Environmental sustainability is more than simply implementing technical or process driven systems within an organisation. It is about shifting the mindset of the whole organisation to one where sustainability runs through the heart of every decision.

In order for business to successfully transform they must create conditions for change. There must be buy in from the senior management team. This should be followed by an environmental policy or statement of intent at the very least. These should be communicated to staff, so that they too not only buy into the concept, but are actively given the tools to play their part in transforming the business of today into the low carbon, lean business of tomorrow.

We’ve been around for a while. We’ve seen examples of best practice; we’ve witnessed the things that haven’t worked, the initiatives that have exceeded all expectations and those that have fallen flat. From this, we have developed the knowledge to guide and support your business in engaging your staff. That is the power of the network.

According to First Minister Alec Salmond, the transition to a low carbon society “will require radical change in attitudes…” 

Research shows that behaviours learnt in the workplace are often carried through to he home. 95% of people in Scotland are in employment. We therefore e believe that business has a huge role to play in influencing their employees and customers. And there is no better place to Start, than through our new initiative to help people across the UK lead more sustainable lives and to show what a more energy efficient, cleaner and healthier future could look like. Start was launched in 2009 by HRH The Duke of Rothesay with a 3 day festival in central Edinburgh and the opening of our Start Living Shop.

Start provides a platform from which businesses can engage with hundreds of thousands of employees, demonstrating the positives of leading low carbon lifestyles and supporting the Scottish Governments Public Engagement Strategy.

For more information on Start in Scotland or the UK wide Start initiative please visit www.startuk.org

What we do:
SBC offers training on engaging staff in both general CSR, and environmental sustainability. We guide participants through actions they are taking, the benefits of taking action and facilitate the drawing up of actions plans to support the organisations overall commitments. We provide a global and Scottish context, working with participants to ensure that they not only own the process, but are able to demonstrate this to others in the workplace. For more information on this, please email the SBC Environmental Team

What others are doing:
Energy Saving Trust’s behaviour change initiatives