Climate Week
Do you know your service’s responsibilities on climate change?
Climate change affects all of us, and tackling it is not just the responsibility of the Climate Change Team.
This Climate Week Scotland 2026, we’re having a look at our responsibilities across the council in reducing carbon emissions, preparing for the impacts of a changing climate and making sure sustainability is considered in the decisions we make.
Moray Council declared a climate emergency in 2019 and a nature emergency in 2023. As a public body, the council also has duties around cutting greenhouse gas emissions, adapting to the impacts of climate change and acting in the most sustainable way.
So, there’s one question every team should think about:
Do you know what your responsibilities are in your service?
Climate change might not be in your job title, but the work you do can still make a difference.
For some services, the link is obvious, such as the energy used in council buildings, how we manage waste, the vehicles we use, how we plan new developments or how we manage our land. Council buildings and transport are among the areas where action is already being taken to reduce emissions.
For other teams, it might mean thinking about how services will cope with more extreme weather, considering carbon when developing projects or policies, reducing unnecessary travel and waste, buying and using resources sustainably, or considering how the decisions we make affect nature and biodiversity.
The important thing is to think about climate and carbon as part of our everyday work and decision-making, rather than something to consider at the end of a project.
A new Climate Change Strategy
Our new Climate Change Strategy 2026-2036 sets out the council's direction for the next decade and how we will use our role and responsibilities to help create a fair, healthy, resilient and sustainable Moray.
We've already made progress. The strategy records a reduction of more than 40% in the council's recorded emissions since 2017/18, but there is much more to do.
The strategy focuses on the council's climate change duties, including reducing emissions, adapting to climate change and acting sustainably, and importantly, how action will be delivered across the council.
And it's not just about carbon
Tackling the nature emergency goes hand-in-hand with tackling climate change.
Our Biodiversity Strategy brings together the many areas of council work that affect, influence or benefit from nature. That ranges from parks, woodlands, cemeteries, school grounds, housing land and road verges to planning, flood risk management, education and outdoor learning.
Climate Change Team
The team is there to help colleagues understand what climate change means for their area of work. If you're not sure what your service's responsibilities are, you're developing a new project or policy, or you simply want some advice about reducing carbon, get in touch and have a conversation with the team.
Email climatechange@moray.gov.uk.
The team were recently highlighted in the Connect spotlight piece for the September/October edition – read more here.
Remember to complete your core Climate Change training module on CLIVE too!
Start with one question
Whether you're planning a project, reviewing how your service operates or making everyday decisions, take a moment to ask:
Do we know what our climate change and carbon responsibilities are in our service, and are we building them into what we do?
If the answer is "we're not sure", that's absolutely fine. Speak to the Climate Change Team and they can help you work it through.