Holes in Scottish climate change data

3rd November 2016


Related Topics

Related tags

  • Adaptation ,
  • Mitigation ,
  • Reporting ,
  • Carbon Trading

Author

Craig Taylor

Scotland needs to do more to ensure that measures to adapt to climate change are effective and that the risks are being adequately managed.

In its first assessment of progress to prepare Scotland for global warming, the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) said there was a lack of evidence to assess whether the country’s vulnerability to the effects was increasing, remaining constant or decreasing.

Lord Krebs, chair of the CCC’s adaptation sub-committee, said: ‘A lot of action is under way to prepare for the impacts of climate change but it’s not clear what’s being achieved and whether risks are being adequately managed.’

The committee said it had beeen able to assess progress in only three areas. It concluded that, although ambitious plans were in place to protect Scotland’s natural environment from the impacts of climate change, more needed doing to ensure the Scottish government’s ambitions were realised. It highlighted continuing problems with deep peat soils, with one-third showing signs of erosion and an estimated 16% completely bare of any peat-forming vegetation.

The CCC acknowledged recent action to improve flood protection and that steps had been taken to improve the resilience of Scotland’s infrastructure in severe weather. However, existing datasets were insufficient to judge whether enough progress was being made to counter the impacts of climate change, it concluded.

The other measure the committee evaluated was the risks from extreme weather to people, and to the health and social care system. It said these had not been adequately studied. It also advised policymakers to better understand the support business might need to take advantages of the opportunities arising from climate change.

Subscribe

Subscribe to IEMA's newsletters to receive timely articles, expert opinions, event announcements, and much more, directly in your inbox.


Transform articles

Facing the climate emergency challenge in local government

It’s well recognised that the public sector has the opportunity to work towards a national net-zero landscape that goes well beyond improving on its own performance; it can also influence through procurement and can direct through policy.

19th March 2024

Read more

The UK government’s carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) strategy is based on optimistic techno-economic assumptions that are now outdated, Carbon Tracker has warned.

13th March 2024

Read more

The UK’s new biodiversity net gain (BNG) requirements could create 15,000 hectares of woodlands, heath, grasslands, and wetlands and absorb 650,000 tonnes of carbon each year.

13th March 2024

Read more

The UK government’s latest Public Attitudes Tracker has found broad support for efforts to tackle climate change, although there are significant concerns that bills will rise.

13th March 2024

Read more

Multinational corporations are undermining their net-zero commitments with excessive air travel and no plans to reduce ‘the low hanging fruit’ of carbon footprints, a study by Transport & Environment has found.

13th March 2024

Read more

The UK government’s climate adaptation plans are ‘inadequate’ and falling ‘far short’ of what is required, the Climate Change Committee (CCC) has warned today.

13th March 2024

Read more

Large businesses across the world are avoiding climate action due to fear they will be called out for getting their work wrong, according to a new Carbon Trust report.

29th February 2024

Read more

A thought-provoking discussion on how storytelling can change the world took place in Central London last night, alongside an exclusive sneak preview of an upcoming IEMA film series.

29th February 2024

Read more

Media enquires

Looking for an expert to speak at an event or comment on an item in the news?

Find an expert

IEMA Cookie Notice

Clicking the ‘Accept all’ button means you are accepting analytics and third-party cookies. Our website uses necessary cookies which are required in order to make our website work. In addition to these, we use analytics and third-party cookies to optimise site functionality and give you the best possible experience. To control which cookies are set, click ‘Settings’. To learn more about cookies, how we use them on our website and how to change your cookie settings please view our cookie policy.

Manage cookie settings

Our use of cookies

You can learn more detailed information in our cookie policy.

Some cookies are essential, but non-essential cookies help us to improve the experience on our site by providing insights into how the site is being used. To maintain privacy management, this relies on cookie identifiers. Resetting or deleting your browser cookies will reset these preferences.

Essential cookies

These are cookies that are required for the operation of our website. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of our website.

Analytics cookies

These cookies allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors to our website and to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our website works.

Advertising cookies

These cookies allow us to tailor advertising to you based on your interests. If you do not accept these cookies, you will still see adverts, but these will be more generic.

Save and close