SCTS supported Scotland’s Climate Week 2024 (23-29 September). The theme of the week was ‘Stories for Change’, with the aim to highlight the positive impact of actions being taken to help tackle climate change and enable everyone to learn about the benefits of actions being taken by others.
Earlier this year, SCTS published its Sustainability Strategy, which sets out its vision for incorporating sustainable practices into all its activities and focuses on four main goals:
- achieving our net zero target
- being a resource efficient organisation
- working, sharing and learning together
- preparing for the future and adapting to climate change
Examples of action taken at SCTS include putting in place an electric vehicle fleet and chargers, installing solar panels at many of its court locations and employing new technology to help manage the energy demand in its buildings.
Work is well underway to enhance energy efficiencies at the High Court in Edinburgh. Working with facilities management contractor OCS and with funding from Scottish Government, LED lighting has been installed, which uses 70% less electricity than that used previously, 112 solar panels have been installed on the roof of the court building and new meters and CO2 monitoring are helping to manage energy use and reduce wastage. Vacuum glazing has also been installed as part of an upgrade of the windows. Using a vacuum instead of gas between the glass panes, it provides excellent insulation properties, helping to preserve the heritage look of the windows, while reducing heat loss by 80%.
During the past year, SCTS sustainability leads have also been consulting with all employees on positive changes which can be made at a local level, as individuals and teams, to help meet the emissions targets.
SCTS has very recently achieved Carbon Reduce certification, which is an internationally recognised carbon reduction programme aligned to international standards relating to the measuring and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions.
To achieve this, SCTS submitted data on areas such as energy usage, water, waste, recycling and paper usage. Paper usage had featured in employees’ feedback as an area where improvements could be made.
Tim Barraclough, Executive Director, Tribunals and Office of the Public Guardian, and SCTS Executive Team sustainability champion said:
“Each year, Climate Week lets us look at our progress in reducing our carbon emissions as an organisation and help Scotland to reach its target of net zero. It also inspires us to do more in the future.
“We know that everyone across our organisation can make a contribution to making a difference. It’s fantastic how many SCTS colleagues have risen to the challenge, thought hard about the issues and come up with ideas to help improve our efforts.
“There’s still plenty more we can do, and I look forward to building on the great progress we have already made.”
You can find recently added information on cycle parking near our courts on the court locations pages of this website.