March 2010
Halcrow’s regional director for Glasgow, Donald Bell, spoke at a conference in Edinburgh this month which aimed to help public and private sector bodies get to grips with the notion of ‘carbon accounting’.
In light of Scotland’s recent commitment to cut carbon emissions by 42 per cent by 2020, organisations are under increasing pressure to ensure that their carbon footprint is measured and managed. MacKay Hannah’s conference examined various carbon accounting models, and looked at methods of dramatically reducing carbon emissions. The keynote speaker was Stewart Stevenson, minister for transport, infrastructure and climate change.
Donald discussed the innovative steps taken by staff in the Glasgow office to reduce their business and commuting carbon footprint, as well as a Halcrow project to develop a leading edge carbon management system for Transport Scotland. He said: “Climate change is becoming increasingly important for us all. Scottish businesses and organisations need to understand their carbon footprint, and more importantly the steps they can take to manage and reduce it.
“Organisations need to look at the carbon impact of their business travel and commuting, and consider energy and water usage in their offices and facilities. But they also have to look at their supply chain as a whole, and think about how they can make sure they’re using low carbon goods and services.”
Other speakers included Dr Graham Sinden of The Carbon Trust; Alex Hill, Met Office chief adviser to the government in Scotland and Northern Ireland; and Liz Farrell, sustainability manager at MacTaggart & Mickel.