Low Carbon Scotland: behaviours framework

What can our partners do to support Low Carbon Behaviours?

A key aim of this document is to clearly lay out the role we envisage our many partners and stakeholders being able to take in leading the way to a low carbon Scotland, in particular with regard to influencing behaviours. Our current partners include other public sector agencies and government-funded bodies, local authorities, charities, environmental – and other – NGOs, as well as voluntary and community groups, and we are open to working with new organisations to keep driving this key agenda.

We are confident that the way forward in terms of influencing low carbon living choices lies in addressing the broader contexts of individual, social and material in a coherent and integrated way when developing any new proposals or initiatives.

The Draft Second Report on Proposals and Policies gives details of the – largely material – measures that will be introduced and further rolled out in coming years. We propose that the primary role of our partners is to work with us and with each other to help create the appropriate individual and social conditions – and potentially additional material input where appropriate – to support the adoption and uptake of these new measures across Scottish society.

Much work is already being done in this area, for example by the Energy Saving Trust and Zero Waste Scotland, whose programmes and initiatives tackle a wide range of individual, household and business behaviours. In the lead-up to 2020, we will be keen to see an expansion of this type of activity, with government and partners regularly using the ISM model to develop policies and proposals.

We would encourage communities to consider themselves as partners too: both geographic communities, and communities of interest hold a tremendous amount of potential to positively influence social norms and encourage low carbon living. The Climate Challenge Fund is one means through which the Scottish Government is continuing to support communities to foster low carbon change.

The ISM User Workshops we will deliver in 2013-14 will offer support to a wide range of our partners and stakeholders in putting the ISM tool into practice.