Holyrood COP26 Fringe Festival

Scotland is well placed to capitalise on the emerging climate tech industry based on its highly successful energy and technology sectors. There are already numerous examples of Scottish climate tech businesses who are developing innovative approaches to reducing emissions both at home and abroad. How can Scotland build on these green shoots and scale up its climate sector? What is required in terms of financing and the skills pipeline to allow these businesses to grow and play an even greater role in tackling the climate emergency.

As we have seen above there are several ways technology can help tackle the climate emergency, including AI and the cloud. Yet they are currently all hampered by a lack of adequate connectivity.

5G has the potential to solve the connectivity problem and unleash the potential of technology as a solution to the climate emergency. 

However, 5G is still only available in some parts of Scotland. 

In this session we would discuss how Scotland can speed up the deployment and adoption of 5G as well as spotlighting early examples of 5G enabled projects that have helped tackle the climate emergency.

AI has the potential to play a significant role in Scotland’s efforts to tackle the climate emergency. Data-driven innovation can be used to develop new, cleaner, and more efficient approaches across energy, transport, and land use.  

For instance: 

• AI to facilitate indoor farming and reduce agricultural emissions 

• An AI driven map of Scotland’s natural capital developed for NatureScot 

• AI led analysis of patterns of waste across the globe drawing on governments, waste producers and recyclers 

• AI supporting the development of a Hydrogen production plant in Orkney 

• In this session we would examine existing case studies from across Scotland and discuss challenges and opportunities for expanding the role of AI in Scotland’s efforts to tackle the climate emergency 

Scotland’s land produces the food we eat; renewable power we use to heat our homes and timber and space to build our communities.  It is the basis of the ecosystems we all rely on for air and water and is a vital part of our natural capital – an asset that underpins our entire economy and will be of increasing importance towards 2045 and beyond.  Furthermore, only by taking care of our land can be protect and increase our biodiversity crisis and solve both the climate and nature emergencies.

The Scottish Government has recently published their Third Land Use Strategy with three key objectives: to drive a green recovery with land use at the basis of that and to continue to drive a diverse pattern of ownership and take a holistic systems approach to use and management that broadens the range of interests engaging in debate about the often competing priorities in land use, thus democratizing the debate and further democratizing our use of land to the benefit of people and planet.

Join us for this exemplar discussion in what can be learned from the latest developments in Scotland’s approach to land use.

The twin crises of climate and nature are inextricably linked as the change in the former is a driver the decline of the latter and the situation is alarming  In 2019, both the biggest ever health check in the state of global ecosystems, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and our own State of Nature for Scotland report concluded that biodiversity is declining faster than at any time in human history and an unprecedented number of species are at risk of extinction. It is incumbent upon all of society to take action now to avert further loss of biodiversity and further climate change. 

The transition to a circular economy is one of the single most transformative things we can do as a society to halt biodiversity loss, as well as tackle climate change and pollution.  Relying on a clean energy transition will only take us so far as it will address 55% of greenhouse gas emissions.  The rest of the heavy lifting must be done by widespread cultural and behavioural changes, including waste management.

This discussion will highlight the plight of the natural environment, bring the issue of biodiversity to the fore and discuss how adoption of the principles of circularity and regeneration across society and business can be part of the solution in the restoration of nature to the benefit of us all. 

One of the key positive opportunities afforded by the COVID-19 pandemic is it created the space for governments and city authorities around the world the opportunity to pilot ways alternative approaches to city management and to lock-in positive behaviour amongst their citizenry with public and active transport solutions and re-envisioned public spaces at the heart of this. 

In Scotland, this has manifested itself in dynamic strategic policy objectives at a devolved level such as the Scottish Government’s pioneering plan to create 20-minute neighbourhoods and recent pledge to spend 10% of their transport budget (£320m) on active travel. 

Innovation, ambition and public/private collaboration - particularly in the realm of transport, which is responsible for 36% of greenhouse gas emissions in Scotland - is integral not only to optimising, the potential to decarbonise cities, but to create more liveable, sustainable and resilient urban spaces conducive to low-carbon living. 

While nation-states set ambitions and set targets, with 80% of the global population living in cities, it’s clear that a lot of the tangible action will fall on cities to deliver. In this session, we will focus on interesting and innovative approaches to sustainable city management in pursuit of net-zero.

This Must be the Place is a creative expression of shared visions of what life might be like in a sustainable future Scotland. It is an invitation to everyone to imagine the place we want Scotland to be and how we want to live when we get there.

The challenge of the climate emergency is universal. It gives us the opportunity to build comprehensive partnerships - at a community, local, national and international level.
We need state and regional governments to set net-zero targets and follow through with action. To succeed will mean mobilising and connecting people, communities, organisations and governments to experiment and innovate, and to design and test the radical policies that are needed to help us live better, as well as sustainably.

Through the Net Zero Futures project, in partnership with the Scottish Government and Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Under2 Coalition is connecting its members with existing net zero targets with states and regions interested in increasing their ambition.

Nesta is the UK’s innovation foundation and has set a 10-year mission to help decarbonise the UK through social innovation.

Join the Under2 Coalition and Nesta for a discussion on how partnerships between state governments, regional authorities, organisations and communities can help us reach our net zero targets in a way that works for both people and planet.

With our world-leading emissions-reduction and air quality targets and our pioneering plans to deliver net-zero through a 'Just Transition', Scotland can claim to be a global exemplar in net-zero solutions and climate adaptation.

However, if we are to meet the urgency of the moment, if Scotland is to truly mount a response worthy of the emergency we were one of the first governments in the world to declare, then the time for deliberation is over. To meet its statutory interim target of reducing emissions by 75% by 2030 (the equivalent for the UK is 78% reduction by 2035), Scotland must spend the next decade focused on practical solutions and delivery.

Join Holyrood and Salix Finance, who are at the forefront of leading the delivery of a progressive and transformative net-zero transition in Scotland, as we host a net-zero discussion outlining some best practice emanating from Scotland. We will discuss Scotland's role as a credibly aspiring global net-zero leader, the scope of future global challenges and how Scotland can help meet them, and how Scotland can be part of a global solution to promote strong, inclusive and sustainable economic growth for all.

As the largest employer and one of the fastest-growing sectors in Scotland with an ambition to double turnover by 2030, the food and drink sector has a clear and special responsibility to exhibit leadership and best practice in tackling the climate emergency. 

Collaboration, diversity and quality have been drivers of the industry’s success over the last decade and owing to the scale of the challenge, will be key for driving the sector – and Scotland’s transition -to achieving science-based net-zero targets.

Join us in partnership with Coca-Cola as we discuss how the food and drink sector can be at the heart of a green recovery from the pandemic, precipitating sustainable growth to achieve the goals set out in Ambition 2030 for the sector; how we ensure waste is minimized as we transition to a circular economy and be an exemplar of a just transition in Scotland.