ClimateChange@Hutton - Policy and Society

Scottish and UK Government policy covers several areas relevant to climate change. The James Hutton Institute is in a strong position to inform policy development, by providing strong scientific evidence relating to specific mitigation and adaptation strategies. The Institute is also heavily involved in the development of narratives and scenarios of climate change that allow us to explore how people think about climate change, how they will react to it and what influences their decision making and choices in relation to future climate.

The Institute has strong links to regulatory bodies, policy units and stakeholder groups whose activities and decision-making is informed by an understanding of how Scotland’s society and landscape will be influenced by climate change. A significant part of our role involves ‘speaking truth to power’ about the impacts of land management, renewable energy infrastructure development and environmental policy decisions. As an organisation that carried out research in biophysical, agricultural, ecological and social sciences, we are able to provide a uniquely interdisciplinary and balanced viewpoint on the role of policy development and societal change on climate change.

The Institute also works with local communities to support personal and community decision making on how to adapt our way of life in the face of climate change.

Contact Vanessa Burns for further information.