SBNZ Statement on Upcoming Scottish Elections

Kate Symons - 23/03/26

SBNZ statement on upcoming Scottish elections

Scotland’s commitment to achieving net zero and a just transition by 2045 presents a complex challenge that extends beyond technological innovation. Achieving these targets requires comprehensive efforts across multiple sectors, including significant retrofitting of buildings, transforming energy systems, and adopting nature-based approaches. This transformation requires coordinated policies, regulatory clarity, and sustained investment in skills across energy systems, the built environment, and land use.

The transition also involves deep social, cultural, and institutional shifts. What distinguishes this change is not only its scale, but its interconnected nature. The challenges of finance, food systems, land use and infrastructure unfold across overlapping systems, places and communities. Responding effectively requires approaches that recognise these interdependencies and draw together multiple forms of knowledge, from technical and policy expertise to local, embodied and lived experience. These different forms of knowledge will be central to shaping decisions that are both effective and just.

Policies are most effective when rooted in the environments where people live and work—homes, landscapes, transport systems, and local economies—and when communities actively participate in shaping these changes. Clear and harmonised policy priorities across climate finance, food systems, and other crucial areas will be essential for the next Government to ensure successful outcomes.

Climate Finance

Achieving net zero by 2045 requires a significant and sustained financial commitment. Estimates suggest the need for £5–6 billion of additional low-carbon investment annually by 2030 and a total of £68 billion in capital investment by 2050. Key challenges identified by SBNZ researchers include:

• Uneven access to finance: Investments often target so-called ‘investor-ready’ areas, leaving under-resourced communities behind. This disparity highlights the need for equitable financial distribution to ensure all regions can participate in the transition.
• Capacity gaps: The uneven distribution of expertise needed for developing viable projects exacerbates existing inequalities, leaving some communities unable to capitalise on investment opportunities.
• Fragmented funding frameworks: The lack of consistent, long-term funding undermines investor confidence, making it difficult to mobilise capital for substantial projects.
• Absence of risk-sharing mechanisms: Low-carbon projects often require significant initial capital and take years to deliver returns. Without mechanisms for aggregating projects and distributing risk, smaller community initiatives struggle to attract necessary private financing.
• Data limitations: Local authorities and smaller developers frequently lack access to clear data on funding opportunities, risks, and potential returns, leading to stalled or underfunded projects due to perceived uncertainties.

The Scottish Government can play a pivotal role by boosting community capacity, refining local delivery structures, and working with partners from the UK Government to align funding. Making climate investment structurally accessible requires more than ambition; it demands robust frameworks and political commitment.

Food Systems

The food system is both a significant contributor to climate change and vulnerable to its effects. Emissions arise throughout the food chain – from the use of feed and fertilisers in production to emissions from animals, transportation, processing, packaging, and waste. Addressing this requires a focus on:

• Sustainability (outcome two of the National Good Food Nation Plan): Developing a sustainable food system that enhances Scotland’s environment and waters. This involves reducing emissions at each stage of the food chain and embracing sustainable agricultural practices.
• Global Contribution (Outcome six): Ensuring that Scotland’s decisions contribute positively to transforming global food systems, acknowledging the interconnectedness of these systems.

A systems thinking approach is crucial to address these issues effectively, ensuring that improvements in one area do not lead to increased environmental costs elsewhere. This involves supporting different actors within the food system to innovate and improve sustainability while being mindful of the risks to established livelihoods to contribute to a just transition. Effective communication and shared objectives are vital for behaviour change, and for aligning actions and achieving mutual goals in climate and food systems.

Adapting to climate change

Beyond reducing Scotland’s contribution to continued global warming and climate breakdown, there is an urgent need to adapt to the increasing impacts of climate change. These include rising sea levels, intense rainfall leading to floods, frequent wildfires, violent windstorms, droughts, and heatwaves.

Though climate impacts affect everyone, certain communities are particularly vulnerable. Coastal communities, socio-economically disadvantaged groups, marginalised populations, the elderly, and those with pre-existing health conditions may experience disproportionate adverse effects.

The Scottish Government’s Climate Change Plan and the third National Adaptation Plan aim to provide clear and comprehensive strategies integrating climate action priorities across policies. To transition these plans from intentions to impactful actions, the Scottish Government must emphasise messaging, implementation, and accountability.

Key strategies for successful implementation include:

• Cross-sector collaboration: promoting coordination across traditional organisational and sectoral boundaries to foster integrated responses.
• Building capacity: Investing in the capability to embrace new working methods through systems thinking, capability-building initiatives, and interdisciplinary approaches.
• Ensuring fairness and equality: Promoting equitable stakeholder participation to ensure that diverse community needs are addressed and that no group is disproportionately affected by climate policies.

These efforts will underpin Scotland’s journey towards resilience, ensuring it contributes less to global climate change and safeguards both its people and natural environment. By focusing on these comprehensive strategies, Scotland can lead by example in the global fight against climate change.

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This statement was prepared by Scotland Beyond Net Zero academics:

Dr Karishma Ansaram, University of Edinburgh, SBNZ Academic Co-Lead for Finance Theme
Dr Jen Clarke, Robert Gordon University, current Chair of the SBNZ Steering Group
Dr Maria Chiaria Iannino, University of St Andrews, SBNZ Academic Co-Lead for Finance Theme
Professor Rachel Norman, University of Stirling, SBNZ Academic Co-Lead for Food Theme
Professor Baukje de Roos, University of Aberdeen, SBNZ Academic Co-Lead for Food Theme
Professor Jaime Toney, University of Glasgow, former Chair of the SBNZ Steering Group

It does not necessarily reflect the views of member universities.