Question reference: S5W-31484
- Date lodged: 31 August 2020
-
Current status: Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 7 September 2020
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what long-term consideration it has given to the impact on Scotland of a potential +3C degree rise in global temperatures, in light of the suggestion by the UK Committee on Climate Change that there is only a 50/50 chance of staying under +3C by 2100.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to ending our contribution to the causes of climate change by 2045, in line with the independent expert advice of the UK Committee on Climate Change on a high ambition Scottish response to the aims of the UN Paris Agreement. Nonetheless, climate change is a global issue and we must also prepare for the changes which are already locked in. We are already seeing warming here in Scotland, with more extreme weather events and rising sea levels and as a nation we must adapt to these changes.
The approach to strategic planning on climate change adaptation in Scotland is governed by the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009. This approach ensures that Scotland is preparing for the impacts of a range of potential global warming outcomes, based on independent assessment of the risks and scientific evidence. In September 2019 the Scottish Government published the second 5-yearly statutory Climate Change Adaptation Programme, which sets out policies and proposals in response to the priority risks for Scotland identified in the 2017 UK Climate Change Risk Assessment. The evidence for that Risk Assessment was provided by the UK Committee on Climate Change and draws upon the Met Office’s UK Climate Projections - which cover a range of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change scenarios for future global emissions pathways (including 3 degrees warming outcomes).
In addition to the circa 170 policies and proposals set out in the 2019 Adaptation Programme, the 2020-21 Programme for Government includes further support for enhanced climate change adaptation and resilience as part of a green recovery from COVID-19 - with an extra £150 million of investment in flood risk management in addition to the £42 million being provided annually to local authorities and a further £12 million for coastal change adaptation.
The UK Committee on Climate Change is due to provide an update to its independent assessment of climate risks in 2021. The next statutory Scottish Climate Change Adaptation Programme, due in 2024, will respond to that updated assessment.