Falkirk Council declared a climate emergency in 2019.

As a council, we want to work towards ensuring a cleaner, greener more sustainable future for Falkirk as the impacts of climate change become increasingly apparent in Falkirk, across Scotland and globally.

By reducing Falkirk’s emissions, we are helping to achieve the global efforts to ensure that warming stays below 1.5 degrees. This is the absolute limit on global temperature rise as identified by the IPCC if we are to avoid the more severe impacts of climate change.  

Falkirk Council supports the Scottish Government target to reach net zero emissions by 2045. In order to plan and demonstrate how we will play our part, we've made the Climate Emergency Action Plan (CEAP). This captures the actions across transport, energy, education, procurement, waste, and biodiversity that we will be enacting in 2026-27.

The CEAP will be updated once every 2 years, and progress updates will be provided every 6 months.

You can read the actions here:

The update report, Approval of New Climate Emergency Action Plan (CEAP) Actions, was presented to the Executive Committee on 22 January 2026.

• Energy in Falkirk
• Transport - We are striving towards decarbonizing the council owned fleet to find out more about this visit Transport - Green Fleet
• Flood Protection & Adapting to climate change impact – Resilience planning - Flooding
• Sustainable Transport - Active Travel Strategy 2023
• Household recycling & waste - Reduce, repair and reuse
• Sustainable Procurement -  Corporate Procurement Unit - Sustainable procurement
•  Policy and Action updates - All our policy documents & publications can be found below 
   
  Our carbon footprint, and actions that we are planning to take can be found in our annual 'Public Bodies Climate Change Reports'. 

Climate Action will involve a lot of change, this can sometimes make it quite challenging, but change can also be exciting and beneficial in various aspects such as saving money and getting healthier. 

An ideal place to start would be to identify the changes you could make that apply to you, and your lifestyle. This can be done by calculating your ‘carbon footprint’ using the Footprint Calculator. 

Be mindful of your purchases by choosing eco-friendly options, such as:

• Shopping local for in-season fruits and vegetables.
• Buying second-hand items (check out charity shops in Falkirk!).
• Supporting ethical brands.

Your actions can inspire others and create positive change.

If you're an organization owner or CEO and want to be added, contact climatechange@falkirk.gov.uk. 

Climate change in Scotland will increase flood risks, coastal damage, and harm to infrastructure, which is already affecting Falkirk.

To learn more about adaptation and how to apply it to your life or business, visit Home - Adaptation Scotland.

Policy Documents

These outline how we managed the impacts of weather in delivering services and how we expected this to change as the climate changes.