Climate Ready Aberdeenshire is a cross-sector initiative to create Aberdeenshire’s climate change adaptation and mitigation strategy. It brings together the views and expertise of a range of diverse stakeholders from communities, public, private and 3rd sector organisations, to set out how we can work collaboratively to meet the challenges of a changing climate within Aberdeenshire.
Aim and objectives
Our aim is a shared vision, strategy and action plan for Aberdeenshire to mitigate climate change and adapt to its impact while protecting our biodiversity.
Objectives:
- Increase the understanding and awareness of climate change risks and opportunities within Aberdeenshire
- Work with communities using a place-based approach to discover what their priorities are and how they can be supported to mitigate and adapt to climate change
- Support decision-makers to make climate friendly and climate ready decisions which support the delivery of local and national commitments and mutually benefit Aberdeenshire’s environment, economy and people
- Provide knowledge, advice and support and link businesses, community groups and individuals to resources, projects and funding opportunities to help them mitigate and adapt to climate change
The Steering Group
Climate Ready Aberdeenshire is governed by a steering group consisting of senior representatives from organisations throughout the North East of Scotland. The group is led by a Chair and Vice-chair and supported by a project lead provided by the initiative’s sponsor, Aberdeenshire Council.
| Position | Name | Email address |
| Chair | Sam Long | crachair@aberdeenshire.gov.uk |
| Vice-chair | Kelly Wiltshire | kwiltshire@nestrans.org.uk |
| Project lead | Crawford Paris | sustainability@aberdeenshire.gov.uk |
The steering group currently consists of members from the following organisations:
- Aberdeenshire Council
- Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce
- Cairngorms National Park
- Grampian Housing Association
- Historic Environment Scotland
- The James Hutton Institute
- Nature Scot
- Nestrans
- Offshore Energies UK
- Scottish Enterprise
- Scottish Water
- Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA)
- University of Aberdeen
- Visit Aberdeenshire
Working Groups
Each of our four working groups is led by a member of the steering group and has its own vision and outcomes which align with Climate Ready Aberdeenshire’s vision and objectives. These groups will be in place for 6 months, during which time they will collaborate with our partner organisations and community groups, contribute to the Climate Ready Aberdeenshire strategy and complete short-term mitigation, adaptation and biodiversity actions.
- Adaptation and Resilience
Aim: To ensure Aberdeenshire has a shared understanding of the risks of climate change and how to adapt and build resilience to these. - Mitigation and Net Zero
Aim: To ensure Aberdeenshire has a shared understanding of climate change mitigation, local and national Net Zero targets, their role in helping to achieve these targets and how to do this. - Protecting and Enhancing Biodiversity
Aim: To ensure Aberdeenshire has a shared understanding of the importance of biodiversity, their role in protecting, promoting and enhancing our local biodiversity and how to achieve this. - Sustainable Economy and Communities
Aim: To ensure Aberdeenshire has a shared understanding of the economic benefits and opportunities associated with climate change action and how these can be used to build a just, climate-friendly, low carbon economy and communities.
If you would like to be involved in any of our working groups, please contact sustainability@aberdeenshire.gov.uk
Partnership working
We are already working closely with partner organisations across Scotland and Europe to strengthen partnerships between sectors, local authorities and regions which all face the challenges of climate change.
Aberdeenshire is a member region of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (CPMR) North Sea Commission. Officer and elected member representation on each of the 4 Thematic Groups provides opportunities for knowledge sharing on best practice and solutions to share sustainability and climate change mitigation and adaptation challenges across the North Sea region.
We have shared knowledge and best practice with public sector organisations throughout Scotland through our partnership with Adaptation Scotland. Some of our steering group members are also members of various Adaptation Scotland groups, including the Adaptation Scotland Benchmarking working group and Climate Adaptation Finance working group.
Most recently we have joined the TalX Advisory Board and their project to identify best practice on climate change adaptation, key dimensions for effective adaptation to create a Capability Maturity Model (CMM), and to establish a learning network across all regions to accelerate adaptation progress.
Duration and milestones
| November 2019 – September 2020 | Phase 1: Establishment of Climate Ready Aberdeenshire and engagement with stakeholders and partner organisations |
| October 2020 – November 2022 | Phase 2: Develop the Climate Ready Aberdeenshire strategy |
| November 2021 | United Nations Climate Change conference (COP26) in Glasgow |
| 2022 – 2030 | Phase 3: Implement the Climate Ready Aberdeenshire action plan |
| 2031 – 2040 | Phase 4: Long term delivery of Climate Ready Aberdeenshire |
| 2045 | Net zero target Scotland |
Climate Ready Aberdeenshire 