ScottishPower and other leading Scottish businesses have joined forces to launch a new climate action initiative to accelerate the just transition to a net zero future.
Jointly funded by the Scottish Government and Scottish Business Climate Collaboration (SBCC) members, and delivered by Zero Waste Scotland, the Climate Action hub is a free-to-use platform that is intended to help small and medium-sized businesses understand climate risk and develop decarbonisation plans to support the global ambition of net zero.
Participating businesses who have come together to create the SBCC are from a range of key strategic economic sectors – joining ScottishPower are Aggreko, Bank of Scotland, Diageo, EY, FirstGroup, Scottish Water and Wood Group.
As part of the commitments made by the collaboration, the SBCC is supporting supply chains and the wider small and medium enterprises ecosystem in Scotland through the development of the Climate Action Hub.
The Hub features a multitude of resources including 12 short e-learning modules on topics ranging from entry-level climate science to carbon emissions related to business practices. Users of the platform will also have free access to a dashboard to track carbon literacy across their organisation and the tools to calculate their own carbon baseline and develop a carbon reduction plan.
The platform comes at a critical point in time for SMEs that are suffering now more than ever with the impact of the ongoing cost of living crisis. The Climate Action Hub aims to support the ambition to significantly reduce emissions while also boosting cost savings for businesses.
Dr. Sam Gardner, ScottishPower’s Head of Climate Change and Sustainability, said:
“The transition to net zero is an economic opportunity that needs to be unlocked if our SME sector is to capture its benefits and play a full and active role.
“This fantastic new resource will help do just that, providing the tools needed for our small and medium businesses to get to grips with tackling their carbon footprint, developing their own sustainability strategies and participating in the fast growing net zero value chain springing up across our economy, allowing us all to enjoy a cleaner, greener and better future, quicker.”
Just Transition Minister Richard Lochhead said: “The business community will play a central role in driving Scotland’s journey to a net zero economy, and we are committed to working with businesses to support their efforts to reduce emissions while maximising economic opportunities.
“Proposed and developed by the members of the Scottish Business Climate Collaboration, the Climate Action Hub is designed explicitly for business users. It provides a crucial tool for businesses to learn more about net zero and the emissions associated with their own operations, including the goods and services they supply.
“Alongside support from members of the Scottish Business Climate Collaboration, I am delighted that the Scottish Government is providing £150,000 in funding for this programme over two years to equip participating organisations with the knowledge, skills and mentoring they need in this journey to net zero.
“This partnership between government and business demonstrates our collaborative approach and I look forward to building on this work as we deliver a just transition across Scotland.”
Information about the Climate Action Hub is being shared with supply chain businesses, enterprise agencies and business support organisations across Scotland to unify the resources available to businesses and help create a clear path to net zero.
The Climate Action Hub is now live at https://sbcc.group/ .