Scottish Government

Public Bodies play an important role in the delivery of public services in Scotland and have a key contribution to make in helping Scotland reduce emissions and build its resilience to a changing climate.

Building on the work previously progressed through the Leading By Example agenda, officials in the Energy and Climate Change Directorate lead work to coordinate the Scottish Government’s own compliance with the duties and also work to support public bodies in their own sustainability performance.

This section includes the following:

Information on how the Scottish Government is working with the public sector on meeting Scotland's Climate Change declaration.

Information on duties on public bodies relating to climate change as outlined by the Climate Change (Scotland) Act. These came into force on 1 January 2011.

Information on the Public Sector Climate Action Group, whose membership is drawn from Scottish public bodies.

The Scottish Climate Change Impacts Partnership (SCCIP) has published Adapting to Climate Change: Public Sector Introduction and Adaptation Workbook.

For general information see the Public Bodies section of this website.

The Scottish Government has published advisory guidance for Scottish public bodies aimed at assisting the production of Sustainability Reports alongside Annual Reports and Accounts from the 2011-12 reporting year. The guidance is intended to help public bodies identify operational inefficiencies, increase transparency, and to encourage debate and discussion leading to improved sustainability reporting. The guidance also provides support for public bodies’ action on sustainability with reference to the duties under the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009.