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 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 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 year’s 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 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.

Speakers:

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 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.

Speakers:

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.

Speakers:

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.

Speakers:

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.

Speakers:

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.

Speakers:

In July 2024, Labour won a landslide victory at the General Election, with plans to create a publicly-owned company, Great British Energy (GB Energy), at the heart of its manifesto.

 

With urgent action needed to meet our legally binding climate targets, this session will explore how GB Energy - and Labour’s wider manifesto commitments - could help us reach Net Zero, drive investment and economic growth, and benefit local communities.

Speakers:

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.

Speakers:

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.

Speakers:

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.  

 

This session will take stock of progress made on decarbonising Scottish transport and ask what needs to be done to accelerate the journey to Net Zero 2045. 

 

Speakers:

This closing session will highlight how we can use the discussions of the climate summit to take positive steps towards a net zero future. It will examine practical case studies of existing organisations that are paving the way and leading by example.

Speakers:
Ran Boydell
Founder and Director | Vice-Chair
Louise Rogers
Impact Manager - Modern Methods of Construction
Clare Wharmby
Programme Director of the Scottish Climate Intelligence Service (SCIS)
Philip Raines
Deputy Director for Domestic Climate Change
Jack Norquoy
Interim Director of Communications
Gloria Lo
Chair
David Steen
Senior Policy Advisor
Julie Wood
Chief Officer - City Development and Regeneration
Eleanor Kay
Senior Policy Adviser (Agriculture and Climate Change)
Professor Lindsay Jaacks
Director of the Edinburgh Earth Initiative
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Dr Paul Connor
Senior Research and Teaching Fellow
Morna Cannon
Director of Environment, Climate and Sustainability
Sarah McIntosh
Managing Director
Barbara Whiting
Climate Change and Sustainability Lead
Kirsty Tait
Director for Scotland
Dr. Alison Karley
Research Lead in Agroecology
Dr. Kate Donovan
Co-Director
Lynn Molleson
Crisis Support Lead and Development Officer
Prof. Davy McCracken
Head of Integrated Land Management Department
Dr. James Dixon
Lecturer In Transport, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Donna Smith
Chief Executive
George Tarvit
Director
Sarah Lewis
Research, Policy & Education Director
Dr Julio Bros-Williamson
Lecturer & Chancellor's Fellow in Net Zero Buildings
David Russell
Director
Ashley Campbell
Policy and Practice Manager
Stuart McKay
Head of Hydrogen Policy
Amy Tickell
Head of Heat, Buildings Investment Unit
Sarah Boyd
Managing Director
Alison Stuart
CEO
Finlay_Carson_MSP
Finlay Carson MSP
Convener, Rural Affairs, Islands and Natural Environment Committee
Kaisie Rayner
Kaisie Rayner
Director and Founder | Member
Sarah Boyack MSP
Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy, and Just Transition
Prof. Keith Bell
Scottish Power Professor of Future Power Systems
Satwat Rehman
Co-Chair

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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