Climate Action Summit 2023

The built environment is one of the areas where rapid change is most needed for Scotland’s 2030 and 2045 targets to be met. Attaining the target reduction of emissions from buildings by 70% compared to 2020 levels by 2030 will require deployment of energy efficiency measures and installation of low-carbon heating at a rate considerably beyond what has been achieved to date.

Barriers to effective action are sizable – from a scarcity of installers with necessary skills, over reliance on market-based approaches to drive uptake of low-carbon heat pumps, public concerns regarding affordability, and a dearth of consumer financing options.

In this session, we will hear how action towards decarbonising buildings can be accelerated and explore the vital role that cities, towns and communities are playing in driving change, strengthening biodiversity, and enabling adaptation through transformative approaches to their built environment.

Scotland has ambitious targets in place to decarbonise transport, including a headline target to reduce overall emissions from the sector by 53%, and a decline in car-kilometres by 20% relative to 2019 levels by 2030.

Delivering on these ambitions requires effective policy to both drive rapid uptake of zero-emissions vehicles and enable citizens to reduce their use of high-carbon modes of transport. Plans to achieve these objectives, in the shape of readily available and user-friendly EV charging, and a shift to alternative public transport options will need to be accelerate. Innovations such as 20-minute neighbourhoods and driverless vehicles, meanwhile, are also making inroads across Scotland’s towns and cities.

In this session, we will examine the extent to which Scotland’s sector pathway for transport will address current target transport emission shortfalls, and the learnings and insights from successful emission reduction projects across the country that could have national impact.

The CCCu sets out a target to reduce emissions in the agricultural sector by around 28% between 2020 and 2030. The upcoming Agricultural Bill will further underpin Scotland’s vision for the sector, and the support schemes to address the key pillars of food, nature and climate.

Delivering on the emissions reductions pathway depends on a combination of transitioning to low-carbon farming measures, transforming our food system and diets, as well as strengthening carbon sinks through woodland creation and peatland restoration. Finding ways to incentive and reward investments in climate adaptation will also play a role.

In this session, we will review the impact the Agricultural, Land Use and Good Food Nation Bills will have in transforming Scotland’s rural economy. We will also hear from farmers and project leaders on the ground on how they are juggling the sometimes-conflicting tasks of reducing emissions, restoring nature and supporting food production.

Planning systems that are too complex, bureaucratic, and slow can have a chilling impact on climate investment and are at odds with net zero goals.

Scotland’s National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) encapsulates Scotland’s response to this challenge, requiring a ‘place-based’ consideration of climate, nature and adaptation impacts in all planning decision making.

In this session, we will discuss whether NPF4 will lead to the ’fairer, greener Scotland’, turbocharging the build out of green infrastructure. We will also explore how planners are grappling with the new regime against a background of sometimes competing priorities and diminished resources.

A circular approach to our economy, where we move from a ‘take, make and dispose’ model to one where we keep materials in use is imperative if we are to tackle the climate and nature crisis.

Despite early headway, Scotland has fallen behind in its waste and recycling targets, including its ambition to recycle 70% of waste by 2025. Much more needs to be done if targets are to be met.

In this session we will discuss the impact of the Circular Economy Bill and the challenges of implementation. We will also highlight the many innovative examples of local efforts and community partnerships from across Scotland and internationally with the potential to transform our throwaway culture.