Whatever you think about what’s needed to get us to 2045 or 2050 – the net zero target for the UK – the one thing that’s certain is that collaboration will be key, with industry, government, academia and the public all working together to tackle climate change.

Business has a hugely important role to play in this, so I was really pleased to get the chance to discuss these issues in the latest podcast of the Scotsman’s Sustainable Scotland series ­­– ‘Empowering the Transition’.

Delivered in partnership with The Scottish Business Climate Collaboration (SBCC) – of which ScottishPower is a founding member – the podcast, hosted by Rosemary Gallagher, also features Thomas Billam from Zero Waste Scotland; and Andrew Hastings from building services contractor, Emtec Group.

A lot of our discussion focuses on the critical role of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Scotland's net zero future and how large businesses, like ScottishPower, can help them.

As a major energy company that generates100% green electricity, supplies energy to around 4.5 million retail customers, and powers millions of homes and businesses via our electricity network, we’ve been working over the last 20 years to embed decarbonisation into our overall business model.

We’ve come a long way and continue to make progress against our own science-based emissions reduction targets and are working to deliver on the commitments made in our Action 2030 sustainable development strategy.

However, we also have a really broad and deep supply chain and so, we’re actively working to support them on their carbon reduction journeys too.

This includes encouraging them to use the SBCC Climate Action Hub ­­­– a fantastic online resource tailor-made for business that highlights what the climate crisis is all about, how businesses can measure their impact and how to take action to reduce their emissions.

The easy-to-use Hub includes 12 e-learning modules on topics ranging from entry-level climate science to carbon emissions related to business practices. Users also get free access to a dashboard to track carbon literacy across their business as well as tools to calculate their own carbon baseline and help them develop a carbon reduction plan.  

It’s a practical and valuable resource that will help make a huge difference for businesses in the short, medium and longer terms, and feedback from those who have used it – like Andrew at Emtec –­­­ ­has been really positive.

It's a great example of how leading corporate businesses like us can share knowledge from our own sustainability journey with our supply chain and support them on their net zero journey.

The only way we will have any chance of reaching net zero is to collaborate widely, share information and seek to understand and solve issues by working together, and it was great to hear that Thomas, Andrew and I are all on the same page when it comes to that.

Listen to our full conversation in the Scotsman Sustainable Scotland podcast: ‘Empowering the Transition: Supporting SMEs to reach net zero’.