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Delivering action will be Scotland’s big climate test in the next parliament, writes Emily Sutton, a climate and sustainability lawyer and board member of Stop Climate Chaos Scotland
As the debate around climate change becomes more contested across the UK, there is a growing risk that what should be a practical, evidence-based policy agenda becomes abstract, polarised or detached from delivery. Scotland has an opportunity to do something different: to demonstrate calm, credible leadership focused not on rhetoric, but on results. The question is no longer whether to act, but how to deliver.
Scotland’s climate targets are among the most stretching in the world, underpinned by a legal commitment to reach net zero by 2045. The real challenge now is delivery: how existing commitments are translated into action across government, public bodies and the wider economy. This is not a question of new pledges. It is a test of competence, efficiency, resilience and long-term planning.
Whoever forms the next Scottish Government will inherit a framework of statutory targets and policy commitments. The task before them is to ensure that every major decision is aligned with those legal obligations, and that delivery mechanisms are robust, coordinated and grounded in evidence.
Recent debate around the proposed Rosebank oil and gas development illustrates the kind of decision that tests climate credibility. As set out in a recent joint letter from a wide coalition of Scottish and UK civil society organisations, the issue at hand is whether decisions taken today align with the realities of energy security, economic resilience and our climate obligations.
The evidence shows that new North Sea drilling will not shield households from volatile fossil fuel prices, nor materially improve energy security in a global market. Projects such as Rosebank carry significant lifetime emissions, and so are not compatible with Scotland’s climate commitments and the Paris Agreement. At its heart, this is not a party-political issue.
Any assessment of Rosebank should take account of lifecycle emissions, as reinforced by the Finch ruling. Decisions made within the UK’s energy framework should be aligned with Scotland’s statutory targets. The Scottish Government’s actions here will show whether Scotland’s climate leadership is reflected in real-world delivery. If Scotland is to lead, it must show that its decisions, large and small, add up.
This shift from ambition to delivery is also reflected in the findings of the Just Transition Commission’s recent report, No Time to Lose. The publication sets out that while direction has been set, delivery must now accelerate, and that a just transition is central to making that delivery credible and durable.
A just transition is not an optional add-on to climate policy, but rather the means through which delivery becomes both effective and enduring. Research from the London School of Economics (LSE) underlines this, showing that transitions which integrate social outcomes, good jobs and regional investment are more likely to succeed, attract investment and maintain public support over time.
This is, in part, a question of finance. The LSE highlights that capital is already flowing into low-carbon sectors, but without clear frameworks and signals, it does not automatically deliver fair outcomes. Aligning financial systems with just transition goals, through clear policy direction, investment and certainty, is essential to ensure that the benefits of the transition are shared and that no communities are left behind.
It is also a question of trust. Where people can see tangible benefits – jobs, skills, lower energy costs, healthier environments – delivery accelerates. Where they can’t, progress slows. In that sense, a just transition is not a constraint on delivery, it is a condition of it.
The Commission’s findings echo this. Stronger coordination, clearer accountability and a more systematic approach to implementation are essential, not only to meet emissions targets but to ensure that the transition is credible and sustained.
Scotland is already building the infrastructure for delivery. The Climate Intelligence Service, for example, is working with all 32 local authorities to turn national targets into locally grounded action, providing data, tools and hands-on support to plan, monitor and deliver emissions reductions at the scale and pace required.
There is also a wider opportunity for Scotland to lead, in how it navigates the real-world trade-offs of transition. Scotland’s environmental future is, in John Muir’s words, “hitched to everything else”. Climate and nature are deeply interconnected, and so too are the communities, landscapes and economies that sit alongside them. This creates tensions, particularly around renewable energy, where the imperative to decarbonise can come into conflict with place-based concerns about landscapes, biodiversity and local identity.
These are not reasons to slow down, but they are reasons to do things well. Experience shows that unresolved tensions, whether between climate and nature goals, or between national ambition and local impact, can erode trust and delay delivery.
Where decisions are transparent, participatory and grounded in clear principles, including net benefit, fair distribution of impacts and genuine community involvement, those tensions can be navigated constructively.
Scotland is well placed to lead here, by demonstrating how to reconcile these objectives in practice – not by avoiding difficult choices, but by making them well.
So, what does climate delivery mean in Scotland in 2026?
It means embedding climate and nature considerations into everyday public sector decision-making, so that infrastructure, procurement and investment decisions are consistently aligned with net zero and biodiversity goals.
It means enabling the mobilisation of private capital at scale, supported by clear and consistent policy frameworks. This includes engaging with the financial sector and businesses to align investment with credible transition plans, manage climate-related risks and support investment in low-carbon infrastructure, nature restoration and innovation.
It means building capability across institutions, including climate leadership at all levels. Senior officials, managers, delivery teams and new graduates all need the skills and confidence to translate high-level commitments into practical action.
It means improving coordination between the Scottish Government and public bodies, across portfolios, and at the interfaces with UK policy and regulation. Climate delivery does not sit neatly within administrative boundaries, and our systems must reflect that.
And it means taking a joined-up approach to climate and nature, recognising that the strength of Scotland’s response will depend on how well these agendas are integrated.
In a more polarised UK context, Scotland can show a different path – one grounded in evidence, focused on implementation and anchored in legal commitments. This is not about political positioning, but rather system performance. Because Scotland’s climate targets are legal commitments.
The test now is delivery. ⏹
