The Cunningly Good Group was appointed in November 2024 to provide ClimateXChange, Scotland’s centre of expertise on climate change, with event management support to deliver the Climate Horizon 2040 Conference. This was held on 4^th February 2025 at the John McIntyre Conference Centre in Edinburgh.

With the next Scottish Government Climate Change Plan due to cover the period to 2040, Scotland is at a critical point for climate action to reach net zero and build climate resilience. The Climate Horizon 2040 Conference aimed to generate ideas and insights on emerging research and developments that could inform realistic and achievable climate policy in the 2030s and 2040s.

The Cunningly Good Group worked with the ClimateXChange organising committee to design the full day conference, select the conference sessions from 37 proposals that had been submitted, create the invitation list of experts in climate change, design the required marketing materials, liaise with the venue and speakers, facilitate the event in the run up and ensure the whole day went smoothly and achieved its objectives.

The event brought together over 120 delegates from universities, national and local government, businesses, and delivery organisations, and the third sector to explore Scotland’s climate research priorities and priority actions.

Using all the information gleaned from the event, including from the speaker presentations, discussions, and Q&As, the Cunningly Good Group created a report which included the issues discussed at the conference and an overview of the significant things concerning climate change coming up on the Horizon. This report was submitted to the Scottish Government for consideration for the next Climate Change Plan.