Decarbonising Scotland

Decarbonising Scotland

It might sound a bit like an exercise in getting rid of unwanted pests and parasites but this was the topic of an interesting two day workshop programme organised by Strathclyde University on 18th. – 19th. November 2009. 

Transition Edinburgh South modest grass-roots community led project to tackle domestic energy efficiency in two streets in our local community was invited to present the project, an interesting contrast to the extensive innovative project to make Glasgow more sustainable presented just before us.

This serie of workshops explored the ambitious commitment made by the Scottish Government to reduce carbon emissions by 80% by 2050.

The government will lead by example as is indicated in their commitment to contribute to the reduction in CO 2 emissions caused by energy use in their buildings by 12.6% from 1999/2000 levels by March 2011 to a 30% reduction by March 2020.

The workshop programme, entitled “Governing Decarbonisation in Scotland, Implementing Transitions Policies in Scotland" addressed the shaping of policies on climate change such as:

• Uncertainty in policy and financial risk in climate change policies
•  Multi-level governance including the influences of the Scottish Government, Scottish Local Authorities, Communities and the EU
• Decarbonisation projects at community levels
• The Scottish Government response to climate change

The conference acknowledged the complementary role of grass-roots communities and their efforts to contribute to government led-policies and initiatives.

You might be interested to find out about the Scottish government current thinking and strategies for the reduction of domestic energy, including their thoughts about the best way to engage the Scottish people such as social marketing. Visit the Scottish Government website at

Scottish Energy Study Volume 4: Issues, Opportunities and Barriers http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/09/24094712/5

At TES, we think the Scottish Government will need all the help it can get to achieve its ambitious plans. We are interested in working closely with our local community to identify and make use of its strengths and resources, adopting what might be described as a bottom up approach to the challenges we are currently facing.

The workshop programme, including the Transition Edinburgh South presentation for the ‘Switched on to Switching of project’ will be made available at the Institute for Advanced Studies website at

http://www.instituteforadvancedstudies.org.uk/Programmes/GoverningDecarbonisation.aspx

Comments welcomed

Michele