The Scottish Climate Intelligence Service has taken significant steps this quarter in our mission to build local authority capacity and capability for area-wide emissions reduction. Highlights include:
- Dundee City Council become second local authority to publish ClimateView dashboard as part of the SCIS programme! You can see it here.
- Over 1500 total interventions added to ClimateView dashboards across all 32 local authorities.
- Analysis and presentation of first-of-its-kind nationally collated intervention dataset.
- 5 workshops, drop-ins and user group sessions for 82 officers from 31 Scottish local authorities.
- Internal Just Transition training.
Programme updates
1. Carbon calculators
In February, we presented and shared two custom-made carbon calculators created to support local authorities with key climate interventions: installing cycle lanes and retrofitting domestic households.
These calculators have been designed to require minimal input data, making it suitable for early stages of project development when greater detail is harder to pin down. They provide an early, high-level indication of the likely carbon benefits of a climate intervention, giving officers additional data to bolster the case for climate delivery.
2. Nationally collated interventions insight report
Following local authorities’ extensive engagement with ClimateView over Q3 2025/26, SCIS has collated more than 1500 council interventions. Using these interventions, SCIS is developing its first ‘Nationally-Collated Intervention Insights: Report’ which explores 5 key themes. These include:
- The Scale and State of Scottish Local Authority Climate Action
- Scottish Councils’ Key Pathways, Gaps and Opportunities to Net Zero
- Local Authority Barriers to Net Zero in Scotland
- Scottish Councils’ Reported Carbon Reductions Potentials
- Wider Synergies of Scottish Local Authority Climate Action
Since the development of these insights, SCIS has engaged with key national stakeholders such as Scottish Government, CoSLA, SSN and the Climate Delivery Framework Political Oversight Group to share insights and inform future decision-making for climate action in Scotland.
3. National sprint workshops
In this vein, February and March saw workshops 1 & 2 of our National Sprint series with Scottish Government and Transport Scotland. Through three targeted workshops with key policymakers, we are co-designing an improved approach to multi-level delivery of climate action by identifying national intelligence needs across key themes and sectors, sharing practitioner expertise, and showcasing insights from the SCIS programme and local authority dashboards. We have been thrilled with the enthusiasm, openness and commitment showed by participants so far and look forward to workshop three.
Wider engagement
As ever, SCIS continues to be a ready and willing collaborator with those supporting local government to reduce area-wide emissions across Scotland. In Q4 this included:
- Presenting at the Climate Delivery Framework Senior Officers Group & Oversight Group
- Presenting at the SSN Local Authority Forum
- Presentation for SWestrans with Dumfries & Galloway Council
- Presentation for Dundee Net Zero Leadership Group
- Partner workshop for Climate Ready Aberdeenshire
- Publication of SCIS Insight briefing on the Co-Benefits of Heat Pumps
What’s coming up?
Over the coming months, SCIS will be delivering online training, three in-person events for our local authority users, in-person sector-specific analysis and workshops with councils across the country, and check-ins with all 32 authorities regarding their individualised support plans. Key milestones include:
Ongoing
- Heat in Buildings and Transport data analysis and cross service-area workshops with local authorities.
April - May
- SCIS Family Gatherings (in-person in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen)
- SCIS National Sprint: Workshop 3
May - June
- Support Plan check-ins with all local authorities
- SCIS Spotlight: To Publication…and Beyond!
August
- SCIS Spotlight: Indicators (online)
If you would like to find out more about the SCIS programme, you can visit our website here, sign up to our quarterly newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn. You can also contact the team at info@climateintelligenceservice.scot.