Scotland's Environment and Economy Leaders' Group - Tackling the climate emergency and sharing our stories

5. Sharing our stories

How we will get there

The next decade is crucial for climate and nature. It is only by acting now that we can keep open the window of opportunity to prevent runaway climate breakdown. That's why Scotland has committed to reducing its emissions by 75% by 2030. To make that happen, every organisation in Scotland must take urgent and effective action to reduce its emissions. There is no single path, but our organisations have committed to:

1. Focus on emissions reduction

We will do all we can to reduce our direct and indirect emissions as close to zero as we can, as soon as we can.

We need to move beyond the idea that climate action is something that is done in addition to other activities. To tackle the climate crisis, we will all have to make emissions reduction part of everything we do.

Key: Trees For Life* has calculated that 100 mature trees are required to offset 25 tonnes of CO2.

Putting policy into practice

Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA)

At CNPA, we have been putting policy into practice over a number of years and have achieved a 60% reduction in emissions since 2008. We have achieved this through setting up an internal Greening Group, developing new green policies for the organisation and significant investment including installation of a biomass boiler at our headquarters (HQ) and investing in new electric and hybrid vehicles.

We also developed our CNPA HQ extension project using Cross Laminated Timber. A carbon assessment has shown a reduction in emissions compared to a reinforced concrete frame, to the sum of 166 tonnes CO2 equivalent, which will offset the operational carbon emissions of the building for a period of 47 years.

At CNPA, we continue to promote a 'net zero with nature' agenda, combining action on climate change with action on nature, throughout our work in the National Park, including active travel, peatland restoration, woodland expansion and our work as a planning authority.

As well as the emissions targets we have set for the Park Authority - we have also set a commitment for the National Park to be net zero by 2045.

One of the simplest ways to reduce emissions is to reduce our energy use. Retrofitting buildings with energy efficiency measures to make them easier to light and heat will reduce emissions. Many organisations have also already installed their own renewable energy generation systems, displacing the use of energy from the grid.

Edinburgh Biomes is a major development at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh which will result in a reduction of over 11,500 tonnes CO2e over the next 25 years.

Equivalent of planting 46 thousand trees.

Zero Waste Scotland reduced total output emissions by 88 tonnes of CO2e (33%) in 2019/20 compared with the previous year. 19% of this reduction was achieved by improving heating and energy efficiency.

Making our own energy

NatureScot

NatureScot has made investment in installing Renewable Energy (systems such as hydro schemes, wind turbines and PVs) in all readily identifiable sites. However, we wish to install more at all properties to achieve direct zero emissions. We generated 269,293 kWh of renewable electricity in 2019/20 using our current systems, which saved over 74 tonnes of CO2.

At Creag Meagaidh National Nature Reserve (NNR), a new electric minibus can be charged using the NNR's own micro hydro scheme. This larger vehicle has more space and is more versatile than the smaller, electric cars. This, along with the existing electric all-terrain vehicle, means that Creag Meagaidh is progressing towards being carbon neutral in the future, with minimal reliance on fossil fuels.

Set targets to drive change

Scottish Environment Protection Agency

SEPA has set annual and long term targets for its direct and some indirect GHG emissions for more than a decade. Between 2007 and 2020, SEPA's emissions reduced by 53%, with an annual reduction of over 14% in 2019/20. This has been achieved through a wide combination of actions, including:

• rationalisation of estate, with more sharing of spaces with partners;
• measures that reduce the need to travel and increasing use of a green fleet;
• increased use of electric heating enabling emissions reductions from the greening of the electricity grid; and
• year on year reductions in energy consumption.

SEPA is currently setting new net zero targets and will announce these during 2021.

Scottish Environment Protection Agency reduced transport emissions by 23% in 2019/20 compared with the previous year, a saving of almost 200 tonnes of CO2e.

Transport makes up more than a third of Scotland's total emissions. The most direct way to reduce transport emissions is to cut out unnecessary journeys.

Zero Waste Scotland reduced miles flown by 74% in 2019/20 compared with the previous year, saving 31 tonnes of CO2e.

Electric vehicles are now commonplace on the market and this, in association with the growing charging infrastructure, is enabling a shift to a near zero emissions fleet.

Many organisations have put in place travel hierarchies to ensure any business journey is both necessary and taken using the optimum mode. Travel hierarchies can be highly effective in changing behaviour.

Ambition does not need to be limited to those emissions caused by business travel. Plans can also be put in place to drive down emissions from staff commute and from travel conducted by others working on our behalf.

Electrifying our fleet

Forestry and Land Scotland

Forestry and Land Scotland has been trialling ultra-low emission vehicles as the first steps towards potentially halving the emissions of their fleet.

We have a fleet of more than 300 vehicles, most of which are run on diesel. We have been trialling 13 Ultralow Electric vehicles and now have another 11 on order. Switching our full fleet to low emission vehicles could halve our fleet emissions, cutting as much as 500 tonnes CO2 off its footprint.

This is an ambitious goal and will depend upon access to the right charging infrastructure. Of course, the more demand there is, the quicker this will come. With our combined influence, Scotland's public bodies have a chance to accelerate this progress.

Forestry and Land Scotland plans to switch its fleet of 300 vehicles to low emission vehicles, which would cut emissions by as much as 500 tonnes of CO2e.

The Covid-19 pandemic has been hugely disruptive. Virtually overnight, organisations across Scotland had to rethink their operations, figuring out how to deliver their work remotely. Video conferencing has already reduced the need for a lot of office-to-office travel and most organisations quickly and effectively adopted new ways of working. Further investment and development in the right tools will make a big difference in the long run and help to reduce a potential bounce back in emissions.

We are working to find ways to secure long term carbon savings made possible by the increase in flexible working arrangements and understand the net impact of this change. We are also considering the impact on our people and their wellbeing.

We may see significant change in the public sector estate more widely, opening up new opportunities for the flexible sharing of space with others in local working hubs.

Working from home

NatureScot

Universal home working saw our travel emissions drop from over 20,000 kg CO2 (April 2019) to 348 kg CO2 (April 2020). If we continue with this same reduction in travel for the rest of 2020-21 it would see our travel down by 95% from 2019-20.

Many meetings that used to be held face to face, with staff traveling, are now held successfully virtually. The aspiration is for this to continue as we emerge from the pandemic. Our travel will be focused on working in the outdoors for the benefit of nature, rather than to meetings.

We have now given all of our staff the opportunity to switch to permanent home working. Over one third have opted to work from home full-time or on a regular basis. Although not suitable for all staff, we expect this to have major benefits for staff wellbeing as well as provide long term carbon savings.

By working from home, NatureScot travel emissions dropped by over 98% between April 2019 and April 2020, a saving of almost 20 tonnes of CO2e.

2. Tackle our whole environmental footprint

We will act on our indirect emissions, whether in Scotland or abroad, to ensure that we are genuinely reducing the environmental impact of our activities.

One area of potential to reduce indirect emissions is through procurement. The Scottish Government has committed to mobilising the £12.6bn of public procurement to contribute towards the strategic priority of transition to a more resource efficient, lower carbon economy. Procurement officials across the public sector currently drive and influence climate outcomes through contracts and supply chains. A whole organisation approach, considering procurement early in the planning and development stages of projects, enables decisions on whether you buy, what you buy, and how you buy.

Since April 2019, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh purchases 100% renewable electricity.

Measuring the impact of office equipment

Zero Waste Scotland

The products and equipment an organisation purchases form an important part of its climate change impacts, or carbon footprint.

Working with Sustainable Scotland Network (SSN) we have estimated the carbon impacts of 10 common pieces of office equipment, from laptops to office chairs. We have teamed up with partner organisations to pilot a measurement tool, which will help organisations measure and understand the carbon impacts associated with the purchase of these items. These organisations are now able to account for embodied carbon relating to their office equipment purchases, and consequently will have a more complete understanding of their wider carbon footprint.

The best way for organisations to reduce the impacts of these items is to extend the lifetime of existing items by upgrading and repairing them and, when purchasing items, buy second-hand, refurbished products from accredited suppliers, instead of buying new items.

Nothing impacts more on the natural world than our use of materials. That's why we need to think about material consumption and how to make more responsible use of resources as part of how we manage and reduce our emissions. Refocusing procurement to stimulate the circular economy offers huge opportunities.

In a circular economy, products and materials are kept in use for as long as possible by designing, producing and using them as efficiently as possible. By using our procurement to invest in circular solutions, we can reduce our emissions while growing the market for services like re-use, repair and remanufacturing.

Use procurement and partnership to drive change

Scottish Water

Scottish Water invests £700m each year to maintain and improve our services. With that level of spend, we have the potential to impact much more than just our operational emissions. Investment to maintain and enhance assets and infrastructure has the potential to drive significant emissions, both directly and from supply chains. This covers the emissions embodied in the concrete, steel and materials used, as well as site activities. We are working with design teams, delivery partners and supply chains to find ways to reduce the emissions impact of investment. That's why we have set a goal of reducing the carbon intensity of our investment by 75% by 2040.

Our organisations are concerned with the use of land. After 2022, with the inclusion of wetlands and peatlands in the measurement of the UK's greenhouse gas emissions, land-based emissions will account for around 30% of Scotland's total emissions.

Find opportunities to reuse land in ways to help with climate action

Scottish Land Commission

To support implementation of Scotland's Land Rights and Responsibilities Statement, which sets out the vision for a strong and dynamic relationship between Scotland's land and its people (Scottish land rights and responsibilities statement - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)), we have published a protocol to promote good stewardship of land Good Stewardship of Land - Good Practice - Our work - Scottish Land Commission. The protocol encourages land owners, including public bodies, to commit to reusing vacant land and act to prevent a new legacy of vacant and derelict sites developing, particularly as property portfolios change in response to climate action and economic shifts.

The purpose of the protocol is to promote good stewardship and high standards of management across Scotland so that decisions made about land can contribute to better and more productive economic, social, cultural and environmental outcomes including climate action.

The importance of land-based emissions will increase as emissions from other sectors decline. Ultimately, our land and marine environments will have to provide a sink for residual emissions that are not possible to eliminate.

We face a triple challenge: integrating land use for multiple benefits while simultaneously transitioning to a net zero society, adapting to a changing climate and enhancing the state of nature. Our soil alone contains over 12,000 megatonnes of CO2, showing the potential of nature-based solutions for reducing carbon.

Nature-based solutions are essential both in the transition to, and to maintain, net zero. In addition, they provide cost effective mechanisms to reduce emissions and help society respond to the climate changes already locked in, through action to prevent flooding and reduce biodiversity loss.

We have many examples of nature-based solutions that our organisations have developed in partnership with others. Some, such as Dynamic Coast, PeatlandACTION and Cairngorms Connect are at a large scale. The next big challenge is to progress examples at an even greater scale, across multiple uses of the land and sea. These ambitious and complex interventions can only be achieved through working closely together.

How much we invest in nature-based solutions could be guided by how many unavoidable emissions we have from our day-to-day operations. Some recent research suggests we would need to invest 3-10 times the level of our unavoidable emissions to counter-balance these effectively. This is because our nature-based solutions could themselves suffer losses due to our changing climate, including from pests, disease, fires, floods and drought.

When we account for greenhouse gases in our reports we should clearly show both emissions and removals. Offsetting does not cause emissions to vanish. There is an important time-lag between our emissions today and carbon being absorbed into our trees, vegetation and soils which takes many years. Emissions happening now can't be fully counter-balanced by nature-based solutions which may take a decade or more to work. Also, we need to avoid emissions now to stop the levels of greenhouse gases in the earth's atmosphere from speeding up the rate of climate change and reaching irreversible tipping points.

3. Use best evidence

We will take the most ambitious action possible by keeping our targets under review as new evidence and climate solutions are found

To limit our emissions, we need to know where they are arising in the first place. Our organisations are developing baselines and comprehensive, consistent responses to Government reporting requirements. We are also expanding our approach to monitoring indirect emissions to ensure that we are not indirectly transferring emissions to other parties.

Develop baselines and make a plan

Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority

At the National Park Authority (NPA) we have been active in establishing data collection and reporting for several years. This has helped us to develop a capacity in the organisation to identify where emissions are arising across operations.

In 2020, we produced an evidence-based feasibility report, including emission reduction and renewable energy options for the National Park Authority sites and buildings, prioritised by emission reduction potential.

This has informed our 'Mission Zero Routemap' which sets a target for net zero by 2030.

Many of our organisations are bringing in expertise, either to our boards or by setting up separate expert panels, to challenge our ambition and ensure that our plans are as stretching as possible.

Bring in expertise to support and challenge your plans

Scottish Water

Establishing an expert panel will help you challenge your thinking and build credibility within your plans.

Scottish Water has established an Expert Advisory Panel to help us deliver on our net zero ambitions. The panel is made up of people from the private and public sectors and academia, including Chris Stark, CEO of the Committee on Climate Change. They have helped shape our net zero roadmap, and will continue to review progress, including suggesting what adjustments may be needed to deliver against our targets.

4. Work collectively, share successes and build expertise

We will share our lessons and stand ready to support others.

Our own people are a huge asset in accelerating change in our organisations and beyond. Many of our organisations have created 'green teams' as a way to embed action and deliver practical change across our organisations. These teams are supported by senior leadership and are, therefore, empowered to drive real change.

Set up a project team

Scottish Forestry

Scottish Forestry was set up in 2019 as part of the devolution of forestry functions. As a young organisation, we are learning from others. Our project team will put into place action plans in three key areas: climate change, adaptation and zero emissions.

Climate change - how action around climate change is embedded within our organisation, covering policies, communications, staff competencies, and data.

Adaptation action – we are examining how our organisation will adapt to the impact of climate change – such as adapting office buildings to hotter summers; ensuring consistent water supplies during a drought; and how our organisation can support the existing infrastructure to become more resilient to flooding, erosion and storm damage.

Zero emissions - ensuring that our buildings, estates and entire operations will cease to generate greenhouse gas emissions.

Our Project Team will not only draw on the knowledge of those who work within Scottish Forestry who are experts in the field of climate change; the opportunity to be part of the Project Team will be opened up to everyone from across our organisation, so that those who care passionately about this issue can help direct the actions we take. We are working towards a target of cutting emissions by 75% by 2030 and achieving net zero emissions by 2045.

We can also use our community and stakeholder engagement programmes to share lessons outwith the public sector.

Using our expertise to encourage change

Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

We are using our education and outreach programme to demonstrate the positive action we are taking and to influence others.

Education and public engagement are a key part of our work. We are actively promoting sustainable horticulture through, for example, the use of peat-free compost and installation of a Rain Garden demonstrating climate-adaptive gardening. We have updated our education programmes to reflect the challenges of the climate emergency and biodiversity crisis, and are developing new conservation horticulture programmes as part of our green recovery plans. Through community engagement with biodiversity projects, exhibition and events programmes, and championing urban greening, the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh is extending its reach far beyond the boundaries of our four geographic locations.

The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh also delivers collaborative research projects in more than 35 countries around the world - building and communicating the scientific evidence base to understand and conserve plant biodiversity and address climate change.

5. Ensure that our climate action delivers wider benefits

We will ensure that our plans are in line with a just transition and support a green recovery to Covid-19 building on Scotland's economic workforce strengths and potential. We will assess the risks and take action to adapt to the impacts of climate change and support Scotland's national Adaptation Programme.

As leaders, we are creating a vision for the change that is required in our organisations and ensuring climate awareness is brought to all strategic and operational decisions.

Partnering with others to drive behaviour change – the Leven Partnership

Scottish Environment Protection Agency

The Leven Programme is a SEPA-led initiative that is transforming the Leven catchment into a world-leading example of environmental excellence while maximising social and economic opportunities. The vision, which centres on delivering sustainable, inclusive growth, was cemented through the signing of a Sustainable Growth Agreement. The agreement – the first of its kind - commits multiple organisations to working in partnership to achieve shared outcomes across a river catchment. In its first three years, a range of projects will be delivered including a connectivity project, funded by Sustrans, low carbon innovation and the development of a sub-regional masterplan.

Our organisations work collectively across all sectors of the economy and play our part in delivering outcomes that contribute to the quality of life for everyone in Scotland. Through this, we have unique opportunities to influence, inspire and support others in their actions on climate change. By doing so, we will play our part in helping to unlock the emissions reductions across society necessary for Scotland to meet its net zero goal.

ScotWind Leasing

Crown Estate Scotland

In 2020, Crown Estate Scotland launched the first round of offshore wind leasing in Scottish seas for a decade. This presents a historic opportunity to harness Scotland's incredible natural resources and take a major stride towards a net zero future.

Our new leasing process, ScotWind Leasing, will position Scotland as a world class investment destination for the projects we need to unlock more economic benefits for communities.

We've already seen a glimpse of what can be achieved, with five major offshore wind farms generating significant amounts of clean green electricity and over 3,000 jobs created. Total investment in ScotWind Leasing projects could potentially surpass £8 billion, contributing significantly to the green recovery. ScotWind could deliver more than enough green electricity to power every Scottish household with the potential for over 6 million tonnes of CO2 to be saved every year.

In preparing for ScotWind, we worked with industry and government to develop measures to help Scottish offshore wind developers engage constructively with supply chain companies. In doing so, we believe ScotWind will support a just transition by stimulating supply chain development and placing Scottish offshore wind projects at the heart of Scotland' emerging net zero economy.

Climate change adaptation is about responding to the changes that we have seen in our climate over the last few decades, and preparing for the challenges that we will face as our climate continues to change. Climate change adaptation and mitigation are intrinsically linked. The more global mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, the less we will have to adapt to the impacts of climate change. Since 2009, we have been legally required to contribute to the delivery of Scotland's Adaptation Programme, as well as to national emissions reduction targets.

Climate Ready Scotland: Scotland's Climate Change Adaptation Programme 2019-2024

Climate change adaptation is central to our work. We are fully supporting the second Scottish Climate Change Adaptation Programme, and leading on many of its key policies. The Programme aims to prepare Scotland for the challenges that we will face as our climate continues to change in the decades ahead. It takes an outcomes-based approach, derived from both the UN Sustainable Development Goals and Scotland's National Performance Framework. This cross-cutting approach promotes co-benefits, and integrates adaptation into wider public sector policy and service delivery.

Scotland Adapts: a capability framework for a climate ready public sector has been developed by Adaptation Scotland, funded by Scottish Government, to promote a holistic approach to adaptation. Based on local and international experience, this pioneering 'capability-maturity' approach draws on the characteristics of well-adapting organisations and identifies four capabilities that need to be developed, and recommends tasks that support progress for organisations, from those starting out on their adaptation journey to those leading the way.