Climate Delivery Oversight Group minutes: December 2025

Attendees and apologies

• Councillor Gail Macgregor, COSLA Spokesperson on Environment and Economy, Co-Chair of Climate Delivery Oversight Group (CDOG) 
• Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Energy (Co-Chair of CDOG)

• Councillor Steven Heddle, COSLA Vice-President

Official Support:

• Phil Raines, Joint Deputy Director, Domestic Climate Change Division, Scottish Government
• James Fowlie, Director of Place Policy, COSLA
• Robert Nicol, Chief Officer Environment and Economy, COSLA
• Heather Cowan, Head of Climate Change and Just Transition for Transport, Transport Scotland
• Jessica Niven, Head of Housing Markets and Taxation Unit, Scottish Government

Presenters:

• Co-Directors of Scottish Climate Intelligence Service

Secretariat:

• Head of Strategy and Governance Unit, Domestic Climate Change Division, Scottish Government
• Policy Officer, Domestic Climate Change Division, Scottish Government

Observer:

• Official, Export and Inward Investment, Scottish Government

Apologies:

• Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government
• Cabinet Secretary for Transport
• Cabinet Secretary for Housing
• Minister for Business and Employment
• Councillor Susan Aitken, Leader of Glasgow City Council, Scottish Cities Alliance
• Councillor Maureen Chalmers, COSLA Spokesperson for Community Wellbeing

Items and actions

Chair’s welcome and introduction

The chair welcomed members to the meeting and outlined the key focus areas. The group received presentations and had discussions on:

• the Scottish Climate Intelligence Service (SCIS), who asked for views on a proposal for a national programme of activity
• engagement with Convention Of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) and local authorities on the draft Climate Change Plan

The group was also presented with a paper detailing progress on the funding and financing theme, which explored turning local climate ambitions into investable pipelines. This paper was for information only.

Minutes of previous meeting and action log

The minutes of the previous meeting had been agreed by correspondence and were published on the Scottish Government webpages.

An update on the action log was provided. Fourteen actions were currently recorded.

• five actions had been completed since the previous meeting
• three actions relating to local authority engagement on the draft Climate Change Plan would be completed following this meeting
• action 2.5 on the infrastructure levy was complete
• action 2.2 related to the Scottish Climate Intelligence Service and a presentation would be given by colleagues from ECCI and the Improvement Service at the meeting
• actions 2.1, 2.6, 3.6 and 3.7 related to the funding and financing theme, and the intention was to bring these together to provide a holistic view of this work at a future meeting

Scottish Climate Intelligence Service: a national programme of activity

There was a presentation by the two co-directors on the work of the Scottish Climate Intelligence Service, which is supported by the Scottish Government and COSLA.

Overview

It was noted that all 32 local authorities were engaging with SCIS, recognising that they had different starting points, delivery priorities and paces of progress.

The service had logged more than 700 interventions in the data system. The presentation emphasised the service’s focus on capacity building underpinned by data and intelligence. It was recognised that local authorities were increasingly involving delivery partners across the wider public sector.

National sprint proposal

SCIS outlined a proposal for a time-limited national sprint (January to May), involving the Scottish Government and Transport Scotland, to:

• co-design national-level intelligence requirements
• test how SCIS intelligence can better inform national delivery and governance
• strengthen alignment between local and national climate delivery

Initial thematic areas would include transport and heat in buildings.

Discussion focused on the importance of evidence-based interventions and identifying those actions contributing to emissions reduction. Queries were raised about the system’s capacity to explore costs and benefits. It was confirmed that the platform enabled understanding of economics and that the Scottish Government Climate Change Plan team was working with SCIS to better understand co-benefits.

The group was informed that SCIS presented at Climate Week in New York earlier in the year, where there was significant interest. The programme was the first of its kind globally, covering all geographies in Scotland. The importance of showing a correlation between climate action and community impacts was highlighted.

Discussion moved to expanding the service to allow further data collection. Identifying effective indicators that aligned with national performance measures was essential. Effective multilevel governance between local and national data was critical to success.

It was noted that examples of best practice needed to be surfaced and shared. Unlocking economic opportunities and ensuring a just transition that did not exacerbate inequalities remained a key priority.

Engagement with COSLA and local authorities on the draft Climate Change Plan

A paper was presented on how to take forward engagement with local authorities on the draft Climate Change Plan. Engagement would need to reflect Scotland’s varied geographies, needs and sector distribution.

The value of local authority input was emphasised. The group discussed two options:

Option 1: a detailed, single half-day workshop covering a range of Climate Change Plan content. This would allow broad feedback in one session but could limit attendance.

Option 2: a series of shorter, themed or geographically based sessions held online. This would increase attendance opportunities but reduce time for discussion in each area.

Local government leaders reiterated their commitment to the plan. It was noted that the draft plan was high level and greater clarity was needed on roles for local authorities and communities. The importance of just transition principles was stressed. Rural, coastal and island communities were highlighted as essential parts of the consultation.

Forthcoming budget considerations

It was welcomed that local government leaders had approved funding for SCIS for a further year. Local authorities continued to support SCIS and may consider multi-year funding if a similar commitment came from the Scottish Government. It was confirmed that other essential building blocks for climate action were also being supported, with increased multi-year funding secured for the Sustainable Scotland Network.

An update on the Scottish Government budget position was provided. The budget would take place on 13 January next year, later than usual due to the timing of the UK Government budget. Delivering the first year of the carbon budget in the Climate Change Plan was a cross-portfolio issue and its costs needed to be included in the 2026 to 2027 budget.

Any other business

The date of the next meeting was discussed. Early March was agreed, given the expected timing of the Climate Change Plan.

Next steps

Further engagement would be required on the proposed national sprint. There may be an opportunity to align SCIS outputs with finalisation and implementation of the Climate Change Plan, subject to pre-election considerations