SCTS has been awarded the prestigious Carbon Trust Triple Standard for successfully cutting carbon emissions, water use and waste.
This is a recognition of years of hard work and investment made to reduce energy consumption and our carbon footprint. Very few public or private sector organisations hold the Triple Standard.
The Triple Standard builds on a decade of achievement by SCTS stretching back to 2008 when the service first received the Carbon Standard. SCTS became the first Scottish public sector body to achieve the Water Standard in 2014 and has now gained the Waste Standard for the first time to make up the Triple award.
John Newton, Associate Director, Carbon Trust Certification said, “We are delighted to award the Carbon Trust Triple Standard to the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service. The award is testament to SCTS’s achievement in cutting carbon emissions, water use and waste and marks the service out as a leader in sustainability in Scotland.”
SCTS’s success, achieved with the support of facilities management contractor Servest, has been based on a variety of initiatives:
- Boiler upgrades and heating controls improvements;
- Introduction of solar photo voltaic PV panels;
- Window replacement and secondary glazing;
- Waste management surveys and the introduction of more recycling bins;
- Energy and water efficient appliances;
- Water recycling.
Since 2011 SCTS’s carbon footprint has fallen by 1670 tonnes of carbon equivalent – the same as the emissions from powering 1620 homes for a whole year or driving an average car to the Moon and back 77 times.
Water use within the service has been cut by 8.1% in 3 years and waste recycling and management improved.
Welcoming the award Chief Executive Eric McQueen said, “It is a tremendous achievement for SCTS to gain this recognition from the Carbon Trust and one that all staff can feel very proud to be part of. It reflects our hard work, as an organisation and as individuals, and confirms us as a trailblazer in sustainability in Scotland.”
Director Property & Services David Currie said, “This demonstrates the success of a One Team approach starting from the Board securing additional funding to reduce our backlog maintenance which has allowed investment in new more efficient plant and equipment right through to my team in Property Services Unit working in close partnership with Servest our Facilities Management provider and operational colleagues in courts, tribunals and OPG to reduce our energy consumption across the estate.”
The Carbon Trust, which runs the programme, has recertified SCTS with the Carbon and Water Standards – both with higher scores than the previous awards in 2015. The Triple Standard will be up for recertification in March 2019, and efforts now are being concentrated on continuing to reduce carbon emissions and work sustainably.
SCTS will be taking part in a number of other initiatives to promote sustainability practices in the coming months. These will include taking part in this year’s Earth Hour event on 24 March and the Scottish Workplace Journey Challenge which also takes place during March.
More information on the Carbon Trust Triple Standard is available via this link.