THE Prince of Wales outlined the importance of straightforward messages to get the public involved in tackling climate change at a recent conference at the Palace of Holyroodhouse.

The Sustainable Scotland Summit, organised by Prince Charles's charity, Scottish Business in the Community (SBC), heard  him call for an end to "hectoring and lecturing" and "terrifying visions of the end of the world".

He told the conference people had to be persuaded that following a sustainable lifestyle was desirable and not be coerced.

Alex Salmond and John Swinney were also among the speakers, alongside Frank Blin, executive chairman of PwC Scotland, and Sue Bruce, chief executive of Aberdeen City Council. Jane Wood, chief executive of SBC, said the 42 per cent target to reduce carbon emissions by 2020 had given Scotland "global respect", but warned there was much to be done.

Here, we examine ten key issues to come out of the event; steps that must be taken for Scotland to build a sustainable future.

DEVELOPING STRONG LEADERSHIP: There was praise for the leadership shown by the Scottish Government in setting ambitious climate-change targets – but also an understanding leadership had to come from politicians and business leaders at all levels – from organisations and heads of individual businesses.

Mr Swinney said there were fantastic opportunities for Scotland, but it would require "leadership, courage, money and vision to translate theory into practice". Event chairman John Sturrock, of Core Solutions – a mediation firm, said good leadership had to be about taking people along – empowering them, not using coercion.

RECOGNISING THE OPPORTUNITIES: Brendan Dick, the SBC chairman, said Scotland was the best-placed country in the world to take forward the climate-change agenda. Mr Swinney said offshore renewables represented the "greatest economic opportunity since the discovery of North Sea oil" – and Scotland had to capitalise.

Mr Salmond said of climate change: "This is the most important task of all and our country is well on its way to fulfilling its obligation to the rest of the world."

RECOGNISING THE CHALLENGES: Aside from getting finance in place (see next section) the major warning centred on looming public-sector budget cuts. Sue Bruce of Aberdeen City Council, warned they presented huge challenges. Everyone had to be brave enough to do things differently, she said, but also had to recognise that cuts could have huge impacts on procurement and business flow to SMEs.

Meanwhile, Mr Sturrock highlighted concerns over the lack of skilled people to feed the growing low-carbon economy.

FINANCE: At The Scotsman  Conferences event in May, Susan Rice of Lloyds Banking Group suggested £20 billion might be needed to finance the green economy.

Mr Swinney said "the key is the stream of money to make it happen" – and if the attempt to get the Fossil Fuel Levy money succeeded (and it appears it has), it would deliver £182 million for renewables and help lever substantial extra finance from the public and private sector.

However, he accepted there were big challenges: "We will not deliver all our aspirations unless we can deliver investment from the private and public sector."

GETTING THE PUBLIC INVOLVED: Prince Charles's new project, "Start". identifies a weakness in climate-change messages. The prince argued that the approach of many green activists "preaches to the converted and leaves the majority of society untouched". He went on: "What we are shown, at its worst, is a terrifying vision of the end of the world, with the option to prevent it seeming to be the loss of many  things which make western life so enjoyable."

He said the message should be that the required action was desirable  and  "many parts of a sustainable lifestyle are desirable".

Start seeks to explain to people "a green future can be a positive future. It will neither lecture nor hector but, instead, will demonstrate and explain in ways that everyone can understand, using everyday language."

GETTING BUSINESS ON BOARD: Jane Wood told delegates: "We want to reach the people who work for you and supply chains that support you. If we reach them, it will have a huge impact on Scotland reaching its climate change targets."

She acknowledged climate change was not sexy: "SMEs don't wake up thinking about climate change, they wake up thinking about how to make money, how to keep staff, how pay  suppliers."
 

SBC has a simple slogan – "Better Business for a Better Scotland". It supports big and small organisations, and challenges them to reduce their carbon footprint while becoming more profitable. SBC also manages the prince's Mayday Network in Scotland – a group of businesses committed to taking action on climate change.
 

GETTING THE BALANCE RIGHT: Frank Blin said business had to see the benefit of embracing the sustainability agenda in short-term profitability and not just as a "nice-to-do" long-term aspiration.

He told the conference: "If business can see real advantage, it will embrace the sustainability agenda" – and argued the challenge was to take sustainability "out of worthiness and into worthwhile".

MAKING THE 2020 GROUP WORK: The conference heard about the work of the 2020 Climate Group, established by Mr Salmond to help deliver the 42 per cent target. The group has members from major transport companies and big power firms. It is chaired by Ian Marchant of Scottish and Southern Energy, but also includes Nick Horler, his counterpart at ScottishPower – as well as bankers, civil servants and a range of chief executives – from Scottish Water, the Royal Mail and Sepa. Its sub-groups look at a huge range of issues surrounding emissions reduction, including finance, transportation, land use, buildings and engagement.

NURTURING IMAGINATION AND INNOVATION: A number of speakers highlighted the huge amount of innovation in the green economy going on in Scotland – and the need to use this enterprising spirit. Mr Blin spoke of "real engineering excellence in many of our universities and corporates" – and "a proven track record of developing offshore oil industry from scratch".

Why could we not harness this for wind and wave, he asked.

BUILDING COLLABORATION AND TRUST: Mr Sturrock argued that working together – within and across sectors – was the most important issue of all. He asked if we had the right skills to collaborate productively – and to move away – in politics, business and elsewhere – from an adversarial position.

Mr Salmond talked of cross-party support in the Scottish Parliament for the emissions reduction targets: "Many other countries have a divided political landscape on climate change, not the unanimity of Scotland," he said.

Article from The Scotsman 10/06/10