by homes. The Scottish Government’s prospective Heat in Buildings Bill has set out ambitious measures to eliminate heating systems which burn fossil fuels to help address this. 
 

The Climate Change Committee’s 2023 progress report for Scotland suggested that this legislation could be “a template for the rest of the UK”, but that further action is needed to deliver targets at the bill’s proposed scale and pace.  

 

This session will ask what practical measures are needed to increase the speed of change in Scotland. We will explore how climate resilient design (such as Passivhaus design and archetypes), retrofitting, and low carbon heating solutions could create a template for sustainable homes.

With 40% of total emissions coming from construction and the built environment across the UK, the construction industry has a key role to play in keeping the possibility of 1.5 degrees alive at COP29 and beyond.  

 

Join us to explore how examples of policy reform, upskilling, recruitment drives, and sustainable procurement are being deployed across Scotland (and the UK) to help lay the foundations for a decarbonised built environment.

 

In 2020, the Scottish Government launched a Green Investment Portfolio, to promote “market ready projects” to help Scotland transition to a net-zero economy by 2045, focusing on key sectors including energy. The need to build upon this success was highlighted in Scotland’s National Strategy for Economic Transformation (NSET).  
 
Four years on from the launch of the portfolio, this session will ask how investment in green success (and particularly green energy) has transformed Scotland’s economic landscape. It will also explore practical examples of how these investments are helping Scotland build on its success in green energy and renewables.

The Scottish Government has ambitious plans to have a decarbonised energy system almost completely in place by 2050. 
 

Increased community engagement in larger projects, cross-sector partnerships, and changes to planning and infrastructure (such as transitioning to community-owned or district energy networks) must be encouraged if Scotland is to deliver on these ambitious targets in time. 

 

Join us as we explore how to bring local communities along on the journey to a renewable energy supply and increase home-grown energy production.

The hydrogen sector is projected to have a potential global revenue of $2.5 trillion by 2050. In 2020, Scotland became the first UK nation to set out a policy statement on hydrogen, outlining an ambition for 5GW of installed clean hydrogen production capacity by 2030 and 25GW by 2045. This session will explore the scale of economic growth and supply chain development presented by a transition to a hydrogen, drawing on case studies from across Scotland.

The Climate Change Committee 2023 progress update stated that the 2020 CCPu targets require Scotland’s transport emissions to decrease by 44% by 2030, meaning the annual emissions reduction rate must increase by almost a factor of four.  

 

In April 2024, the Scottish Government unveiled a series of proposed transport reforms including new national integrated ticketing system for public transport in Scotland, as well as a ‘route map’ to help deliver a 20% reduction in car use. 

 

This session will take stock of progress made and ask what needs to be done to keep Scotland on track to achieve these ambitious Net Zero goals. 

This closing session will spotlight case studies from Scotland and abroad, highlighting examples of what decarbonised fleets of the future might look like. We will share examples of best practice from both Scotland and the rest of Europe, as well as insights into how future transport fleets can be part of wider, place-based climate action.

Find out more about our expert Climate Action Steering Group here.

Single Day
Public and Third Sector

Public sector/voluntary/charitable

£50 + VAT

Includes on demand access

Both Days
Public and Third Sector

Public sector/voluntary/charitable

£75 + VAT

Includes on demand access

Single Day
Private Sector

Commercial e.g. plc, Ltd, LLP

£95 + VAT

Includes on demand access

Both Days
Private Sector

Commercial e.g. plc, Ltd, LLP

£142.50 + VAT

Includes on demand access

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