Perth and Kinross Council has been recognised by international charity, CDP, for its action on climate change.

The CDP - formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project - gave Perth and Kinross Council a B ranking for our awareness of the potential local impact of climate change and our plans to address them. This is an improvement from the C grading achieved last year and up from the D ranking in 2019.

The average ranking in the Europe region is C and the average global ranking is D.

The Council received Thematic Scores of A for Adaptation and A- for Mitigation.

It identified two areas for further improvement: carrying out a climate change risk and vulnerability assessment, which is already underway, and setting an area-wide renewable energy target.

CDP is a not-for-profit organisation that runs the global disclosure system for companies, cities, states and regions to manage their environmental impacts.

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Actions being taken by Perth and Kinross Council to tackle the climate emergency includes building the new Riverside Primary School, which will replace Balhousie and North Muirton Primary Schools, and will be one of the first primaries in Scotland built to Passivhaus standards.

Energy-saving measures are integral to all Passivhaus buildings, meaning they are better for the environment.

Riverside will use around 50% less energy than an ordinary school of similar size.

Councillor Richard Watters, convener of Perth and Kinross Council's Climate Change and Sustainability Committee visited the new school to see how construction is progressing and said: "It is fantastic to see Riverside taking shape.

"The climate crisis means it is vital we start doing things differently. Building Riverside to Passivhaus standards means our children and young people will not only benefit from a state-of-the-art building, our environment will too."

Councillor Watters added: "The CDP grade shows the great progress that is being made in Perth and Kinross regarding awareness of the climate and ecological emergency and what we intend to do to address it.

"But while it is heartening to see the great strides that have been made over the past three years, we know it is only the start of a longer journey towards net zero and building climate resilience.

"As a Council we are committed to reducing our carbon footprint and helping other organisations and residents do the same.

"The average global ranking is just a D which shows that there is still a lot of work to be done. It is important that we not only play our part but show leadership to encourage others to do the same."