Scotland's climate is already changing and will continue to change for many years to come. The Scottish Government helps to fund world leading climate projection research, showing how the climate will change in the future under different levels of greenhouse gas emissions. The latest projections were launched on June 18, 2009.
The Scottish Government recognises that the most important way to address climate change is to seek global agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This will limit the amount of global warming we face in the future. The Scottish Government has set out world leading targets for reducing emissions in the Climate Change (Scotland) Bill.
But however much emissions reduce, Scotland's climate will continue to change. This is because past emissions will continue to have an impact for many decades to come. It is important to plan for a Scotland which is warmer and wetter in winter; hotter and drier in summer. There will be negative impacts to overcome and possible new opportunities that may occur. The Scottish Government is currently developing a Climate Change Adaptation Framework which aims to build resilience and capacity to change.