The solutions for climate adaptation vary from one context to another. They can range from building flood defences and setting up early warning systems for cyclones to redesigning communication systems, business operations and building stronger, more resilient communities and places. To be successful, climate adaptation must take place with national, regional and international organisations working alongside businesses and civil society.
This holistic, context-specific and joined-up approach to adaptation is underway in Glasgow City Region through Climate Ready Clyde which is the leading adaptation initiative for the Region. Comprising of 15 members (including all eight local authorities), Climate Ready Clyde is recognised and trusted for our expertise, technical knowledge and partnership working as well as our leadership in driving change.
With COP26 coming to Glasgow, the Region has a unique opportunity to show leadership on the world stage.
Glasgow City Region’s Climate Adaptation Strategy and Action Plan
Climate Ready Clyde developed Glasgow City Region’s first Adaptation Strategy and Action Plan to kick-start and scale up the Region’s adaptation action. Launched in June, it sets out a comprehensive blueprint of how working with others, driving structural, systemic change and innovation, we will transform the region so that we flourish in our future climate.
It is designed to be a catalyst and a call to action for all organisations, communities and businesses with a stake in Glasgow City Region to join in, step forward and step up to build the Region’s social, economic and environmental resilience to climate change. It has been acknowledged by the UK Committee on Climate Change as one of the leading examples of how to address the risks of climate change in the UK. It is the first regional approach of its kind for Scotland and a recognised best in class in Europe.
The Strategy and Action Plan provide a comprehensive blueprint for how we will make it happen over the next decade. Based upon a vision to 2050, and informed by the Region’s climate risks and opportunities, it contains 11 strategic interventions needed by 2030 to take us towards meeting the vision and 16 Flagship Actions: large-scale and high in ambition which recognise the whole-systems approach that is required to address core, underlying challenges.
Flagship Action 1: Local authorities in the region working together to build capabilities and deliver collaborative adaptation.
Many of the changes needed for effective adaptation are influenced by, or directly delivered by local authority functions. This includes the support and services to local communities and locally-led activities. Sharing learning and developing consistent practices will better equip local authorities to ensure services, assets and resources are more climate-resilient, with adaptation mainstreamed across broader corporate activities and plans. This in turn will lead to increased impact by raising the issue of adaptation to a higher level of awareness, governance and decision-making. This will nurture strong, trusted and supportive relationships between those in the Region who are charged with delivering on the adaptation agenda, as well as engendering shifts more widely in these institutions.
We’ll work together with colleagues in Sniffer leading Adaptation Scotland’s Adaptation Capability Framework and associated Benchmarking Working Group to benchmark and share learning on climate change adaptation across local authorities in the Region.
Building resilience of communities and people
Glasgow City Region is a place where people, location and resources combine to create a sense of identity and purpose.
At the heart of the place-based priority within the Adaptation Strategy and Action Plan is the people and communities who live, work and play in them. The central vision behind the Strategy is for a Glasgow City Region that flourishes in the future climate, and this requires a systemic approach to build transformational change, to ensure inclusivity, collaboration and build a just resilience.
Action to deliver the Strategy and Action Plan is urgent and demands rapid progress. Making hard choices now means we avoid having to make harder ones in future. Doing so will bring lasting benefits for everyone in the Region, as well as for wider Scotland.
About Climate Ready Clyde
Climate Ready Clyde (CRC) is a cross-sector initiative funded by fifteen member organizations and supported by the Scottish Government to create a shared vision, Strategy, and Action Plan for an adapting Glasgow City Region (GCR). Climate Ready Clyde is managed and delivered by Scottish sustainability charity Sniffer which has a central vision for a flourishing and fair future for all in a changing climate.
