Climate change - public engagement strategy: mid-point review
The climate change public engagement strategy committed to a review at the mid-point of delivery. The review provides a summary of activities delivered since the publication of the strategy, reflects on the approach being taken and recommends improvements to achieve objectives in future delivery.
7. Conclusion
This mid-point review has provided an opportunity to consider progress; take stock of achievements, lessons, and challenges; and reflect on the overall approach being taken to deliver the strategic objectives in the Public Engagement Strategy.
To address the first research question set out at section 1, this report has provided an overview of the key activities delivered over the period since the publication of the PES in September 2021, up to December 2024 (where data has been available).
To address research question 2, this report has brought together available evidence on the outcomes achieved across the different areas of work and proposed how these have helped progress towards the three strategic objectives of the PES. While there are clear limitations in the extent to which this impact can be measured at a national level (as detailed at section 3.1), it is possible to draw some conclusions as to the effectiveness of the approach taken to delivering the PES. The findings largely confirm that the approach taken by Scottish Government to deliver the PES is consistent with the wider evidence base, while also providing suggestions on ways to improve and develop.
To deliver the understand objective, this review has highlighted that the approach taken by Scottish Government to date combines mass communications with more in-depth work via trusted messengers with smaller, target audiences. The wider evidence base, including recommendations from the People’s Panel and the public engagement evidence review by Millar et al (2025), confirm this to be an effective and popular approach. However, this review of delivery and these wider sources of evidence also suggest some areas which could be further developed in the remainder of this PES delivery period and beyond to strengthen impact on this objective, including:
1. Communicate more on the practical actions and local opportunities people can take to tackle climate change
2. Significantly increase the message reach and frequency of Scottish Government communications on climate change. Paid-for media will be critical to achieving this goal
3. Establish consistent support, training and funding for trusted messenger organisations to enable them to continue to provide meaningful leadership, based on latest evidence, on climate change among their audiences.
The approach taken to delivering the participate objective has largely been Scottish Government-led, primarily involving work with external organisations to bring the views of target audiences, interest groups, and under-represented voices to inform the development of specific climate policies. Evidence suggests the process of delivering the programme of participatory activities since PES publication has been effective, in line with wider evidence on good practice.
A clear challenge to this approach is evidencing impact on policy outcomes. The evidence base for this review emphasises the importance of meaningful engagement from policy makers with subsequent explanation on how the outputs from participatory activities will be acted upon. Oher aspects which the available evidence suggests could be further developed include steps to:
4. Clearly communicate the purpose of engagement at the outset of participative processes
5. Commit to reporting on the outcomes of participation back to participants and the wider public as a requirement for conducting any participative process
6. Ensure sectoral climate policy has considered and planned for the role of public engagement in policy development at a sufficiently early stage to enable it to inform key decisions to support policy efficacy and acceptance.
7. Support a localised approach to delivering the Participate objective alongside the national programme of activity, building on the achievements of the Community Climate Action Hubs
8. Consider using participatory and deliberative methods to help deliver the Understand and Act objectives of the PES, given the evidence of the impact of these methods on participants
9. Develop a consistent and strategic approach to including children and young people in climate change policy-making.
On act, the focus of this review has been the investment Scottish Government has made in community-led climate action. This has principally been achieved through the development of a national network of Climate Action Hubs, as well as the 21-23 Climate Action Towns programme. Findings from the review of this delivery, and supported by the wider evidence base, confirm place-based, community-led climate action to be an effective and popular approach. Moving forward, this review has highlighted ways in which this work could be strengthened, including to:
10. Provide longer-term funding for Climate Action Hubs which would ensure greater security and stability, and therefore enable meaningful work to be embedded and expanded upon to achieve greater change
11. Maximise the sharing of learning and stories of success and inspiration between the Hubs and beyond. This would help deliver what Millar et al. (2025) call measures to “build collective efficacy” and which they highlight as important for achieving the act objective of the PES.
The evidence, learning, and reflections brought together for this mid-point review will be taken into account for the remainder of the PES delivery period (to end of 2026), and will help inform the development of what will come next for Scottish Government’s strategic approach to engaging the public on climate change. It is clear from this review that improvements could be made to how activities delivered under the PES are monitored and evaluated. More consistency in data gathering and reporting, aligned to the PES Theory of Change, would help strengthen the conclusions that can be drawn. There is opportunity to take action on this for the remainder of the PES delivery period, and to reflect on it in the end of PES review.
12. The review recommends that a new method is developed for monitoring, evaluating and reporting the activities delivered under the PES.
Overall, as Millar et al. (2025) conclude, Scotland is already leading the way, not only in having a Public Engagement Strategy on Climate Change in place, but also in seeking to review and evaluate its progress. Millar et al. (2025) suggest that the PES should continue to provide a clear and positive vision for the future and include multiple approaches, including coordinating large-scale engagement and supporting smaller local engagement.
As outlined at section 3, it is not possible to attribute changes in public attitudes on climate change at a national level to specific actions within the PES. However, these measures and trends should be taken as an indication of progress being made towards the strategic objectives of the PES, as well as a source of evidence to inform how PES aims and activities are designed and delivered. This data makes clear that concerted efforts, consistent support, and greater investment will continue to be needed at all levels to inform, inspire, and galvanise people across Scotland to better understand, participate in, and take action on climate change. Achieving these objectives is imperative if we are to achieve our collective ambition of becoming a Net Zero Nation by 2045 and to successfully adapt to the unavoidable impacts of climate change.