Actions from around Scotland

YouthLink Scotland support the youth work sector to feel more confident and equipped in engaging young people with outdoor learning, climate action, sustainable development education and much more. We have done this through the creation of toolkits and webinars on topics including Eco Anxiety, Climate Justice, Green Employability and Creative Outdoor Learning. We have also more recently developed a Sustainability Policy for our organisation inspired by the Growing Climate Confidence resources. Naomi Dixon, YouthLink Scotland

To encourage staff to participate in active travel we have hired two electric bikes from local social enterprise, Bike for Good via their Switch Up subscription service. Staff can book the bikes via our booking system to travel to client meetings. This is a pilot project we're running for a couple of months in the hope it will motivate staff to look at more active ways to travel for business and personally. Jo Seagrave, CEIS

At Scouts Scotland we are taking actions to make our Outdoor Activity Centres greener, and also bring young people along on that journey with us. We’ve recently installed food composters on all of our sites, so that the organic material leftover when groups eat with us can be turned into zero-mileage compost. Lisa, Scouts Scotland

We are tackling climate change by developing our own community owned renewable energy assets that will allow us to re-invest in the local area in a number of sustainable projects. We currently offer environmentally friendly transport through shared mobility including electric vehicles and ebikes as well as this we are improving energy efficiency of households with insulation, draught proofing and other measures. Scott Wilson, Radio City Association

We formed an internal ‘Greening Group’ which has established a programme of actions that will help us towards our own net zero ambitions. Our Board and staff team are stakeholders in ensuring that the Trust operates to the highest standards of environmental sustainability. We have fun in challenging ourselves to achieve, which includes supporting Days of Action e.g. Earth Hour, Spring Clean, Climate Action Day and No Mow May. It is important for us all that we push the boundaries. Derek A. Robertson, Green Action Trust

We conducted a baseline carbon audit of our operations - so we know what we can do to reduce our carbon footprint! Getting different areas of the organisation involved (finance, policy, IT) means that more people are engaged in our climate action work. Catriona Patterson, Inspiring Scotland

At Green Hive we are committed to inspiring more young people to take action and to engage in our activities. Our Youth Climate Advocates programme aims to empower young people aged 11-17 to take action on sustainable consumption in their local communities across the Highlands. This 2-hour taster session will give the attendees a Keep Scotland Beautiful certificate. Neil Mapes, Green Hive

We are developing regional community climate action networks. ‘Investing in Regional Networks’ is our ambitious programme to support regional level networking -providing some paid support time to help with developing and nurturing new relationships and new collaborations between more community groups, building on the work of existing networks across each region as well as with building good links with the wider third sector and with the public sector. Jean-Matthieu, SCCAN

Over the past year ACRE, a national charity speaking up for and supporting rural communities and Utility Aid, the UK’s largest energy broker for the not-for-profit sector, have been working together to help England’s village halls respond to the energy crisis. Utility Aid have developed remote discovery service designed for halls, community centres and small dwellings. Using your mobile phone, you will be connected to a qualified Energy Assessor who will tour your building with you virtually via video link, assessing all areas of the building's energy usage. Emily Berry , Utility Aid

We create spaces for organisations and places to come together to understand, anticipate, and flourish in the face of environmental pressures and societal impacts. This includes running a Scottish Government funded Adaptation Scotland Programme through which we support organisations, businesses and communities to adapt to the impacts of climate changes. Iryna Zamuruieva, Sniffer

We hosted a stakeholder event with people from across Scotland. We organised a car-pool as there was a train strike on the day. The response was overwhelmingly positive. Delegates particularly enjoyed the chance to chat informally in the car. Artemis Pana, Scottish Rural Action

We decided in 2022 that all catering at both our key events The Gathering and The Scottish Charity Awards will be exclusively vegetarian for all our visitors and guests. We had great feedback for taking this initiative to help tackle the climate crisis. Alex Thomson, SCVO