Scottish tourism faces a dilemma - it is dependent on carbon-intensive activities such as travel, heating and lighting, transporting and importing foods and so on, which damage the environment through carbon emissions which are leading to climate change. However, the industry is also to a large degree dependent on the perception (and reality) of Scotland’s pristine environment.

Climate Change Scotland is an industry-led, voluntary initiative that allows all constituents of the Scottish tourism sector (and beyond) to make the link between their activity and its impact on carbon emissions. It will give tourism businesses meaningful differentiation to help you attract today’s discriminating and ethically conscious consumer. It helps you satisfy your Corporate and Social Responsibilities, improves your reputation, and may even save you money through cutting energy bills.

So what’s different about Climate Change Scotland?
The unique thing about this initiative is that the investment you make through Climate Change Scotland will be in Scottish carbon offsetting/balancing projects - you can go and see them - and they will have a tourism aspect. A detailed online calculator will allow the assessment of the carbon footprint generated from, say, operating a hotel, event or visitor attraction. A cost of £10/tonne will be the requested donation to achieve a verified and quantifiable carbon balancing gain, through investment in projects located in Scotland. Climate Change Scotland is a not-for-profit company, and administration costs are capped at 20% by Year 3 and thereafter. Many of the big name carbon offsetting providers have administration costs of 40 – 50%.

Projects
Climate Change Scotland is working with a number of project proposers and aims to fast-track projects, all of which will have a spread of sustainable carbon balancing and other environmental, biodiversity, wildlife and tourism benefits. We are reviewing projects from established and respected proposers such as John Muir Trust, Scottish Wildlife Trust and The Woodland Trust, among others.

Technicals
A detailed online calculator will allow the measurement of the carbon footprint generated by your business/you personally and will apply a market cost of £10/tonne. This will be the requested donation from your organization/you in order to achieve a verified and quantifiable carbon balancing gain, which is delivered through sustainable environmental projects located in Scotland and enabled by our funding.

Climate Change Scotland will invest in Verified Emissions Reductions (VERs), which receive impartial, expert verification of the carbon credit generated by each specific project. Credits will be accounted for on a registry and ‘retired’ so that they cannot be double-counted or claimed by anyone else.Our partners TICOS/Dick Sisman Associates, who are contracted to operate the initiative, have spent many years working in the carbon offsetting/balancing sector, and are ensuring compliance with rigorous tests for Additionality, Permanence, Leakage and Double-counting. This important verification and due diligence accounts for the lion’s share of our administration costs.

Reducing your emissions - Your Commitment
We all need to play our part to make the tourism sector more sustainable, so all organisations who subscribe to Climate Change Scotland must demonstrate their commitment to a strategic management process that takes active steps to reduce direct and indirect carbon emissions (we will signpost where you can go for advice in doing this), then invest with Climate Change Scotland for offsetting/balancing those emissions which are unavoidable. If you are a member of Green Tourism Business Scheme, you will have immediately satisfied our criteria.

This initiative will go live in Spring 2008
For more information please contact us