Overview

Climate Ready Clyde (CRC) is a leading cross-sector initiative funded by 12 member organisations and supported by the Scottish Government, to create and deliver a shared vision, strategy and action plan for a fair, prosperous and climate-resilient future for the Glasgow City Region (GCR). The initiative is the most established regional climate adaptation partnership in Scotland and was initiated through the Adaptation Scotland programme in 2011.

In 2021, CRC published the Glasgow City Region Climate Adaptation Strategy and Action Plan. This offers a blueprint to guide the way to a region that can thrive in our future climate. The Strategy and Action Plan is recognised as a leading example in Scotland and in Europe. It sets out an ambitious shared vision and takes a transformative, whole-systems approach to climate adaptation, with an emphasis on fairness and ‘just resilience’.

The Strategy includes eleven strategic interventions that form a statement of ambition for the next decade, and sixteen Flagship Actions and 3 Stretch Targets to accelerate progress by 2025. It is informed by a comprehensive Climate Risk and Opportunity Assessment, and by the Clyde Rebuilt project.

Gap the project addresses

CRC exists to address a critical governance, coordination, and delivery gap in climate adaptation across the GCR, which is home to 1.8 million people and a third of Scotland’s economy.

While national and local climate policies and efforts exist, CRC identified several key problems to addressing the climate emergency in a just and sustainable manner:

• Lack of Regional Coordination: Tackling the climate emergency requires a coordinated and collective response but, before CRC, there was no shared strategy to manage climate risks across the region. This led to fragmented efforts and missed opportunities for cross-boundary collaboration and to embed climate adaptation in regional strategies, plans and major infrastructure projects.
• Vulnerability of People and Places: The Glasgow City Region is disproportionately exposed to flooding, heat, and climate-related health risks especially in deprived urban communities. CRC research showed that without intervention, over 100,000 homes and 18,700 businesses are at high flood risk by 2080. Existing inequalities mean that climate impacts could worsen social injustice, especially for people in the bottom 20% of the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD).
• Adaptation Finance Gap: The region needs an estimated £184 million/year to fund adaptation across transport, housing, nature-based solutions, and infrastructure. There was no clear pathway to unlock, coordinate or attract this investment, particularly from private or blended sources.
• Policy Delivery Gap: Scotland has ambitious climate adaptation policies, but there is a lack of regional and local delivery mechanisms due to lack of capacity, resources or identified project leads. CRC fills the space between national ambition and local implementation, ensuring joined-up delivery, capacity-building, and innovation.
• Lack of forward climate resilience planning and transformational adaptation thinking: Most climate resilience efforts focus on reactive, incremental responses. CRC promotes transformational adaptation including:
  o Embedding adaptation into regional and local economic development and land use planning
  o Delivery of multi-purpose and multi-benefit adaptation measures such as flood management and prevention schemes, blue-green infrastructure, habitat restoration and a portfolio of other nature-based solutions to create climate resilient places.
  o Supporting, enabling and empowering communities in climate and socially vulnerable areas to influence local land use planning decisions and co-create climate resilient neighbourhoods
  o Creating new governance, finance and delivery models

Ownership model

CRC is a partnership initiative and membership model.
The current members of the partnership are: East Dunbartonshire Council, East Renfrewshire Council, Glasgow City Council, Inverclyde Council, North Lanarkshire Council, Renfrewshire Council, Scottish Environment Protection Agency, South Lanarkshire Council, Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, University of Glasgow, University of Strathclyde and West Dunbartonshire Council.

Verture provide Technical Secretariat support for the initiative and is responsible for partnership co-ordination, leading on or supporting member organisations to drive forward and enable the delivery of Flagship Actions, communication, exploring and securing new investment and income opportunities, sharing knowledge, learning and expertise with CRC members, monitoring and evaluation.

The Secretariat function and work of the partnership is jointly funded by the 12 member organisations. The initiative is governed by a Terms of Reference with all partners signed up to supporting and delivering the Adaptation Strategy. In terms of governance, the local authorities meet quarterly at the Local Authority Forum and other members also meet quarterly at Action Group meetings.

Policy and funding

Due to the need for a cross-sector response to the climate emergency, CRC has been made possible by multiple national, regional and local policies.
These include:

• Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009
• Scottish National Adaptation Plan 2024-2029 (SNAP3 and previous plans)
• National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4)
• Glasgow City Region Regional Spatial Strategy and Regional Economic Strategy
• Local Development, Climate Change and other relevant plans
  The initiative has been funding in a number of ways since it was established in 2011:
• Scottish Government supported CRC’s early development including funding for a comprehensive climate risk and opportunity assessment and strategy work through the Adaptation Scotland programme. The Scottish Government are currently exploring opportunities to support the delivery phase of CRC through a newly established Regional Adaptation Fund.
• Member Contributions – the initiative and work of the Secretariat is financed by member organisations who annually contribute equal amounts.
• External funding for projects e.g. EIT Climate-KIC (EU Innovation Funding) for Clyde Rebuilt project. Verture and CRC partners also secure internal and external funding for capital projects such as Clyde Climate Forest, other habitat restoration/flood management projects and community engagement work.
• In-Kind Support – partners provide in-kind contributions, such as staff time, data-sharing, and technical expertise.

Impact to date

In 2023, CRC an independent consultant to carry out an interim review of progress in delivering the 16 Flagship Actions and meeting the 3 Stretch Targets set out in the 2021-2025 Action Plan.  The review included desk-based data analysis, member and stakeholder interviews and questionnaires to assess CRC’s effectiveness as a catalyst for driving collaboration, capacity and ambition on adaptation across the region.

Contribution to just transition

CRC actively contributes to a just transition by ensuring that climate adaptation in the Glasgow City Region supports social, environment and economic equality and resilience.

The Glasgow City Region is home to 1.8 million people, many of whom live in areas at high risk of flooding, extreme heat, and other climate-related hazards as demonstrated by CRC’s Climate Vulnerability Map . This map was developed to identify and prioritise communities that are disproportionately vulnerable to the impacts of climate change due to historic and engrained inequalities and social deprivation.

The GCR has 16 Flagship Action that align with and contribute to the ambition for a fairer and greener Scotland. The following Flagship Actions highlight CRC’s commitment to equality and climate justice:

• Support communities to co-design and co-deliver climate ready places through place-based adaptation and engagement
• Increasing community agency in adaptation processes through culture and creative practices.

CRC also has the following Stretch Target to address inequality:

• Increase the climate resilience of at least 140,000 of the most vulnerable people in the Glasgow City Region by 2030.

CRC work contributes to the following just transition outcomes:

• Citizens, Communities and Place

Projects to support and empower communities to have a voice in local decision-making and get involved in the creating climate resilient space and places in their neighbourhoods. Projects include Creative Climate Futures, Urban greening for heat-resilient neighbourhoods and Clyde Climate Forest.

• Jobs, Skills and Economic Opportunities

Promotes job creation in nature-based solutions, climate services, and adaptation infrastructure and supports inclusion of adaptation in Regional Economic Strategy, embedding green job pathways and training potential.

• Fair Distribution of Costs and Benefits

Tools and research such as the Climate Vulnerability Map and GCR Climate Risk Assessment are designed to ensure climate resilience investments reach the most vulnerable populations first. Potential for public-sector co-funding to share investment responsibility regionally, so the financial burden doesn’t fall only on lower-resourced councils or communities.

• Business and Economy

Provides a blueprint for a climate-resilient economy by ensuring the climate adaptation is embedded in regional and local economic development and spatial plans.  Advocates for investment in resilient infrastructure, helping future-proof the regional economy. CRC’s work aims to reduces risk to business continuity, insurance premiums, and workforce health by protecting critical infrastructure and utilities.

• Adaptability and Resilience

The ambitious GCR Adaptation Strategy provides a blueprint and roadmap for an adapting and climate resilient region.  CRC provides the governance structure and mechanisms for collaboration, shared resources and delivery.

• Environment and Biodiversity

CRC has a Flagship Action to support and enable the delivery of nature-based adaptation and restoration measures and the creation of a regional green network.  This includes the Clyde Climate Forest and other habitat restoration projects that tackle environmental degradation and increase biodiversity and climate resilience.  It also aims to ensure adaptation and green networks are considered in local and regional land-use planning.

Contribution to local heritage

GCR and the Clyde Estuary has a rich industrial heritage that shaped its urban form, economy, and social fabric.  This has also left a legacy of vacant and derelict land, infrastructure vulnerable to climate risks like flooding and post-industrial neighbourhoods and communities struggling due to environmental degradation, social deprivation and health inequalities.

CRC has integrated the impact of this industrial heritage into the GCR Adaptation Strategy and Climate Vulnerability Map to address social, environmental and economic equalities and reduce the impacts of climate change on vulnerable places and communities.

Benefits to the local area

CRC benefits can be summarised as:

• Enhanced Climate Resilience: Supporting the Glasgow City Region to adapt to climate change risks and hazards such as extreme weather events, flooding, heatwaves and sea-level rise to protect our people, environment and economy and contributing to ‘Net Zero’ ambitions.
• Place-based adaptation and climate risk mitigation: Delivering practical on-the-ground solutions and actions to reduce regional and local climate risks, protect our public services, businesses and infrastructure and create thriving climate-resilient places and communities.
• Economic resilience and prosperity: Protecting infrastructure, businesses, and communities from climate-related disruptions, pro-actively reducing the financial burden of future repair and adaptation costs and identifying new economic opportunities in climate adaptation sectors.
• Delivering climate and social justice: Protecting and empowering our most vulnerable and disadvantaged communities from the worst effects of climate change and ensuring fairness and equity in all our adaptation efforts.
• Improved Public Health and Wellbeing: Reducing climate-related health risks such as heat stress, air pollution, and flooding impacts, improving the quality of life for our people.
• Nature Restoration and Environmental Protection: Safeguarding our natural ecosystems and biodiversity and actively enhancing our green and blue networks through initiatives such as the Clyde Climate Forest and other nature-based climate adaptation solutions.
• Collaboration and Partnership: Bringing together public, private, and community sectors to deliver a shared vision for a climate adapted and resilient region including sharing resources, knowledge and expertise as the most cost-effective way of tackling the impacts of climate change.
• Policy and Strategic Support and Influence: Influencing and supporting regional and local policy development to integrate climate adaptation and resilience into strategic development and economic strategies.
• National and Global Leadership and Investment: Showcasing the Glasgow City Region as a mature place-based regional adaptation partnership and climate action model, attracting positive attention and investment from national and international funders as well as delivering national and regional climate adaptation ambitions.
• Monitoring and Evaluation: Maintaining a transparent and robust knowledge and evidence base to monitor progress against climate adaptation and Net Zero goals and inform decision-making.

 Lessons learned

The Interim Assessment of Progress (IAP) concluded:

• Climate Ready Clyde has been a catalyst in driving collaboration and ambition on adaptation in the region.
• New forums and mechanisms have been established, such as the Local Authority Forum and the Regional Transport Climate Resilience Group.
• Key tools and resources delivered or supported by Climate Ready Clyde to date include the Glasgow Region Climate Vulnerability Map, a toolkit for assessing and addressing risks in the development of built environment and infrastructure projects, and research on Adaptation Pathway approaches for the Clyde region.
• There is evidence of a wide range of adaptation and community engagement projects across member organisations and partners, including river, peatland and grassland restoration projects and many other place-based initiatives to improve community resilience across the Glasgow region.
• Communities in critically climate and socially vulnerable areas being supported, empowered and enabled to co-design and co-deliver neighbourhood adaptation projects.
• Member organisations interviewed for the assessment stated that the Climate Ready Clyde initiative is influencing adaptation progress in their own organisations and setting a standard for adaptation strategy and planning more broadly across Scotland.

Constraints and challenges

Crucially for adaptation delivery, the IAP highlighted that CRC’s progress on creating a regional investment pipeline and adaptation finance lab (Flagship Action 12) and ambition to close the region’s adaptation finance gap of £184 m. a year were both off track. The adaptation finance gap had widened since the strategy and action plan was launched in 2021 and reported spend on adaptation has decreased year on year since the target was set.

It is known that more adaptation projects are being delivered regionally than is currently recognised or reported.  This is a nationwide issue and is partly due to the lack of understanding about what constitutes adaptation or effective reporting mechanisms.  To address this problem, CRC has developed a monitoring and evaluation framework to track and co-ordinate adaptation spend across the GCR.  The increased need and requirement for Public Bodies to capture and report adaptation activity as part of their statutory Climate Change Duties reporting will also help.

Reduced budgets and lack of internal capacity or expertise to progress project development, capital works tender package design and the time and information to produce funding bids to meet funding shortfalls was cited by CRC members as barriers to adaptation project delivery at both a regional and local level.  Large-scale climate resilience projects such as flood protection schemes can be complex and costly and there is still work to be done to increase understanding and expertise in implementing adaptation measures such as nature-based solutions and habitat restoration projects.

Embedding climate resilience priorities in regional economic strategies and spatial plans is key to ensuring that adaptation measures are considered and implemented in all major infrastructure and development projects.  Members have recognised the need to raise awareness and reinvigorate support for climate adaptation at leadership level to secure financial support and backing and are working to develop a pipeline of regionally significant adaptation projects and business cases to take advantage of private investment and funding opportunities.

There is also work to do nationally to quantify the social, environment and economic cost of adaptation inaction to accelerate and incentivise embedding climate resilience considerations and measures in all regional and local strategies, developments and capital projects.

Replication and scaling

CRC is the most mature Regional Adaptation Partnership in Scotland and the UK. The Scottish Government has an ambition in SNAP3 to have full regional adaptation partnership coverage in Scotland by 2029 and CRC, via Verture, are actively sharing resources, lessons learned and expertise with emerging regional partnerships in Scotland, the UK and elsewhere.

Working conditions and fair work practices

Featured organisations and initiatives were asked to supply the following information regarding working conditions:

• Alignment with Scottish Government Fair Work First criteria
• If they have gone beyond Fair Work First by incorporating broader values on fair work
• For larger organisations, whether a union recognition agreement is in place.

This did not apply to co-operatives structures and membership-based initiatives, though all projects and initiatives were given room to provide any detail on fair work practices deemed relevant.

The following information was provided:

• CRC is a partnership. All 12 members and Verture apply Fair Work criteria to all work and activity in accordance with the individual organisations’ policies and practices. These practices and union recognition agreements are detailed on individual member websites.