Fifty senior leaders from Scotland’s seven cities have undergone carbon literacy training in the last three months, thanks to a partnership between the Scottish Cities Alliance and the Improvement Service (IS).
Supported by Keep Scotland Beautiful, this partnership has used materials from the Carbon Literacy Project, adapted for a Scottish audience, to deliver a day of certified training and workshops to city leaders from a wide variety of service areas.
The in-depth training covers the science of climate change, the relevant policies and approaches to tackling this complex agenda and focuses on key roles such as communicating and influencing others. Participants have described the training as relevant and thought-provoking, and that this has given them more confidence and insight as to how they can embed climate change in their work, whatever their role.
Judi Kilgallon, Project Manager for Climate Change at the IS explains:
“Climate change is the biggest challenge facing councils and this initiative aims to develop understanding and capability among city leaders. We are always looking to collaborate and work in partnership to provide the best possible offer and we plan to build on our relationship with the Scottish Cities Alliance and Keep Scotland Beautiful moving forward. Over the next few months, we will explore how to develop our existing work to deliver specific sessions on the most relevant issues for officers and elected members.”
Sinclair Laing, Chair of the Scottish Cities Alliance and Peer to Peer Network said:
“Our now well-established Scottish Cities Alliance Net Zero Peer to Peer Network has been facilitating the exchange of knowledge and building capacity with both council leaders and Elected Members across Scotland’s seven cities over the past year. This training, alongside other events, helps to support Scotland’s cities in their ambitions to become net-zero and in doing so, play their key role in delivering a net-zero nation. In addition to training leaders, this partnership has and will continue to train elected members from Scotland’s cities, helping to provide the knowledge base and leadership thinking required to deliver on all our climate, energy and just transition ambitions.”