The Scottish Government asked ClimateXChange to conduct a comparative review of strategies for adapting to climate change in other countries. The review looks at how other countries have approached certain key issues in their adaptation strategies. It provides evidence and learning points for the Scottish Government to consider in formulating Scotland’s first statutory Adaptation Programme. ClimateXChange researchers reviewed 12 strategies from countries in Europe and beyond. 

The report has already informed policy thinking on how lessons from other countries can be applied in the Scottish context. It has also sparked some further, more focused pieces of work, which ClimateXChange is now undertaking.

The Scottish Government lodged an enquiry with ClimateXChange following a query received on future wind storms in Scotland. ClimateXChange researchers produced a brief that concluded that future climate projections of extreme wind speed are highly ambiguous. However, despite their high level of uncertainty, predictions of increased storm intensity and windspeed may be of interest to policy and the construction industry due to elevated risks.

The brief has already been used to inform policy thinking on how future wind storms might affect the built environment. More widely, the response is likely to be used by the Scottish Government to answer future queries on storminess in Scotland.

In an enquiry lodged in October 2011 by the Scottish Government, ClimateXChange was asked to explore scenarios for meeting the housing sector’s contribution to the Climate Change (Scotland) Act targets, with a particular focus on the period 2020-2030. ClimateXChange commissioned a team of experts at Glasgow Caledonian University to undertake the work.

The research aimed to provide a practical and realistic assessment of technical and policy options to reduce energy demand from the existing Scottish housing stock from 2020 to 2030.

The work was divided into two Tasks:

Task 1: Scope what Scotland’s housing stock can be expected to look like in terms of energy efficiency by 2020.

Task 2: Assess the abatement potential of Scotland’s housing stock from 2020-2030 in the context of a trajectory to 2050.