Securing Scotland’s soils in a changing climate

Challenge

Healthy soils are an essential natural capital asset, providing core ecosystem services and nature-based solutions related to water management (water quality and flood/drought resilience), support biodiverse habitats, climate regulation (GHG emissions and carbon storage), food production. However, unlike climate, water and biodiversity Scotland has no dedicated policy to protect, restore, or enhance this fundamental resource. As a result, the governance of soils is fragmented across different Scottish nature-based policies making the implementation of sustainable soil management strategies challenging. Therefore, Scottish Government via ClimateXChange commissioned SLR to work with The James Hutton Institute to explore opportunities to better support the design and implementation of actions towards more resilient soils in Scotland.

Solution

An initial Soil Route Map for Scotland was published by ClimateXChange in 2025 providing overarching objectives and preliminary actions for delivering improved soil security across Scotland. A supplementary report ‘Securing Scotland’s Soils in a Changing Climate’ published in June 2026 provides additional research that highlights a range of different options for Scottish Government to consider across four broad areas: Lead; Protect, Reduce, Restore and Enhance; Mobilise; and Evidence.

The project involved examining where soils are currently represented across Scottish Government’s policy and funded research portfolios as well as gathering knowledge through stakeholder engagement events to explore gaps and opportunities that can promote future development of a soil route map for improved soil protection, restoration and enhancement. In particular, the project reviewed options for improved soil management across 5 themes;

1. Soils in the built environment
2. Soil compaction and the physical degradation of Scottish soils
3. Chemical and biological soil health
4. Consideration of soils in the private sector
5. Developments in soil monitoring and metrics

Impact

The report highlights the contribution of sustainable soil management in the delivery of key policies such as Scotland’s Climate Change Plan, National Planning Framework 4, Biodiversity Strategy, and the Vision for Agriculture. Initial options to accelerate Scotland’s soil protection, restoration and enhancement are presented which also provide a platform for soil specific policy delivery and support policy developments for Scottish soils going forward, such as a formal update of the Scottish Soil Framework (2009).