Draft 20/3/12

Low Carbon Implementation Plan

2012/13

Document Classification: Public

SE’s Definition of Low Carbon Economy

Low carbon covers support for the development, provision and adoption of products, services and infrastructure that reduce carbon[1] emissions.

Low carbon products and services include renewable energy, environmental and clean technologies and support for resource efficiency (energy, water, transport, raw materials or waste).

The activity may directly reduce carbon emissions or can reduce carbon intensity (per £ of GVA or turnover) relative to its predecessor or competitors.

Draft 20/3/12

CONTENTS

Summary 3

Low Carbon Case Studies 4

1 POLICY BACKGROUND 5

1.1 Introduction 5

1.2 Objectives 5

1.3 Policy Background 5

1.4 Business Drivers 6

1.5 Business Opportunities 7

1.6 Scottish Enterprise – Leading by example 7

1.7 Scottish Enterprise – Policy Framework 8

1.8 Scottish Enterprise’s operational response 8

2 OUR LOW CARBON JOURNEY 9

2.1 Supporting Globally Competitive Companies 9

2.2 Building Globally Competitive Sectors 10

2.3 Establishing Globally Competitive Business Environment 12

2.4 Embedding a low carbon approach in our organisational processes 13

2.5 SE Operational and Commercial Portfolio 14

2.6 Partnership Working 17

2.7 Measuring our Impact 18

3 ACTION PLAN 19

3.1 Supporting Globally Competitive Companies 19

3.2 Building Globally Competitive Sectors 21

3.3 Establishing Globally Competitive Business Environment 24

3.4 Embedding a low carbon approach in our organisational processes 25

3.5 SE Operational and Commercial Portfolio 26

Summary

This is our second Low Carbon Implementation Plan, demonstrating our commitment to delivering the refreshed Government Economic Strategy (GES) and summarising how we are complying with the Public Sector Duty on climate change. Echoing the GES, the ‘transition to a low carbon economy’ and ‘renewables’ are two of the SE Board’s five strategic priorities, and this Plan demonstrates how we are integrating the ‘low carbon’ agenda across all of our internal operations and external delivery.

We believe that the low carbon transition will fundamentally re-shape the Scottish economy. It presents far-reaching opportunities and implications for the products and services Scotland offers in global markets and the ways in which companies operate.

We have ambitions to be a recognised leader, both within Scotland and beyond, supporting the Government’s agenda of sustainable economic growth. For our internal operations, our vision is to be recognised as an environmentally responsible organisation. We will achieve this by reducing our carbon emissions and by working with others to share good practice.

We will address four low carbon objectives that will benefit the Scottish economy and reduce carbon emissions:

·  Maximise new economic opportunities from a low carbon economy;

·  Support productivity improvements with a focus on resource efficiency;

·  Influence our stakeholders to help develop a low carbon Scottish economy;

·  Reduce our own carbon emissions.

By helping to accelerate the move to a low carbon economy, we are supporting Scottish companies to become more profitable by reducing costs and exploiting new ‘low carbon’ market opportunities.

The Plan summarises our progress during 2011/12 and our planned actions for 2012/13. It provides a comprehensive overview of the actions we are taking to help deliver sustainable, low carbon economic development. Key actions include:

  1. We will promote and maximise new economic opportunities from a low carbon economy in our support to growing companies, sectors and the wider business environment.
  2. We will help companies realise the business benefits of sustainable business practices and resource efficiency through the strategic discussions we have with growth companies.
  3. We have embedded a low carbon approach into our Business Plan and will undertake carbon assessments of all projects and programmes to maximise opportunities and minimise emissions.
  4. We will reduce our CO2 emissions by 42% by 2020 from a 2009/10 baseline, and work with partners to promote good practice.

We will promote our Plan externally and use our performance measurement framework to enable us to review and update it on an annual basis.
Low Carbon Case Studies

These case studies help to illustrate the wide range of support available to companies that can have economic and low carbon benefits. Many of these companies have discovered business benefits from resource efficiency/ productivity improvements as well as from increasing turnover from new low carbon markets.

SE and SDI provided marketing and international trade development support to Powerwall to licence its off-site structural steel frame system for construction. Its light weight reduces emissions during manufacture and it is more thermally efficient than traditional construction methods (innovation/ green product).

SE assisted Scottish Fine Soaps to attain the ISO14001 environmental standard and they achieved Carbon Trust accreditation. These have been instrumental in winning new contracts. In addition, they achieved savings of 25% for electricity and 20% for gas (productivity/ new markets).

SE helped a biotech company, Zebec Biogas, to diversify into building an anaerobic digester to convert food waste into electricity, heat and fertiliser. The plant was grant aided by Zero Waste Scotland (diversification/ new markets/ renewables).

SE provided training and organisational development expert support to BPI Recycled Products. They have achieved ISO 14001 and increased the tonnage of plastic recyling as a result (recycling).

SE supported John Dewar and Sons with an international Learning Journey, and SMAS provided advice on lean manufacturing to achieve efficiencies at the bottling lines, reduce waste and investigate more efficient logistics (resource efficiency/ productivity).

SE awarded a SMART grant to Kraft Architecture to pay for the testing of its new insulation products from natural fibres. This has enabled the company to expand (innovation/ green product).

SE has supported Mainetti to collect then recycle or remanufacture garment hangers. This ‘closed-loop’ business model provides carbon and commercial benefits particularly through close partnership with their customers (innovation/ recycling/ sustainable business models).

1 POLICY BACKGROUND

1.1 Introduction

Scottish Enterprise (SE) is committed to supporting Scotland’s transition to a low carbon[2] economy and we will lead by example. Our Low Carbon Implementation Plan (LCIP) summarises the actions we will take to help deliver the refreshed Government Economic Strategy and demonstrates our response to the Public Bodies Duty. It highlights all of our ‘low carbon’ activities, covering both internal operations and external delivery, and forms the basis for improved performance as opportunities unfold.

We have established a new Low Carbon Review Group to support the development and delivery of our annual Implementation Plan.

1.2 Objectives

Our low carbon objectives are designed to benefit the Scottish economy and reduce carbon emissions:

  1. Promote and maximise new economic opportunities from a low carbon economy;
  2. Increase the profitability of companies by supporting productivity improvements with a focus on resource efficiency;
  3. Influence our stakeholders to help develop a low carbon economy; and
  4. Set a good example by reducing our own carbon emissions.

These objectives will help Scotland to be a low carbon location of choice for inward investment and growth of indigenous companies. More effective collaboration between the public sector, business, academia and other stakeholders will help achieve the Government’s ambitious carbon reduction targets and strengthen Scotland’ low carbon ‘brand’ and reputation on an international stage.

1.3 Policy Background

Scotland’s ambitious climate change legislation (the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009) is driving Scottish Government policy and action, encouraging the public sector to embed sustainable and low carbon development within service delivery.

The Government Economic Strategy (2011) has “increased sustainable economic growth” as its central purpose, and the “transition to a low carbon economy” as a new strategic priority. The GES now effectively integrates the previous Low Carbon Economic Strategy (LCES), with its focus on resource efficiency and innovation by Scottish companies and industries, as an integral element of public sector delivery.

The second key driver of our Implementation Plan is the Public Bodies Duty, introduced as part of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act. A public body must, in exercising its functions, act:

·  in the way “best calculated” to contribute to the delivery of the Scottish Government’s carbon reducing targets (42% by 2020);

·  in the way best calculated to help deliver any climate change adaptation[3] programme laid before the Scottish Parliament; and

·  in the way that it considers is “most sustainable”.

This statutory duty covers our internal operations, our delivery of services to business as well as our wider influencing role.

1.4 Business Drivers

During 2011, we repeated our customer research amongst our account managed companies. The charts show the response to two questions:

These highlight the range of pressures and opportunities for business to adopt a more sustainable approach. These vary between industries and individual businesses. Clearly, external forces and efficiency savings are strong drivers, but interestingly, 41% of account-managed companies stated that moral or environmental reasons were also an important driver for this agenda.

1.5 Business Opportunities

There are two main low carbon opportunities for Scotland:

·  Scotland’s economy could gain significant productivity improvements through better management of energy, water, waste and natural resources; and

·  The continued rapid development of environmental and clean technologies across all sectors could form over 10% of the Scottish economy by 2015.

Scottish Enterprise will support companies and sectors through a range of activities such as evidence building, foresighting, business advice, innovation support, demonstration projects, supply chain development and supportive infrastructure.

1.6 Scottish Enterprise – Leading by example

Scottish Enterprise has a significant role in helping the Scottish economy respond to the opportunities and challenges of the low carbon transition. Our Implementation Plan is structured around the three key strands of our remit together with our internal operations. As such, we are demonstrating our commitment to ensuring that low carbon thinking is embedded in all of our organisational functions and delivery.

Our Vision:

We have ambitions to be a recognised leader, both within Scotland and beyond, supporting the Government’s agenda of sustainable economic growth. For our internal operations, our vision is to be recognised as an environmentally responsible organisation. We will achieve this by reducing our carbon emissions and by working with others to share good practice.

Scottish Enterprise

SE seeks to deliver a significant, lasting effect on the Scottish economy. Our role is to help identify and exploit the best opportunities for economic growth. That means opportunities to support Scottish companies to compete within the global marketplace; to help build globally competitive sectors; to attract new investment to Scotland; and to help create a world-class business environment.

We have integrated low carbon opportunities throughout our Business Plan. Two of our five strategic priorities are directly low carbon in nature, namely, ‘Renewables’ and ‘the Transition to a Low Carbon Economy’. There are also low carbon opportunities in our other three priorities: resource efficiency and new markets for ‘Growth Companies’; new products and services in ‘Innovation’ and export of low carbon products and services and inward investment to support our low carbon industries within ‘International Trade and Investment’.

In March 2010, our Board expressed the desire to take a leadership role in promoting the low carbon transition. In February 2011, the Board Chairs[4] discussed the challenges and economic opportunities for Scotland. During 2011, SE initiated discussions with the Industry Leadership Groups on the low carbon propositions for their sectors. We have also developed case studies to share good practice.

1.7 Scottish Enterprise – Policy Framework

We have prepared a Carbon Management Plan in consultation with the Carbon Trust. This covers the energy from our offices and our travel. We have a new Environmental Management and Low Carbon Policy covering our internal operations and the sustainable business opportunities arising from our interaction with the business community. The table below summarises this policy:

Internal Environmental Management Policy
Reduce our internal CO2 emissions by 42%[5] by 2020 from a 2009/10 baseline;
Ensure that all buildings constructed or substantially refurbished, directly or through a supported project, will be to a minimum of BREEAM ‘excellent’ standard (or equivalent) wherever reasonably possible;
Optimise the environmental benefits of procurement decisions by considering the whole lifecycle costs of goods, services and works. We will use our sustainable procurement policy to include environmental criteria in pre-qualification questionnaires and invitations to tender;
Aim to reduce the environmental impact of conferences and seminars by promoting our Greener and Accessible Events guide to event organisers and venue managers. / Low Carbon Policy
Promote and maximise new economic opportunities of the move to a low carbon economy by promoting this explicitly in our support to companies, sectors and the wider business environment;
Help companies to realise the business benefits of sustainable business practices and resource efficiency through the strategic discussions we have with growth companies;
Embed a low carbon approach into our business plan, and undertake a carbon assessment of all projects to maximise opportunities and minimise emissions;
Promote sustainable development in our activities with partners and the business community; and work with our stakeholders to assist Scotland’s sectors to be more resilient to the impacts of climate change.

1.8 Scottish Enterprise’s operational response

We refer to our overall operational approach as our ‘low carbon journey’ since we acknowledge that while we have already made strong progress, the low carbon transition presents many further significant opportunities and implications for Scotland’s economy. Section 2 is structured around our external economic development support as defined in our Business Plan, and our internal activities such as offices, staff travel and support services:

·  Supporting Globally Competitive Companies;

·  Building Globally Competitive Sectors;

·  Establishing Globally Competitive Business Environment;

·  Embedding a low carbon approach in our organisational processes;

·  SE Operational and Commercial Portfolio;

·  Partnership working and measuring our impact.

2 OUR LOW CARBON JOURNEY

2.1 Supporting Globally Competitive Companies

We will work with individual companies to help improve their global competitiveness by encouraging them to exploit new low carbon business opportunities. These will either help grow the business through an increase in turnover from new markets, or help reduce costs through greater energy and resource efficiency.