Place-based Climate Action
The Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 places duties on all public bodies to tackle climate change through exercising their various functions. The public bodies play vital roles in enabling Scotland’s just transition to net zero, improving climate resilience, and securing wider benefits for people and places.
To find out more about place-based climate adaptation, see the Scottish Climate Change Adaptation Programme 2024-2029 and the Adaptation Scotland website.
Public bodies are encouraged to report their place-based action on climate change in their annual mandatory climate change reports in the ‘wider influence’ section.
Public Body Functions to Tackle Climate Change
Public bodies have a wide range of functions that should be used to address climate change. These include spatial and transport planning, placemaking, investment, infrastructure development, economic development, funding, regulation, communications, education, community development, and partnership development and facilitation. At a local authority area level, community planning is a statutory requirement to support and enable community empowerment and placemaking. Regional economy partnerships, land use partnerships and growth deals are all important. Local authorities have planning and financing powers, and at national and regional levels, a range of public bodies have powers and responsibilities for planning, development, investment and public engagement. All of these functions need to be brought to bear to enable Scotland to increase the scale and pace of climate action.
Understanding control versus influence on emissions
This report by ECCI for UK100 provides a useful mapping of the control and influence that local authorities have on place-based emissions.
Policy drivers
Scotland’s Climate Change Plan, along with the UK Government’s Net Zero Strategy, contains policies and commitments for action across the range of emission sources in the national emissions inventories. This includes policies and programmes on energy, transport, waste and land use, and policies relating to place-making such as housing, planning, economic development and infrastructure.
Policy commitments that are driving forward place-based climate action include policies on Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies, National Planning Framework 4, policies on active travel, car journey reduction targets, the development of concepts such as the 20 Minute Neighbourhoods, the use of the Place Standard Tool, and the Scottish Government’s response to the Scottish Infrastructure Commission.
The policies in Scotland’s Climate Change Plan provide the policy framework for action at the local authority level to deliver local climate action aligned to national targets. Locally determined contributions to the national climate change plans form the basis of local area or place-based climate action.
Rules, Tools, Data and Capacity Building
Local authority area-wide emissions action is guided by the international Greenhouse Gas Protocol on Community Scale Emissions (the GPC).
The Scottish Government has developed guidance on carbon in buildings and infrastructure, based on the PAS2080 standards.
Place-based Climate Rules, Tools and Capacity
ECCI published the Carbon Scenario Tool report, which provides an excellent analysis of the key principles, data sets, tools and capacity issues relating to place-based climate action.
The Place-based Climate Action Network is a key multi-year research initiative. The University of Edinburgh and the City of Edinburgh Council are the lead partners in Scotland. The programme is supporting the development of local area Net Zero Routemaps, informed by the work of the Leeds Climate Commission.
Tools to support place-based climate action
There is a range of tools to support place-based climate action. Many consultancies have their own tools, based on GPC standards. A summary analysis of some key tools is provided in the Carbon Scenario Tool referenced earlier.
Tools include:
- PCAN Net-Zero Carbon Roadmaps
- ClimateView (Example: Sustainable Dundee)
- Carbon.place data mapping tool
- Place Standard with a Climate Lens
- Scottish Climate Intelligence Service (SCIS)
Building capacity and developing good practice
Many local authorities in Scotland are taking a planned approach to place-based emissions, focusing on the emissions within their local authority area.
