"I'm a climate model geek"

Teenage rebellion takes many forms and, in Cat Payne’s case, it was her choice of university. “I went to Oxford as an act of rebellion against my parents but I ended up joining the ‘family business’ of environmentalism,” she smiles. “I studied archaeology and anthropology, and was particularly interested in the archaeological record for paleoclimatic change – looking at how the Earth's climate and environment has changed through the archaeological record.

“After my degree, I realised that what I was really interested in climate change, so I studied for a Masters in Green Architecture with the University of East London and the Centre for Alternative Technology in north Wales. That was a brilliant counterpoint to the formal Oxford education of moral tutors and hall dinners – suddenly I was living in eco-cabins, creating straw bale buildings, and making solar water heating systems out of old radiators.

“While I was there, I also worked at the Beddington Zero Energy Development in south London, which was one of the first net zero housing developments in the UK. And then I went into consultancy, very much focused on net zero. By this time we’d been talking about cutting emissions for decades, yet emissions were continuing to rise despite climate negotiations. So, partly because I was fascinated by the science and partly in frustration that we weren't really making much progress I became more interested in climate risks and in adaptation, recognising that, even if we hit net zero tomorrow, we're going to have to adapt to some considerable changes that are coming down the climate pipeline from past emissions.”

After about 15 years in consultancy, Cat and her husband moved to Orkney, where he was working on offshore renewables. After having their first child, the family moved to Fife, and Cat became a Climate Change Officer at Fife Council. “That's how I got to know Sniffer, through using the tools and research they’d developed, and becoming familiar with them as knowledge brokers and facilitators. I was also an active member of the Adaptation Scotland benchmarking group, which is a kind of peer-to-peer learning initiative with other climate change officers from public bodies around Scotland. 

After speaking at a Sniffer event about flooding, Cat was seconded to the organisation during the pandemic, joining them formally in 2021. “I'm probably the biggest climate science nerd in Sniffer,” she says. “I’m the one that probably has the greatest familiarity with the models and the gaps in the science as well. I'm a bit of a climate model geek, and particularly interested in sea level rise and coastal change. So within Sniffer, I've been really lucky to work with Scottish Government and Dynamic Coast on coastal change adaptation, working with them, trail-blazing local authorities and SEPA to produce guidance for how local authorities and others that are managing Scotland's coasts need to be thinking about the future.

“One of the things I like most about Sniffer is that we value a diversity of knowledge and are very focused on communities within the adaptation process, recognising that we aren't going to have ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to adapting to the impacts of climate change. We really value lived experience and recognise that local people are the experts when it comes to their place and their community. We need to make sure that local people's voices are heard and are central to adaptation. Adaptation should be something that is done with communities, not ‘to’ them.”

Sniffer began life in Edinburgh in 1989 as a research management consortium – the name was an acronym for the Scottish and Northern Irish Federation for Environmental Research. Now a registered charity, its remit (‘knowledge brokers for a resilient Scotland’) has evolved significantly changed since then and a rebrand is planned in the months to come.

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If you are interested in climate risks for the Edinburgh and South East Scotland region, sign up to the Climate Ready South East Scotland mailing list at www.climatereadyses.org.uk 

Other stories from Issue Three of ForthRight:

How can we adapt to climate change?
The launch of Climate Ready South East Scotland

“This is a wake-up call”
In-depth Q&A with Alistair Rennie of Dynamic Coast

Climate change in charts
Key Met Office data

What can we learn from the Clyde?
Lessons from climate adaptability work in Glasgow

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