The weather is changing before our eyes.
Last year was the warmest year ever recorded in Scotland. At the beginning of the year, Storm Éowyn battered the country with winds of up to 100mph; the most powerful windstorm to hit the UK for more than a decade. Schools closed. Flights were cancelled. Around a million homes lost power. Rail lines were damaged, trees were brought down and one man lost his life.
Then came wildfire. North of the Cairngorms, fires burned almost 12,000 hectares of land, the largest area ever recorded in Scotland.
And for the fourth consecutive year, no patches of winter snow survived the summer in the Highlands.
Taken individually, each event could be dismissed as an unfortunate spell of extreme weather. Together, they tell a different story.
The Met Office is clear that climate extremes are becoming more common as the planet warms. What once felt exceptional is becoming increasingly familiar: hotter summers, heavier rainfall, stronger storms and more unpredictable seasons.
The question facing Scotland isn’t whether the climate is changing. It’s what life will look like as it continues to change, particularly for rural and island communities, and those in poverty, already facing greater risks, whether from storms, flooding or changing seasons.
For many people, climate change is already affecting everyday life. Sleepless nights in overheated bedrooms. Worrying about young children and elderly relatives during hot weather. Roads flooding after sudden downpours. Train journeys disrupted by extreme heat or storm damage.
For the next generation, this could be their normality.
Children growing up today may know a Scotland where summer wildfires are no longer rare and homes, schools and transport networks must adapt to a hotter, less predictable climate.
But adapting to a changing climate comes at a cost, and that cost will not be shared equally.
If you have enough money, rising temperatures may feel like a problem to be managed rather than feared. You can improve your home, install cooling systems, or move away from areas at risk of flooding or to escape the heat.
For millions of households, those choices are not available.
After years of rising living costs and high energy bills, many people are already struggling to afford the basics. They cannot simply spend thousands making their homes more resilient to extreme weather.
Climate change is both an environmental issue and a question of fairness.
And while Scotland adapts, many communities around the world are facing far more devastating consequences.
Across parts of East Africa, repeated droughts have destroyed crops and livestock. Elsewhere, increasingly severe floods have swept away homes and livelihoods.
For over a billion people, climate change isn’t about discomfort. It’s about survival.
The truth is that these communities have often done the least to cause this crisis.
And while low-income communities around the world are paying the price, with inadequate levels of support, some of the companies most responsible for the pollution driving climate change continue to make staggering profits.
Oxfam analysis finds six of the world's largest fossil fuel companies are projected to make around $94 billion in profits this year, almost $3,000 every second.
No wonder people feel something doesn't add up or, as the new Prime Minister has put it, the country is wired to work against ordinary people, not for them.
Part of fixing that must be ensuring that climate action is fair as well as fast.
Yet we continue to see the costs pushed in the wrong direction. The Prime Minister announced a welcome £2 cap on bus fares in England. But the UK Government says it will help pay for it by replacing climate grants for lower-income countries with loans that must be repaid.
We can’t ignore this injustice. Rich countries like the UK have benefited from the pollution that helped drive climate change, while many poorer countries now face some of its most damaging impacts. Asking those countries to borrow more money to address those impacts is a bit like crashing someone's car and then offering them a loan for the repairs.
People understand a simple principle: those most responsible for the climate crisis should do more to pay for the damage. That means helping families adapt here at home through practical support, it means investing in clean energy and warmer, more efficient homes and supporting climate hit communities globally, while ensuring major polluters pay their fair share.
That principle of fairness must be put into practice at both Holyrood and Westminster.
The Scottish Government should move faster on introducing a tough tax on super-polluting private jet travel, delivering the tax in 2027.
Its long-delayed Heat in Buildings Bill should be swiftly brought forward, backed by grants to help households install insulation and clean heating with free upgrades for low-income households. Scottish Ministers should also accelerate their own plans to roll out a nationwide £2 bus fare cap.
Climate action can and should mean warmer homes, lower bills and healthier lives, not impossible upfront costs.
This article originally appeared in The Sunday Post.
