Environmental management and low carbon policy

Introduction

The scope of this policy covers our work to stimulate and influence the transition to a Scottish low carbon economy as well as our own internal environmental management.  It covers the broad spectrum of sustainable development issues, including climate change. 

Implementing the spirit of this policy will help us to deliver the Government’s Low Carbon Economic Strategy and help us to comply with the Public Bodies Duty.  These lie within the framework of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act, 2009 that commits Scotland to a 42% carbon reduction by 2020, and 80% by 2050.

Our Low Carbon Implementation Plan demonstrates our commitment across all of our activities.  It includes an action plan that details our progress and actions for the year ahead.  In addition, our Carbon Management Plan provides further detail on our activities to reduce the environmental impact of our staff travel; and waste, water and energy from our operational offices and commercial property portfolio. 

PDF documentLow Carbon Implementation Plan (PDF, 284kB)

Ambition

Our ambition is to be a recognised leader, both within Scotland and beyond, supporting the Government’s agenda of sustainable economic growth.

For our internal operations, our vision is to be recognised as an environmentally responsible organisation. We will achieve this by reducing our carbon emissions and by working with others to share good practice.

Policy objectives

Our objective is to support the Government in its ambition to create a sustainable and low carbon economy.  We will help growing businesses and sectors to increase productivity through resource efficiency, and to exploit the market opportunities from sustainability and a low carbon economy.  We will lead by example.

Policy

We will embed sustainable development into all of our activities, including:

  • Promote and maximise new economic opportunities of the move to a low carbon economy by promoting this explicitly in our support to companies, sectors and the wider business environment;
  • Help companies to realise the business benefits of sustainable business practices and resource efficiency through the strategic discussions we have with growth companies;
  • Embed a low carbon approach into our business plan, and undertake a carbon assessment of all projects to maximise opportunities and minimise emissions;
  • Reduce our internal CO2 emissions by 42%  by 2020 from a 2009/10 baseline; and
  • Promote sustainable development in our activities with partners and the business community; and work with our stakeholders to assist Scotland’s key sectors to be more resilient to the impacts of climate change.

To support these policy objectives, we will:

  • Ensure that all buildings constructed or substantially refurbished, directly or through a supported project, will be to a minimum of BREEAM ‘excellent’ standard (or equivalent) wherever reasonably possible;
  • Optimise the environmental benefits of procurement decisions by considering the whole lifecycle costs of goods, services and works.  We will use our sustainable procurement guidance to include environmental criteria in pre-qualification questionnaires and invitations to tender; and
  • Aim to reduce the environmental impact of conferences and seminars by promoting our Greener Events guide to event organisers and venue managers.
    Word document Greener and accessible events guide (Word 62kB)

Implementation and monitoring

We will update our Low Carbon Implementation Plan annually, and report progress to our Executive Leadership Team. Our Carbon Management Team will approve and monitor progress against our Carbon Management Plan. 
Our staff have an important role to deliver the actions in our Plan, and where appropriate, we will incorporate these actions into their performance objectives.

July 2011