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There are many practical steps you can take to reduce your environmental impact, save money and contribute to Scotland’s climate goals.
After spending time auditing your business across energy, travel and fixtures, it’s time to start making improvements and make plans for longer-term developments. These solutions can be implemented quickly with minimal investment and offer immediate or short-term results. This could be actions like switching energy supplier, joining a business network to share best practice, and creating a staff awareness programme.
Starting out on your climate action plan journey? Join our 'How to take those first steps in climate action' webinar on Thursday 4 December, 2pm.
Register for upcoming VisitScotland Business Essentials webinars.
To make the most impactful sustainability improvements you will need to work with others - this could be the staff at your business, other businesses in your area, or with a sustainability expert. Its important that everyone in your business is involved in your sustainability journey.
Staff training and participation is key to achieving your sustainability goals. Always make sure staff know what to do, and what positive impact their actions have. No matter the size of your business, upskilling yourself and your team to change how you do things is one of the most essential steps for saving energy.
Establish your current level of energy saving knowledge through informal chats, team meetings, or a simple survey. The Carbon Trust offers advice on how to create an awareness campaign | PDF 0.7MB.
Consider which job roles or departments use the most energy and tackle those areas first. Find free sustainability training, resources, and workshops from Home Energy Scotland.
This person or team will be asked to increase their knowledge on everything from recycling to saving energy and other sustainability activities. Armed with this knowledge they’ll be able to make policy suggestions. You can find some green champion training from Business Energy Scotland.
This can help to remind everyone of best energy saving practices, but it also lets you celebrate successes and keep motivation high.
The idea is that you would tax or regulate your travel choices and then set aside the money from that into a fund that can be used to discount more sustainable travel choices.
For this to work, you basically have to play the role of a kind of “finance minister” within your own business. So, you “tax” more polluting forms of your business travel and put that money into a jar or fund. This is called “carbon pricing”, essentially putting a price on the carbon you emit.
Networking allows you to connect with like-minded businesses and organisations focused on sustainability. These connections can foster collaboration, allow you all to share best practices, and open doors to new partnerships.
Participate in groups like Scottish Community Tourism (SCOTO) or other groups aimed at promoting sustainability within the tourism sector.
Conferences and workshops are excellent opportunities to learn, share insights, and collaborate on sustainability projects. Check out our events calendar to see what’s on.
If you are struggling for time, resources or knowledge then you might want to hire a sustainability expert or consultant. Most green consultancies will give you a free quote, and there are some affordable options out there.
Examples of consultancies:
Promoting your sustainability efforts in your marketing materials helps attract the growing segment of sustainable travellers and ensures you are transparent with your current status and future plans.
Promote the use of public transport, cycling, and walking for customers. Provide customers with clear information on your website and on-site on how to get to your business and around the local area by public transport. This can include signposting to the nearest rail stations, offering free transfers to and from stations, discounted bike hire, partnering with tour providers to provide walking tours, and providing facilities such as bike racks, lockers, showers, and good signage. You could also include ideas and incentives to give the car a day off.
When highlighting local attractions or activities, businesses should focus on promoting sustainable, low-impact options. Visitors are increasingly seeking eco-friendly and responsible travel experiences.
You should recommend:
Transitioning to renewable energy is critical for Scotland’s efforts to reduce emissions, as the energy sector is one of the largest contributors to carbon emissions.
Find out when your current contract ends and what green energy options your current supplier offers. Shop around and get quotes from other suppliers too.
Some larger suppliers offer “green” or 100% renewable tariffs specifically tailored for the Scottish market. Good Energy, Ecotricity, and Octopus Energy are examples of suppliers with options that supply electricity generated from wind, solar, and hydro power.
Be wary that not all forms of renewable energy are equally green, for example, solar and wind energy will be better than biomass.
Find guidance on switching suppliers with Energy Saving Trust.
From improving your waste systems to working with local suppliers, these improvements might need a bit of planning, but they are very achievable. It's just a case of building this into your climate action plan so you know what will make the biggest improvements and what's achievable for your business.
