The world is facing the urgent and intertwined crises of global warming, accelerated biodiversity loss and extreme inequality among people and societies. It is widely acknowledged that the climate and nature emergencies are of such a scale that they require transformative change of our societies and economies – that is, fundamental, system-wide change that spans technological, economic and social dimensions, encompassing shifts in paradigms, goals and values.

To be truly transformative, policy measures need to take a whole-of-government approach and, in a coherent manner, set the trajectory towards deep transformation of the society and economy. Around the world, governments are grappling with how to bring about such deep and structural changes and avoid exacerbating existing inequalities or creating new ones.

As part of the process of developing its new Environment Strategy, the government of Scotland has identified the need for transformative economic and societal changes, in order for Scotland to play its role in tackling the climate and nature emergencies locally and globally. To this end, the project research team developed a set of evidence-based recommendations for how the Scottish Government can most effectively promote necessary transformations. The recommendations are summarized below.

As well as describing the research process underpinning the recommendations, this report provides evidence on their associated synergies, trade-offs and co-benefits. Evidence-based recommendations also are presented for public engagement around the implementation of the framework developed as part of this project.

This research is part of a set of projects commissioned to support the development of outcome pathways for Scotland’s Environment Strategy. Other projects, led by the New Economics Foundation (NEF) and Global Footprint Network (GFN), focused on economic and global footprint outcomes, respectively (Kiberd, 2024; Lin et al., 2024). Using an integrated, systems-based approach, the SEI team assembled appropriate recommendations from all three reports, resulting in the holistic framework presented here. Indicators are proposed for tracking progress on implementing the recommendations and the holistic framework.

The recommendations for societal transformation and the holistic framework were informed by findings from the scientific report Stockholm +50: Unlocking a Better Future, developed by SEI and the Council on Energy, Environment and Water. The “Unlocking a Better Future” (UBF) framework was applied to analyse gaps in Scotland’s current policy levers and identify opportunities for societal and economic transformation by building on existing policies and initiatives.

The opportunities and recommendations outlined in this report, if implemented, could significantly close gaps in Scotland’s current policy landscape and accelerate efforts to tackle the climate and nature emergencies. With the holistic framework as a guide for developing transformative policies now and in the future, we encourage the Scottish Government to engage with the public to bring these opportunities to life.

The holistic framework.

Authors’ own. Graphic: Mia Shu/SEI

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SEI authors

Fiona Lambe

Senior Research Fellow

SEI Headquarters

Nina Weitz

Team Leader: Global Goals and Systems; Senior Research Fellow

SEI Headquarters

Annika Hilgert

Research Associate

SEI Headquarters

Eric Kemp-Benedict

SEI Affiliated Researcher

SEI US

Henrik Carlsen

Senior Research Fellow

SEI Headquarters