Climate Action in Scotland

On 16 January 2023, CTA in Scotland launched our new Climate Action programme, because we know that the Community Transport sector is passionate about sustainable travel, committed to community-led climate action and delivering for people and planet. That’s why it’s a major priority for us too.

The aim of this new programme is to provide advice, information, investment, resources and support to CTA members across Scotland to:

• Decarbonise your fleets, services and operations
• Develop and deliver new sustainability projects
• Empower your community to take climate action

Here’s what we’ve got planned – and how you can benefit:

Forums

We’ve created new forums for CTA members on issues around climate action. We’ll nurture these new communities of interest and practice to be spaces for sharing ideas, discussing best practice, engaging with experts and learning from each other.

They’ll be run and supported by CTA, but led by the needs of participants. They’ll also offer a chance to hear about and shape CTA’s evidence, policy and influencing work.

Check out our new forums on Electric Vehicles, Active Travel and Car Clubs, which are meeting every quarter.

Evidence, Policy & Influencing

We need to influence Scottish Government, local government and other funders to see our sector as part of the solution to net zero. We know the potential of Community Transport to accelerate modal shift, reduce car use and reduce carbon emissions.

But we also know the challenges of finding the right funding, the right model and the right supplier for Electric Vehicles. The £90m ‘net zero funding gap’ facing the sector, which we identified in our More Than a Minibus report, needs to be filled.

We’re pleased that the Scottish Government have listedn to our calls for more EV funding for Community Transport:

• Plugged-In Communities Grant Fund: up to £75k to purchase or lease zero-emission cars, minibuses, LGVs, mopeds or motorcycles
• ScotZEB2: a total of £58m for consortia, which must include smaller and non-profit operators, to purchase new zero-emission technologies and vehicles

We’re also continuing to celebrate the great work on sustainability being done by local charities, community groups and social enterprises, from Electric Vehicles to placemaking.

Training

Climate action is everyone’s job, so we’ll all have to develop new knowledge and learn new skills to make informed choices, reduce our own carbon footprint and help Scotland achieve net zero.

We all need to be carbon literate as we adapt to Electric Vehicles, find new sustainable suppliers or redesign transport services. We’ll signpost CTA members to learning and training opportunities and develop our own to help you upskill.

Why not join us in taking advantage of FREE Climate Emergency training for charities by Keep Scotland Beautiful in partnership with the Carbon Literacy Project and SCVO? We’ve blogged here about how useful we found the training.

We’re hosting a series of training workshops on Climate Action and Active Travel with Sustrans over the course of 2023. Sign up here.

Research

We’ll be conducting new research this year to develop a new report which tells our sustainability story and is packed full of case studies of climate action from across Scotland’s Community Transport sector.

Have you transitioned to an electric car or minibus? Do you run a community car club or encourage local people to lift share? Are you delivering an active travel or e-bike project? We’d love to hear from you!

Email us at scotland@ctauk.org to share your case study with us – and you could feature in our report!

To help us build our evidence base and gather some data, please take our survey – it takes most respondents just 4 minutes.

Briefings & Guides

We know that many of you have lots of questions about climate action, from operating Electric Vehicles in a rural community to the jargon of Just Transition to how to comply with new regulations.

We’ve produced new briefings and guides with practical information and analysis to help you navigate your journey to net zero:

• Low Emission Zones in Scotland

We’re also continuing to provide advice and support on these issues through the CTA Advice Service.

Events

In addition to our new forums, our schedule of online Members Meetings throughout the year and our in-person Scotland Conference 2023 in Glasgow on Tuesday 12 September will feature topics and speakers related to climate action.

We want to create opportunities for you to network with green funders, hear from climate experts and access support from your peers.

Stay up-to-date

Make sure you don’t miss any updates about our Climate Action programme by signing up here for our weekly Scotland Spotlight email.