Edinburgh climate change: Street trees, energy projects and flood protection among 66 steps in new plan

Others include a flood study of existing defences along the coast; completing a surface water flood management project with Scottish Water in Craigleith by 2026; and increasing the resilience of Edinburgh's transport systems.

The Climate Ready Edinburgh Implementation Plan, put together by the council and partners like Scottish Water an Edinburgh World Heritage, details action they believe must be carried out over the next two years to help the Capital adapt to the impacts of climate change.

The council has outlined 66 actions which it says should be taken over the next two years to protect against climate change. Picture: Getty Images | Getty

The work includes tackling the risks of flooding and coastal erosion, planting trees, making the city resilient against weather extremes, protecting homes from flooding and overheating, safeguarding buildings and supporting new climate skills and jobs.

The council also plans campaigns on how people can protect their homes and businesses from climate change.

Council leader Jane Meagher said one important action was monitoring dampness in council-owned homes and how climate changes affected that.

Others included street tree planting in areas that are prone to flooding so they sucked up water through their roots; and a "Wilding Wee Spaces" programme with schools.

She said: "There's a range of big actions and smaller actions, but some of the smaller actions, like the schools programme, are really good at tapping into the concerns of children, and also their ideas and actions. It's that generations who are going to take the consequences of the climate emergency in a way we so far have experienced to some extent but not the extent that the next generations are going to."

Cllr Meagher continued: "With architecture spanning 1,000 years and two World Heritage Sites, more trees than any other capital city and a vast coastline, there is no question that Edinburgh's natural and built environment is unique. Our Climate Ready plan has been designed to protect and enhance the place we are lucky enough to call home.

"Recent events have been a stark reminder of how disruptive weather can be to our city and to property. As such, we need to focus our efforts on adapting and preparing for such risks.

"Where we face issues of flooding and dampness, it disproportionately affects disadvantaged households. Where buildings suffer from poor energy efficiency, this brings up the cost of bills. It is to this end that climate change goes hand in hand with poverty as the biggest challenge we face, and we cannot tackle one without the other.

"With our businesses at risk as much as our homes, there is also a clear economic case for getting our capital ‘climate ready’. This report makes it clear that this work will require significant investment, but the costs of failing to prepare are higher. That is what has driven us to pledge an additional £2.9m to address our climate and nature emergencies in the budget we set last week. It is also why we have invested £500,000 into protecting our coastline with the successful introduction of new groynes at Portobello Beach.

“Climate change is a major threat to our health and that of our ancient, coastal city and it is crucial that we work with partners to protect it."

Gordon Reid, of Scottish Water, who chaired the group developing the action plan, said Edinburgh was already seeing the impacts of a changing climate, with more frequent severe storms causing flooding, damage to buildings and disruption to travel.

“If we don’t take action then we will see greater impacts to the people, buildings, economy and the services we all rely on in the city. Many of these impacts disproportionately effect disadvantaged households and we need to ensure that we act to deliver adaptation for everyone in society as part of the just transition to a climate changed future.”