Introduction

Strategy Introduction

Overview

In 2020 Police Scotland closed out its Carbon Management Plan. This five-year Plan was successful in achieving 25% (+ 2%) savings on the carbon baseline of the organisation measured in 2013. In reviewing the success of the Plan, it was clear that we had done well in focussing on reduction of emissions from technical projects, but that the organisation needed to move beyond the narrow issue of energy and carbon reduction and create a plan that addressed the wider aspects of sustainability as well as climate change impact mitigation.

Therefore, in 2021 the Environmental Strategy (ES) was enacted. This five-year Strategy addresses our three focus areas in reducing our environmental impact – our organisation, our people, and our communities. We set the baseline year for our Strategy as 2019/20 with a carbon emissions total of 49,925tCO2e. Below follows a brief description of our intended work in each of the focus areas. In creating this Strategy, the targets and impact reduction incorporate the work of the wider organisation, not simply creating new targets and projects. In doing this we recognised the ongoing and existing good work of the organisation and how this also relates to sustainability in the wider sense of the organisation.

Our Organisation
Reduction in total emissions of 35% based on our 2019/20 baseline through the following ways:
• Decarbonisation of our Fleet through complete transition to EV by 2029, based on the Fleet Strategy 2019
• Building disposal, co-location, and refurbishment, based on the Estates Strategy 2019
• Increase in our capacity to generate our own electricity through installation of PV arrays.
• Overall waste reduction and increase in proportion of waste diverted from landfill.
• Continue to focus on water efficiency by working to reduce leaks and repair infrastructure to avoid unnecessary consumption.

Our People

• Better communication of information to officers and staff through the intranet and other engagement work.
• Creation of a Green Leaders Network to champion and communicate sustainability work throughout the organisation.
• Continuing with our Small Action, Big Impact campaign to improve energy and resource awareness throughout the organisation.
• Creation of the Environmental Sustainability Board to increase the profile of our sustainability work and ensure that we have good Governance over related issues.

Our Communities

• Collaborating with our Community Planning Partners to ensure that we learn and share knowledge with these organisations and capitalise on any opportunities for shared projects.
• Working with Local Authorities to provide information related to Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies.
• Investigate all opportunities for district heat network connections that may exist within specific areas.

Additional Responsibilities

In addition to the aims of the Environmental Strategy, we continue to review our legislative responsibilities under the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009. Which requires us to undertake the following work:

Act in as sustainable a way as possible. This is covered by Clause 4 of the Act, titled “Public Bodies Duties”. These Duties also require us to:

• Submit an annual Climate Change Report to the Scottish Government every November based on our sustainability work in the previous financial year.
• Create an Adaptation Plan focussing on how we will improve our climate resilience.
• Create a Net Zero Plan, detailing our approach to achieving Net Zero emissions by the legislated national target date of 2045.
• Please see Appendix 1 for our full development timeline.