Environment and Sustainability

The British Science Association (BSA) has launched its latest funding programme – The Highlands and Islands Climate Change Community Grant

Historic Environment Scotland has launched its new climate adaptation plan. ‘Climate ready HES’ sets out a series of actions that HES will undertake in order to prepare for, and review the risks and impacts associated with climate change, as Scotland experiences more extremities in weather and continues to move towards net zero.

The plan is a flagship deliverable of HES’s ambitious Climate Action Plan (2020-2025) and operates alongside other key climate action commitments, such as HES’ ambitions to achieve net-zero emissions by 2045.

Accelerating climate change is already posing a threat to Scotland’s historic environment and cultural heritage sites. Changes to the climate are increasing the frequency and intensity of physical climate risks, illustrated by the flash-flooding across Edinburgh in July 2021, which was the result of unprecedented heavy rainfall and directly impacted Edinburgh Castle.

In developing the plan, HES established a cross-organisational group to carry out a strategic level climate risk assessment which identified key climate risks where the organisation believes further action is required. The approach taken to carry out this assessment was informed by tools and guidance developed by Adaptation Scotland and its partners.

This new adaptation plan details HES’s primary adaptation response to the climate risks of concern identified. This is a series of priority actions including committing appropriate resources to climate change adaptation, mainstreaming ‘adaptation’ action into HES plans and policies, and integrating climate risk assessments into all relevant decisions the organisation takes.

These priority actions are crucial to reduce the impact of physical climate risks where possible, like extreme weather events and spread of invasive species, and to address additional risks that the organisation will be exposed to as society responds to the climate crisis and transitions towards a low-carbon economy.

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A major project to develop wind turbine blade recycling in Britain for the first time has been given the go-ahead after winning a UK Government grant.

Aker Offshore Wind will lead a £2m project to develop wind turbine blade recycling in Britain for the first time, an effort supported by Innovate UK.

The Green Hydrogen for Scotland Consortium has secured £9.4m in government funding for the first phase of ScottishPower’s 20MW Whitelee Windfarm hydrogen production and storage facility.

The new centre, called SWITCH, is located in Port Talbot, South Wales, the centre for UK steelmaking.

Edinburgh has announced a multi-million-pound, long-term commitment to capture and store its unavoidable carbon emissions, and benefit nature, through restoring peatlands and expanding forests in Scotland.

Over an initial period of 50 years, by investing in tree planting and restoring peatlands in partnership with others, the University expects to remove almost 1.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This will also yield significant benefits to the institution’s core purposes of research, learning and teaching, as well as enhancing biodiversity for the sites.

Green hydrogen produced on an industrial scale with offshore wind is the subject of a study being carried out by the Offshore Wind Power Limited (OWPL) consortium.

The latest stage of Scotland’s hydrogen-powered train project, involving Arcola Energy, the University of St Andrews and Scottish Enterprise, will be unveiled at Bo’ness on Thursday 4th Nov ahead of its planned inaugural run on the line in March.

Strathclyde is also leading on the £500,000 NEPTUNE project to support the transition to zero-carbon fuels for the Shetland Islands’ maritime industry.

Researchers from the world’s first dedicated Peridynamics Research Centre at Strathclyde, are involved in the £380,000 Oceanways project.

Engineering company Siemens Gamesa has launched what it says is the world’s first wind turbine blade that can be recycled at the end of its life cycle