Hansard

I say at the outset that I am pleased to contribute to the debate. It is an important issue that requires the attention of all parliamentarians and all committees in the Parliament, not just the Rural Affairs, Climate Change and Environment Committee. I am pleased to hear the minister confirm that he meets other ministers regularly specifically to discuss climate change.

We have seen at first hand, in all our constituencies, the evidence that Scotland’s climate is changing. Just last month, for example, we saw the wettest December in Scotland since records began in 1910, and the average winter precipitation in the 1990s and 2000s was approximately 23 per cent higher than the 1961 to 1990 baseline; in the 1960s, it was approximately 9 per cent lower.

As we have heard, the main aim of the climate change adaptation programme is to increase the resilience of Scotland’s people, environment and economy to the impacts of the changing climate. As the Scottish Government is leading by example, it is also incumbent on this Parliament, us as parliamentarians and local authorities to lead by example and to give this enormously important issue the attention that it deserves.

It is clear that preparing for unavoidable climate change and reducing emissions are both essential actions if we are to ensure economic growth in Scotland and protect our much valued natural environment. We must use every opportunity to get the message over that climate is changing and that key challenges lie ahead for our people, communities and the most vulnerable in society.

While the long-term framework for building Scotland’s resilience to climate change is being led by the Scottish Government, it is imperative that partnership working is encouraged and facilitated through the formation of new partnerships and collaborations.

There are good examples of that happening. I am looking forward to seeing at first hand the work of ClimateXChange—Scotland’s centre of expertise on climate change here in Edinburgh—which is a partnership that shares ideas of good practice across areas of common interest to help to increase the resilience of Scotland’s people, environment and communities, when our committee visits it in just over a week’s time. We will also have the opportunity to see at first hand the new Edinburgh centre for carbon innovation building.

Another good example of best practice is the fact that flexible adaptation is being built into long-term investment decisions. For example, the 2014 Commonwealth games village has built-in green-blue networks and sustainable urban drainage systems. The 2020 climate group is creating alliances across the public and private sectors by sharing knowledge and developing business awareness in tackling risk.

I was therefore pleased to see the minister’s response to the committee’s concerns regarding the potential vulnerabilities of small and medium-sized businesses, in which he pledged to continue to provide targeted support to SMEs,

“ensuring that businesses have a good understanding of the range of risks they may face from the impacts of climate change”.

However, it is worth reiterating that the committee heard concerns from stakeholders about the potential vulnerability of SMEs to climate change and extreme weather events. While the work of the 2020 group is positive and welcome, stakeholders were of the view that more attention needs to be given to smaller businesses. As the convener said, we welcomed the minister’s positive response on that issue.

Our committee report also raised the issue of climate justice and social justice and called on the Scottish Government to ensure that social justice aspects of the adaptation programme are given more weight in the final programme.

The poor and the vulnerable are the first to be affected by climate change and will suffer the worst through no fault of their own, having done little or nothing to cause the problem in the first place. The committee therefore welcomed the commitment from the minister to take a lead in ensuring that the vulnerability of communities and the social justice dimension of climate change impacts are addressed. We look forward to further responses.

Before I close, I want to touch on the need for more effective monitoring and assessment. In particular, the committee stressed that the final programme should include a stronger focus on targets and set out a robust monitoring and evaluation framework, as Alex Fergusson alluded to.

It is clear that climate change adaptation has to be tackled in an incremental way, with strong partnership working, knowledge transfer and the development of methods to support adaptation by communities themselves. Not all impacts require immediate responses. However, I am sure that if we all work together, we are going to get there.

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