In our recently published Corporate Plan – delivery year 3, we shared a brief update on some of the key sustainability successes at RoS in 2023-24, including workplace energy reduction, sustainable procurement activity and embedding net zero considerations into all decisions that we make.

We can now expand on this and share some additional information on what we have achieved at RoS during the last year and what’s coming in 2025.

Looking back at 2023-24

Over the last year we have:

• reduced our workplace resource use and associated costs
• taken strategic and practical action on sustainable procurement
• enhanced on-site biodiversity
• supported the circular economy
• maintained our status as being a ‘Cycling Friendly Employer’; and
• engaged colleagues across the organisation through our working groups and online sessions.

What are our priorities in 2024-25?

Addressing the climate emergency continues to be our top priority going forward, in 2025 we will develop our new approach to measuring and reducing carbon emissions and encouraging others to do the same.

We will build sustainability and climate change considerations into all the decisions we make, and we want to explore how RoS can use its unique position in Scottish society to help others on their journey to net zero.

Our Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy 2024 update

All of this - and more - can be found in our newly-published Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy 2024 Update.

We published our Sustainability and Climate Change strategy 2021-2026, in September 2021. Within that strategy, we set ourselves the goal of achieving net zero direct emissions by 2040 and net zero emissions by 2045.

We are now in year four of our strategy. The 2024 Update focuses on our action delivery over the past financial year and sets out our latest delivery plans, highlighting our commitment to carbon reduction and explaining how we will achieve this.