Today marks the start of Scotland’s Climate Week, an annual event from Net Zero Scotland to raise awareness of the global climate emergency and encourage climate action across the country. In this blog, Emma Thomas our Sustainability and Climate Change Manager, shares some examples of how we’re taking action to help Scotland reach net zero emissions by 2045.
Making changes to how and where we work
We’re continuing to invest in digital technologies which not only make our processes more efficient for customers but bring numerous environmental benefits including paper and energy reductions. Work in this area is ongoing and so far, we are seeing average savings of 66% in paper usage compared to pre pandemic levels.
The move to hybrid working and efficiency projects has seen us reduce our electricity use by 35% and the combination of hybrid working with the move from gas to electric air conditioning in our Edinburgh office, has also led to a 25% reduction in gas emissions since 2019-20.
Working with our partner organisations
This year RoS appointed a new hard service contractor, Mitie, and we will be working closely with them to help deliver our net zero goals under the Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy. We are currently working with Mitie on several projects including the LED lighting installations which will save energy, reduce costs, and create a more comfortable environment for our colleagues.
We recently partnered with Mitie to carry out a conservation day alongside Historic Environment Scotland in Holyrood Park, Edinburgh. Colleagues took part, by helping to clear litter in the park, making it a cleaner, safer environment for both people and local wildlife.
We also make sure that all procurement tender exercises over a certain amount include a sustainability element, where prospective suppliers or contractors are required to outline their sustainability commitments and how they aim to support us to achieve our low carbon goals.
Reusing
Where at all possible, we follow a circular economy approach; not only to benefit local charities and social enterprises, but also to reduce the carbon emissions associated with waste disposal. We have continued to work with Kinross Wooden Products to reuse and repurpose furniture items which are no longer required under our hybrid working model. In total, we’ve processed 9.6 tonnes of furniture with a saving of 27 tonnes of CO2.
Kinross in turn, also donated white boards we had given them to Dunbog Primary School. John Ross, Operations Director at Kinross Wooden Products told us “We have supported Dunbog Primary School with a number of projects and they asked us if we had whiteboards as they didn’t have any funds to buy them. Great result and very happy teachers and pupils.’
Engaging with and inspiring RoS colleagues
We work closely with RoS colleagues to make sure that sustainability is a crucial part of our everyday decision making and to ensure that we’re continually inspiring our people to live and work more sustainably.
Our Environmental Management group, advises and recommends actions to ensure that climate change mitigation is embedded in all areas of the business. The group includes colleagues from across RoS who meet regularly to recommend initiatives and changes we can make to help colleagues adopt more sustainable lifestyles and ways of working. We publish educational blogs with topics including climate conversations, energy and water savings, and helping biodiversity and wildlife. We recently published a biodiversity guide and supported national campaigns for Bike Week and Pollinator Week.
As part of Scotland’s Climate Week, we’ve teamed up with Home Energy Scotland and Zero Waste Scotland to run workshops on energy saving and waste reduction.
Look out for further updates on how we’re celebrating Scotland’s Climate Week on our social media channels.
If you’d like more information on how we’re helping Scotland reach its net zero target, you can read our Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy.