Climate Change Adaption and Resilience

Although different, climate change mitigation and adaptation are intrinsically linked and the best interventions will be those that aim to provide benefits for both, particularly as we move towards Net Zero. For example, a tree planting scheme could provide carbon removals through sequestration whilst also providing benefits for adaptation on transport networks such as slope stabilisation and increased biodiversity. As a public sector organisation, Transport Scotland has a key role to play in not only mitigation of climate change, but also in adapting to the impacts of climate change such as flooding, sea level rise and high winds. We are taking steps to move towards a proactive adaptation approach to ensure that our assets are well adapted to these impacts resulting in a safe, reliable, and resilient transport system for current and future generations.

The Climate Change Committees’ (CCC) UK Climate Risk independent Assessment (CCRA3), which has now been laid in the United Kingdom Parliament as the United Kingdom Climate Change Risk Assessment 2022 (UKCCRA3) identifies 7 key climate risks that relate to transport infrastructure (Table 6). Our approach to climate change adaptation and resilience we will take account of both the CCRA3 and UKCCRA3 and an annual report on our adaptation actions is published in our mandatory Climate Change Public Bodies Duties Report.

Climate Ready Scotland is the second edition of the Scottish Government’s Climate Change Adaptation Programme (SCCAP2) which runs until 2024. Transport Scotland leads on 13 SCCAP2 policy outcomes, which aim to assist delivery of the programme and address climate risks to transport. We submit statutory contributions on progress against the national outcomes to an annual progress report published by the Scottish Government. We will continue to actively engage with our Scottish Government colleagues on adaptation and resilience, responding to the transport risks set out in the UKCCRA3 and providing input from a transport perspective for the next iteration of SCCAP in 2024.

Table 6 - CCRA3 risks and urgency scores relating to transport infrastructure

CCRA3 Identifier L1

Risks to infrastructure networks (water, energy, transport, ICT) from cascading failures.

Urgency Score - More action needed.

CCRA3 Identifier L2

Risks to infrastructure services from river, surface water and groundwater flooding.

Urgency score - More action needed.

CCRA3 Identifier L3

Risk to infrastructure services from river, surface water and groundwater flooding structure services from coastal flooding and erosion.

Urgency score - Further Investigation.

CCRA3 Identifier L4

Risks to bridges and pipelines from flooding and erosion.

Urgency score - Further Investigation.

CCRA3 Identifier L5

Risks to transport networks from slope and embankment failure.

Urgency score - More action needed.

CCRA3 Identifier L7

Risks to subterranean and surface infrastructure from subsidence.

Urgency score - Further Investigation.

CCRA3 Identifier L12

Risks to transport from high and low temperatures, high winds, lightning.

Urgency score - More action needed.