Join us for ECCAN’s Spring Assembly: Root to Plate!
On Wednesday, March 26th at the Charteris Centre, we’re bringing together passionate individuals and key groups to explore the connection between food, community, and the climate crisis.
Whether you’re a foodie, work in the sector, or just curious about food sustainability and tackling waste, this is your chance to connect, learn, and take action!
Detailed plans have been produced outlining 66 steps the council and partners must take to get ‘climate ready’.
Our Climate Ready Edinburgh Implementation Plan, published on Friday (28 February), will be considered by members of the Policy and Sustainability Committee on Tuesday 11 March.
Over the next two years, it is proposed that all actions in the plan are implemented to help Edinburgh adapt to the impacts of climate change.
This could include working with partners to tackle the risks of flooding and coastal erosion and protecting the World Heritage Site, to planting trees and exploring transport systems to make the city resilient against weather extremes.
It is hoped this work will help to protect homes from flooding and overheating, safeguard our buildings and support new climate skills and jobs, while increasing the resilience of our ancient city against the future risks of climate change.
Identifying trigger points and action needed to prepare for weather extremes
Making Edinburgh a Million Tree City by planting 25,000 new trees a year
Prioritising street tree planting in areas prone to flooding and overheating
Increasing the tree canopy from 17% to 20% of the whole city by 2045
Establishing a Wilding Wee Spaces Schools programme
Undertaking a flood study to determine the long-term management of existing defences along the coast
Completing a surface water flood management project with Scottish Water in Craigleith by 2026
Delivery of new small-scale adaptation and energy retrofit pilot projects in the Old and New Towns of Edinburgh World Heritage Site by 2026
Monitoring issues of damp in Council housing, addressing most at risk properties
Working with providers to increase the resilience of Edinburgh’s transport systems.
Council Leader, Jane Meagher, said:“With architecture spanning 1,000 years and two World Heritage Sites, more trees than any other Capital city and a vast coastline, there is no question that Edinburgh’s natural and built environment is unique. Our Climate Ready plan has been designed to protect and enhance the place we are lucky enough to call home.
“Recent events have been a stark reminder of how disruptive weather can be to our city and to property. As such, we need to focus our efforts on adapting and preparing for such risks.
“Where we face issues of flooding and dampness, it disproportionately affects disadvantaged households. Where buildings suffer from poor energy efficiency, this brings up the cost of bills.
“It is to this end that climate change goes hand in hand with poverty as the biggest challenge we face, and we cannot tackle one without the other.
“With our businesses at risk as much as our homes, there is also a clear economic case for getting our capital ‘climate ready’. This report makes it clear that this work will require significant investment, but the costs of failing to prepare are higher.
“That is what has driven us to pledge an additional £2.9m to address our climate and nature emergencies in the budget we set last week. It is also why we have invested £500,000 into protecting our coastline with the successful introduction of new groynes at Portobello Beach.
“If approved next month by Committee, this detailed 66-step plan will further guide us and partners to become a ‘climate ready’ capital. Climate change is a major threat to our health and that of our ancient, coastal city and it is crucial that we work with partners to protect it.”
Gordon Reid, Scottish Water and chair of the Edinburgh Adapts Partnership that developed the plan, said:“We are already seeing the impacts of a changing climate in Edinburgh, with more frequent severe storms causing flooding, damage to buildings and disruption to travel.
“If we don’t take action then we will see greater impacts to the people, buildings, economy and the services we all rely on in the city. Many of these impacts disproportionately effect disadvantaged households and we need to ensure that we act to deliver adaptation for everyone in society as part of the just transition to a climate changed future.
“In addition, we need to act to address the nature emergency and many of the actions in the plan will address adaption and nature, delivering multiple benefits for the city.”
Yann Grandgirard, Head of Climate Change at Edinburgh World Heritage and member of the Edinburgh Adaptation and Nature Partnership, said:“Climate change is one of the biggest threats to the Old and New Towns of Edinburgh World Heritage Site, affecting its integrity, and undermining our efforts to preserve it and share its cultural values with current and future generations.
“Climate change impacts are diverse and not limited to physical damages to our historic buildings, streets and green spaces. They also affect our experience of this special part of the city – a vibrant place where people live, work, study and visit.
“The finalisation of the Edinburgh Climate Ready implementation plan is an important step in providing the necessary framework to protect and enhance both the World Heritage Site and the city through sensitive adaptation actions. It will act as a critical tool to prioritise climate actions, attract much needed funding and support partnerships across the city.”
Changes in family spending – which Westminster’s Climate Change Committee (CCC) forecast will ultimately save the average household £1,080 a year in 2050 – will be the key to the next phase in Britain’s decarbonisation drive, but policy must ensure these gains are shared with poorer families, the Resolution Foundation said this week.
The CCC’s Seventh Carbon Budget shows that households cannot continue spending in the same way, with close to half of emissions reductions needed by 2040 made by changes to spending on surface transport (27 per cent), home upgrades (14 per cent), and flying (5 per cent).
The scenarios set out show that these changes should benefit families in the form of net savings in every year from 2026. The Foundation calculates that by 2050, the poorest fifth of households could see the share of their spending that goes on energy bills and driving cut by 6 percentage points.
But while the net zero transition will bring savings overall, there are also costs to switching to new technologies, particularly heat pumps, which the CCC estimate will still cost three times more a year than a gas boiler in 2050. And without government support, high upfront costs risk locking lower-income families out of the future savings that net zero will bring.
The Foundation notes that the poorest fifth of households currently have only 9 per cent of electric vehicles, while over the past decade heat pumps were more than twice as likely to be installed in the richest neighbourhoods than the poorest ones.
A successful net zero transition must ensure the costs and benefits are spread fairly. The CCC analysis suggests that a household without a car in the lowest-income quintile would save nothing, while a richer car owning household would see average benefits of £1,400 a year.
The Government should therefore look at ways of smoothing the transition by helping poorer families with the additional costs of heat pump installation and by designing fair alternatives to taxes like Fuel Duty.
Zachary Leather, Economist at the Resolution Foundation, said:“The CCC’s report highlights how the next phase of Britain’s decarbonisation drive will directly affect families’ day-to-day lives.
“While politicians fret and argue about the cost of net zero, today’s report shows that there are long-term benefits for consumers and the environment.
“But the high upfront costs of net zero technologies like EVs and heat pumps risk locking lower-income households out of the savings that they bring in the long run.
“A successful transition will require Government to get serious about supporting lower-income households in accessing heat pumps and EVs.”
Local authorities could be given the optional power to introduce a tax on cruise ships that visit their areas in future.
The Scottish Government is seeking views on the practicalities of such a levy, as well as the potential market implications and effect on local economies and communities.
Analysis shows there were around 1,000 cruise ship visits to Scottish ports in 2024, bringing 1.2 million passengers – an increase of almost 400,000 per year compared with 2019.
Finance Secretary Shona Robison said: “The tourism sector is a crucially important part of the Scottish economy and cruise visits are increasing. The consultation will help to inform the Scottish Government’s decision over whether or not to bring forward legislation and it is really important that we hear from a wide variety of voices on this matter.
“Last year, we held events to hear the views of the cruise ship industry, local government, and others. We want to continue the helpful dialogue which started at those events, and explore further what a cruise ship levy could mean in a Scottish context.”
The Scottish Government has no plans to introduce a nationwide cruise ship levy.
The areas that welcome the most cruise passengers are Invergordon, Orkney, Edinburgh, Lerwick, and Greenock, and the average ship in the five busiest ports carries over 1,000 passengers.
A new study indicates animal populations living in urban areas show elevated resilience to stressful environmental conditions, with conservation implications.
Published last week in Ecology Letters, the study was conducted by Queen’s University Belfast in collaboration with the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Germany.
Researchers tested the adaptability of aquatic species, such as blue mussel and amphipods, found in shorelines in urban environments exposed to high ship traffic, compared with those from a remote protected shore.
An urban area can be described as a human settlement with a high population density and an infrastructure of built environment.
The team exposed the animals from both habitat types to a range of environmental stressors under laboratory conditions.
The treatments, which were events or situations that cause stress, reflected current and predicted environmental conditions in the sea, such as rising temperatures, saltwater changes and increased carbon dioxide.
The research showed animal populations from urban areas, with higher temperatures and greater concentrations of pollutants, demonstrated significantly higher resilience to stressful environmental conditions when compared to their counterparts from protected habitats.
Dr Ross Cuthbert from the School of Biological Sciences at Queen’s, was part of the international team of researchers, he said: “Our findings indicate that the populations of species differ substantially in their susceptibility to stressors associated with urbanisation.
“These results have important conservation implications, however, it remains to be seen whether these adaptations can keep pace with the rate of human-induced environmental changes relating to climate change such as pollution, burning fossil fuels, deforestation, and more.”
Urban habitats are very different from natural habitats and pose new challenges for animals and plants.
The research was led by Dr Elizabeta Briski, a marine biologist at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research, she said: “The results show that populations from urbanised habitats tend to be more robust to these environmental stressors and, are already adapting to changing conditions.
“These populations could serve as potential ‘rescue populations’ for endangered populations. At the same time, their greater tolerance to future environmental changes could make it easier for them to conquer new habitats. This makes them potential invasive species that can be spread by human trade and transport between urban centres.”
Dr Cuthbert adds: “Until now, little was known about how populations of the same species evolve in habitats with and without human influence.
“While the tested species do not directly affect human health, if the processes found indeed worsen invasion risks in general, they could exacerbate known health risks from biological invasions, such as through spread of disease.”
The results of the study support the hypothesis that urban habitats can provide important clues about how animals will adapt to future environmental changes.
A new Outdoor Recreation report from NatureScot’s Scotland’s People and Nature Survey (SPANS) 2023/24 reveals that 61% of Scots engage in outdoor recreation at least weekly, with 17% venturing out daily. It also highlights the importance of urban greenspaces in outdoor recreation.
The survey found that 41% of outdoor visits in Scotland take place in apark or other open greenspace in an urban area, making them the most popular destination. Woodland and forest visits follow closely at 39%.
Young people (16-34 years) and residents of the 10% most derived areas are more likely to use urban greenspaces, reinforcing their importance in ensuring equitable access to nature.
However, residents from the most deprived areas are less likely to engage in outdoor activities, pointing to a need for more inclusive policies and investments in local parks.
People in Scotland participate in a wide range of outdoor activities with walking being the most popular outdoor activity, the overwhelming majority of visits involved walking (93%).
Walking was also the most popular way to get to local parks, overall, 84% of people said they normally walk or wheel to their local greenspace.
These findings emphasize the crucial role of local, accessible urban greenspaces in promoting health and well-being.
As part of the ongoing refurbishment of North Bridge, there will be a northbound closure for six weeks from Monday 17 February.
During this period traffic will only be permitted to proceed southbound (from Princes Street towards South Bridge).
The six-week closure is to undertake resurfacing on both the southbound approach to the bridge (both lanes outside Waverley Gate toward Princes Street) and the southbound departure of the bridge (both lanes from the entrance to the Hilton Edinburgh Carlton on North Bridge to the junction at High Street).
The wider work on North Bridge has included refurbishing the cast iron bridge facades, grit blasting and repainting structural steelwork, repairing and improving the footway paving and underdrainage amongst a host of other improvements. A full list of the improvements and the wider project benefits is on our website.
The council is targeting the end of this year for the end of major repair works.
Transport and Environment Convener, Councillor Stephen Jenkinson said: “I appreciate this temporary closure will be frustrating for our residents and businesses. I want to thank them for their continued patience as we carry out these essential works.
“These works are part of the wider project to restore this crucial link between the north and south of the city – and of course preserve it for future generations.
“I’m conscious that this work is taking longer to complete than we had initially anticipated, but this is this a hugely complex project, with the historic nature of the bridge requiring painstaking and specialist work to restore it to its former glory.”
Safety is at the heart of the city council’s fleet, with the entire fleet of new Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) along with their welfare buses all equipped with enhanced safety features.
Edinburgh has taken inspiration from the Progressive Safe System (PSS) which was implemented by Transport for London (TfL) in October 2024 to enhance vehicle awareness and reduce the likelihood of collisions.
There are seven key requirements under PSS:
Camera monitoring system fitted to the vehicle’s nearside
Class V and VI mirrors
Blind spot sensors fitted to the vehicles nearside
Moving off sensors fitted to the front of the vehicle
Side under-run protection on both sides of the vehicle
Audible warning alerts when vehicles turn left
Prominent visual warning signage
In addition to adhering to PSS requirements, all new vehicles are fitted with an Advanced Emergency Braking System (AEBS). AEBS uses sensors to monitor a vehicle’s surroundings and automatically apply the brakes if a collision is likely.
Whilst there are no such safety requirement anywhere else in the UK outside of London, the council took the decision to ensure all HGVs purchased as part of the replacement programme were equipped with the technology to meet this standard.
The city council’s 152 strong HGV fleet is comprised of refuse collection vehicles, road sweepers, road gritters, mobile library uses, construction vehicles in roads services, and utility trucks for maintaining streets and greenspace.
Whilst our 27 welfare buses, which transport children with Additional Support Needs (ASN), are not classed as HGV Edinburgh took the decision to order these buses with the new safety features. These vehicles operate in and around schools and built-up areas during peak travel times so it’s important they are as safe as possible for everyone.
The council has now taken delivery of over 70 of our new HGVs, with all new refuse collection vehicles due to arrive by the end of March 2025 and all other HGVs due to be in service this year.
Transport and Environment Convener, Councillor Stephen Jenkinson said: “I was delighted to go down to Bankhead this morning to see some of these new vehicles firsthand and talk to our colleagues who operate them.
“We have a responsibility to our colleagues and our residents to make sure our fleet is as safe as possible. This is why we’re investing tens of millions of pounds into our fleet.
“With these changes I’m confident that we have the most advanced local authority fleet in Scotland when it comes to safety features. I hope that other parts of Scotland and the UK will look to London and Edinburgh’s example and follow suit.
“Safety is an absolute priority for us when delivering our services and I have no doubt that these new features will have a positive impact.”
Join us for ECCAN’s Spring Assembly: Root to Plate! 
Whether you’re a foodie, work in the sector, or just curious about food sustainability and tackling waste, this is your chance to connect, learn, and take action!
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