Our Scotland, Our Future: Public Engagement Strategy for Climate and Nature - EQIA

Background

Climate Change Public Engagement Strategy

1. The Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009^[1] makes it a statutory requirement for the Scottish Government to prepare and publish a public engagement strategy setting out the steps they intend to take to inform people in Scotland about the climate change targets and encourage them to contribute to the achievement of those targets.

2. In April 2019, the First Minister declared that we are facing a global climate emergency. The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) published advice^[2] in May 2019 recommending a new emissions target for Scotland of net-zero greenhouse gases. The CCC’s report states that public engagement and support will be particularly vital for the switch to low-carbon living, and that “people should understand why and what changes are needed, to see a benefit from making low-carbon choices and to access the information and resources required to make the change happen”.

3. In response, later that year the Scottish Parliament passed the Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act, to set a net-zero target for 2045.^[3] In March 2026, the Scottish Government published its Climate Change Plan which sets out the policies and proposals we will take forward to enable our carbon budgets to be met between 2026 and 2040.

4. The updated engagement strategy – Our Scotland, Our Future – is the government’s fourth public engagement strategy on climate change and builds on the approach taken in the 2021 strategy. Our review of the previous public engagement strategy (PES) found that the fundamental approach taken in 2021 remains best practice. However, the updated strategy aims to go further and address some of the challenges experienced over the past 5 years – seeking to integrate engagement across climate and nature policy, enable flexibility to adapt to shifting context, focus on outcomes with coherent monitoring and evaluation, and improve delivery planning.

Vision and Aims of Strategy

5. The vision of the strategy is that people in Scotland recognise the implications of the twin climate and nature crises, understand Scotland’s response and know how to take action in the transition to a net zero, climate ready, nature positive Scotland.

6. To realise this vision, Scottish Government has set three strategic objectives, each comprising three key outcomes:

• Objective 1: Understanding - People understand the climate and nature crises and how Scotland is responding
• Objective 2: Motivation – People feel motivated to act on the climate and nature crises and know how to do so
• Objective 3: Voice – People have their voices heard in debate and decision-making on climate change

7. The impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss will affect everyone in Scotland, although some groups and communities are disproportionately exposed to the risks and impacts. The refreshed PES is therefore expected to affect individuals, communities and organisations across Scotland both directly and indirectly. Directly, it aims to improve access to information, engagement opportunities and participation in climate and nature decision-making. Indirectly, it supports the delivery of wider climate change, adaptation and biodiversity policies within government.

8. The strategy also sets out four guiding principles for engaging with the Scottish public. Our public engagement activity will: adopt a mixed methods approach, recognising that there is no single ‘best’ way to engage effectively on climate change and nature loss; make use of trusted messengers, acknowledging that government cannot, and should not, be the only communicator on climate and nature issues; take a place-based approach to engagement, meeting people where they are and focussing on the issues that matter most to them and their communities; and ensuring activity is people-centred, tailoring the approach to audiences’ needs and ensuring it is inclusive and reaches beyond those traditionally involved in climate and nature discourse.