Current status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 12 January 2026
To ask the Scottish Government what engagement it has had with SEPA over its adoption of Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5, in which a global temperature rise of 4.3 degrees centigrade is anticipated, as set out in the document, Climate change allowances for flood risk assessment in land use planning Version 6, and what its position is on whether the principal environmental regulator has chosen to use an overly precautionary emissions scenario, when COP30 projections had a maximum temperature increase of 2.8 degrees centigrade.
SEPA has a statutory duty to reduce overall flood risk and will provide advice accordingly to planning authorities in its role as a statutory consultee on development proposals. SEPA’s guidance has been taken forward with an approach consistent with advice from the Climate Change Committee.
NPF4 policy aims to strengthen flood resilience and reduce the vulnerability of existing and future development to flooding. The planning system requires decision makers to weigh up all relevant policies, for example, flood risk, quality homes, brownfield development and town centre living, in applying balanced planning judgement.