The latest Scotsman Sustainable Scotland podcast, in partnership with Royal Bank of Scotland, examines the challenges and opportunities for hospitality SMEs and the help on offer. It focuses on Climate Springboard, a collaboration between Royal Bank and the Edinburgh Climate Change Institute, which works with SMEs to assist them in their sustainability ambitions.
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00:00 Hello, I'm Rosemary Gallagher and welcome to the Sustainable Scotland podcast brought
00:07 to you by the Scotsman, Scotland's national newspaper since 1817, now bringing you fresh
00:12 and relevant content for the 21st century. Sustainable Scotland looks at how Scotland
00:16 is doing in its efforts to be cleaner and greener for the next generation. This episode
00:20 is second in a series brought to you in partnership with Royal Bank of Scotland, focusing on the
00:23 Climate Springboard Programme for small and medium-sized businesses. This is run in collaboration
00:27 with the Edinburgh Climate Change Institute at the University of Edinburgh. I'm joined
00:31 by Mari MacDonald, Local Enterprise Manager at Royal Bank of Scotland. She supports SMEs
00:35 and entrepreneurs across the north of Scotland and the Highlands. We also have Kay Smith,
00:40 Energy and Contracts Manager at Lucene Pub Company, an independent family-run Scottish
00:44 hospitality business, and Jamie Gregg, founder of Our Property Bear, an energy-saving system
00:49 for hospitality businesses. Now over to my guests to hear more about themselves.
00:53 So my name is Mari MacDonald. I am Local Enterprise Manager for the Royal Bank covering the north
00:58 of Scotland. So I'm actually based in Inverness, but I do cover everything from Perth to Shetland
01:05 and west of that. My role is primarily around supporting entrepreneurs and early-stage businesses,
01:13 and it's all about helping build really sustainable foundations for growth. But I have been working
01:19 really closely lately with ACCI on their Climate Spinboard programme. It's particularly relevant
01:26 to businesses in the Highlands and Islands, and we have had a recent partnership with
01:33 the Highlands and Islands Thistle Awards, including supporting them with a climate action
01:38 category. And we've also opened up a particular focus around the Climate Spinboard for tourism,
01:45 hospitality and leisure businesses. So that's why I'm with you today.
01:49 Thanks Mari for the introduction. And perhaps Kay, would you like to go next?
01:53 Yeah, sure. My name's Kay Smith. I work at Lucene Pub Company. We are based in Lanarkshire
02:03 and we have five venues that we run. My job title is Contracts and Sustainability Manager.
02:11 So I do quite a few roles within the company and I've been here for over 16 years. And
02:21 my job roles have kind of evolved over the years. But this is definitely my favourite
02:26 so far. I'm quite passionate about sustainability and all that sort of related stuff. So it's
02:34 good that I get to talk about stuff that I like to talk about basically and just kind
02:39 of educate our staff and get them all kind of on board to work towards the end goal,
02:48 which is to be a net zero.
02:49 And Jamie, please tell us about your role.
02:51 Yeah, so yeah, my name's Jamie Greig from... well I'm actually wearing two hats. One is
02:57 with Code Hostels. I used to help them a lot with their operations and another company
03:02 testing students. And then over the last... well kind of since we've done Climate Springboard,
03:10 I'm now full time doing energy management. We use sub-meters and reports to basically
03:17 help hospitality and education businesses identify how they can save energy. So yeah,
03:25 my background's engineering and then went into property management and did a load of
03:32 renovations. And it was very frustrating how we do a lot of work, spend a lot of money
03:38 and not actually see how beneficial it was. And so that's when I kind of focused my attention
03:46 on using sub-meters to see what was working and what the impact was in black and white.
03:55 Thanks, Jamie. That sounds interesting. Another busy person. So, Mairi, going back to you,
04:02 could you perhaps just set the scene to start with and explain more about how Royal Bank
04:06 of Scotland helps businesses, especially SMEs, on their journeys to net zero?
04:11 Yeah, I mean, certainly, Rosie, I've been in this role for five years now, just about.
04:17 And I've always worked with or for small businesses. So I think having people like us on the ground
04:25 with a really in-depth knowledge of our local ecosystem is really, really important. And
04:31 I think the fact that we have so much face-to-face contact with businesses as well is really
04:37 helpful. We bank one of the SMEs in Scotland and particularly, as I mentioned, tourism,
04:44 hospitality and leisure is actually our biggest kind of customer segment in the Highlands
04:48 and Islands. So I spend all day, every day, speaking to customers. And of course, the
04:55 bank does have a number of initiatives that we can recommend to customers, including the
05:02 Global Climate Springboard. But mostly it's about speaking to customers during our kind
05:06 of enterprise or financial health checks around some really practical steps that they can
05:11 take. So it might be support that's available externally. It might be directing them to
05:17 sources of funding through Scottish Enterprise or Highlands and Islands Enterprise or some
05:24 of the support that's available through Zero Waste Scotland. But also, of course, we do
05:29 have a lot of products and services within the bank as well that we can talk to customers
05:32 about.
05:33 Thanks, Mari. And looking at one of those services, it's Climate Springboard, you're
05:38 doing collaboration with the Edinburgh Climate Change Institute. Can you sum up a bit about
05:43 that programme and what you see as the main benefits for your SME customers who want to
05:47 take part in that programme?
05:49 Yeah, I mean, I think the main benefits of the Climate Springboard, Rosie, are probably
05:55 can be broken down into four main parts. So as you know, Scotland has made a legal commitment
06:01 to reaching net zero by 2045. And this does have big implications for businesses and how
06:08 they run their operations. So Climate Springboard really focuses on four key areas. So the first
06:14 of those is around emissions. Customers are increasingly requesting things like carbon
06:20 footprints and carbon reductions from their suppliers. So Climate Springboard helps them
06:27 to comply with those a bit more quickly. The second area is around utility bills. Now,
06:34 the cost of doing business, as we know, has risen astronomically for businesses over the
06:39 last kind of 18 months or two years or so. And so again, looking at things like your
06:45 gas and electricity costs, the Springboard helps businesses look at reducing their consumption
06:51 and actually without it having too much of an impact on day to day operations. The third
06:59 area is probably around regulation. So as I mentioned, things like phasing out gas boilers
07:06 and obviously a potential women deadline for petrol and diesel cars. Again, the Climate
07:13 Springboard really summarises what's happening in terms of legislation and regulation and
07:19 how businesses can comply with that. And then lastly, I guess it's around planet and purpose.
07:25 So a lot of businesses just really want to reduce the impact that they have on the planet.
07:33 And I guess it's just the Climate Springboard is a really good way of looking at practical
07:38 steps that you can take within your business to kind of move you on that journey to net
07:44 zero. Anyone who goes through the Climate Springboard will come out of it with a carbon
07:49 reduction plan. So that just articulates those kind of four key areas that I covered off
07:55 there. But most importantly, it's about having, I guess, a better understanding of what your
08:02 carbon footprint is. And actually, you know, there are ways that you can potentially make
08:07 efficiencies in your business while you're looking at your carbon footprint and potentially
08:13 open up new revenue streams as well that hadn't maybe been considered in the past. So hopefully
08:19 that summarises it for you.
08:20 That's a great summary. Thanks, Mary. It's good to hear about the tangible benefits of
08:24 Climate Springboard. Just looking a bit more about the challenges and opportunities facing
08:28 SMEs when it comes to sustainability. Could you give us a summary of those, especially
08:33 during a time of the cost of living crisis and high inflation and energy bills? Are those
08:38 challenges becoming greater or changing?
08:40 Yeah, I think so. I mean, I think without a doubt, the biggest issue that we are seeing
08:46 and hearing from our customers is the cost of doing business. So whether it is rising
08:52 energy costs or actually even increasing, you know, labour costs associated with that.
08:58 I think having a conversation around sustainability and how you can potentially make efficiencies
09:04 within the business, but actually potentially open up, you know, as I mentioned, new revenue
09:09 streams. And I think Kay will probably allude to this in a bit more detail, but actually
09:16 being able to have really open and honest conversations with colleagues within your
09:22 teams around why you're doing it is really, really important.
09:26 Thanks, Mari. And just moving on to Kay and Jamie, obviously you're involved in small
09:33 businesses, you work with Royal Bank of Scotland. Perhaps starting with you, Kay, could you
09:37 tell me a bit more about the challenges the hospitality sector faces, especially as we
09:42 still recover from the impact of Covid, we face great economic uncertainty. So what are
09:47 the challenging opportunities for businesses in your sector?
09:49 Definitely, as Mari just covered there, the rising costs of absolutely everything like
09:55 utilities, but also for us as kind of food led venues, the cost of food is so unstable
10:02 just now. Everything costs rising, but also that kind of leads on to budgetary restraints.
10:12 So like renewables and certain energy efficiency technologies obviously require upfront capital.
10:17 There are kind of decent loans available from Business Energy Scotland that I'm aware of,
10:25 however, the thing that we were kind of hoping to do soon was the solar PV panels. And they've
10:31 put a stop on new applications for that just now, just because they're apparently inundated.
10:37 So there's no information as to when or if that's going to reopen. So we're now looking
10:42 at kind of how we can fund that ourselves. And it's something that we obviously can't
10:47 rush into putting PV panels on all our venues straight away. So that's obviously going to
10:52 take longer than we'd hoped to rule out. I think also having the time to dedicate to
11:00 sustainability. I don't think it's all that common to have a dedicated sustainability
11:04 manager in hospitality companies, especially ones our size. So you're kind of relying on
11:10 staff and senior management prioritising sustainability, to be able to research, educate other staff
11:16 and rule out changes and things like that. As I mentioned, I still wear quite a few hats
11:21 within Lucene. I deal with our insurance, the contract management, putting out tenders
11:27 and stuff like that, which are always kind of urgent and working to deadlines. So sustainability
11:33 kind of has to fit in around the rest of my responsibilities. And I think that's going
11:39 on other people's experiences and the cohort that I was in on the climate springboard course,
11:45 that's definitely very common. And it wasn't all hospitality companies that were on that,
11:51 it was quite a range. And they were all, that was one of probably the biggest challenges
11:57 they had all mentioned was finding the time and kind of making sure you fit it in and
12:03 prioritise it as well as your other responsibilities.
12:06 Obviously, Lucene has a few different venues in the group. Does that add to the challenges
12:11 of managing across all the different venues with different sort of requirements, different
12:16 customer base, different age of buildings, that all adds to the challenge?
12:20 Yeah, it does. I mean, a lot of the things are kind of universal, like managing our cellar
12:27 cooling systems and things like that, you can sort of copy from one place to the other.
12:32 But yeah, there are definitely like all our buildings are totally different. In Dale Park,
12:37 where I am today, there's a golf course here. So that's a whole other, like, that's, we
12:43 only have the one golf course. So that's quite obviously specific. Yes, all the buildings
12:48 are different ages, one are kind of Angels Hotel in Uddingston, that is an old sandstone
12:55 building with extensions and things like that. So yeah, it's not, it's not kind of straightforward,
13:01 you can't just roll out the same, the same plan across all the venues.
13:04 Turning to you, Jamie, can you tell us a bit more about challenges faced by your businesses
13:09 and what you're doing to address them in terms of sustainability?
13:12 Yeah, I agree with everything that's been said. If, you know, if carbon reduction,
13:17 well, carbon reduction is difficult, you know, if it was easy, it would already be fixed.
13:22 And trying to kind of get that balance between the top down, because you need, you know,
13:30 the owners of the company to prioritise it, but then you also need the bottom up for people to
13:36 actually tell, you know, communicate what needs changed, and where, you know, having idea boxes,
13:44 and actually being able to see the results, to say, right, we're trying to save, you know,
13:50 money in our kitchen this week, and then actually show them that it is working, or it's not working.
13:56 And, you know, really kind of giving that social proof to say, right, we're trying to reduce our
14:04 energy use or our waste or, you know, whatever it might be. And then, but then you have to reinforce
14:10 it to say it's either is working or it's not working. And to have difficulty, you also need
14:15 a benchmark as well. So you just see how you were doing, you know, the same year, or the same month
14:23 the previous year. So you need, you know, there's a lot of things that need to come together to
14:28 really make it work. And I suppose that's one of the great things about climate springboard is,
14:35 you know, as soon as you kind of get a bit of an idea about all the different pieces, and soon you
14:40 start, then you can, you know, really make that, make that journey. I was trying, I was thinking
14:47 this morning about something I learned at school when you're in maths lesson, and they say, you
14:53 know, if you have two rockets that take off at slightly different angles, you know, initially,
14:58 it doesn't look like there's much difference. But then, you know, you know, after a few years,
15:02 or 10 years, they can be totally different universes. I think that's important with the
15:07 businesses, you need to make those little changes, little steps, little investments,
15:12 because, you know, over the years, they really add up and you can end up in a, you know, very secure
15:18 place or a very uncertain place. Thanks, Jamie. That's an interesting analogy as well. And you
15:25 mentioned climate springboard there, tell a bit more why you decided to do climate springboard
15:29 and when you did it. Yeah, so I did actually on behalf of one of my clients, and they do a lot
15:35 of business with RBS. And I helped them with all the energy management and used to help them a lot
15:40 more with the operations and design. And so it was it was really interesting, because we've been
15:47 focusing purely on gas and electricity. So it was really good to kind of see that broad spectrum of
15:56 looking at the, you know, the carbon caught up in a lot of our guests traveling to our
16:07 accommodation. So obviously, we need the guests coming. But then we can also we did things like,
16:13 you know, advertise, you know, cleaner ways to get to us. And, you know, putting out on the website
16:20 and showing all the things you can do when you can just walk around, you know, in the local area,
16:25 you don't have to drive everywhere, you don't need parking, you can use the local buses,
16:29 local tours, all this kind of things. And then also with our food as well, just how much
16:35 carbons caught up in the food, by the production, the shipping to you, but then also, you know,
16:43 how you prepare it or store it and cook it and all these kind of things. So really kind of looking at
16:49 it. And then obviously the waste as well, we use a good recycling and waste provider, and they give
16:56 us good reports. But then it's also you know, you have to do something with them benchmark it and
17:02 I was such as a talk, UK hospitality, talk on environment and sustainability. And one of the
17:10 case studies or ladies to talk in there, they basically put all their bags, all their rubbish
17:17 into clear bags. So all of a sudden, you can just chuck everything in and mix all the recycling,
17:23 because everyone could actually see what was inside it. So just those small changes,
17:29 I'm looking at the broad spectrum and you need that, you know, in terms of finding time and
17:35 having the training in house, and you need that kind of baseline understanding in order to start,
17:42 you know, improving. That sounds interesting. What would you say? How do you sum up the main
17:48 benefits of climate springboard? How do you think since? I say from my point of view is really like
17:56 a really good foundation, a really good kind of introduction into carbon and carbon savings,
18:03 and you know, giving you that fundamentals and then that insight into all the different places
18:09 that you could then go and try and apply. You know, because you need the same with engineering,
18:17 you can't know everything, but you need to know the baseline so you can communicate with people
18:21 that do know, you know, a lot more detail. You're listening to the Scotsman Sustainable Scotland
18:26 podcast. This episode is brought to you in partnership with the Royal Bank of Scotland.
18:30 If you'd like to discuss partnering with the Scotsman for an episode of Sustainable Scotland,
18:33 please email podcasts@scotsman.com. Now back to the episode, we'll focus on climate springboard.
18:39 Kay, could you tell me why you decided to do climate springboard? And again,
18:42 what the main benefits for you have been in your business? Yeah, sure. So I did the course towards
18:48 the end of 2022. So just about a year ago now, our bank manager at RBS had sent the details to
18:56 my director who had sent it on to me to suggest it because at the time I was just kind of moving
19:02 from kind of focusing on just energy management to more of a sustainability broader spectrum. So
19:10 yeah, I read the description, it looked right up my street. So I applied and I was actually
19:15 the third cohort, part of the third cohort. So it was just kind of getting off the ground then.
19:21 I don't know if it's the exact same now, a year later. But you know, it was really interesting.
19:30 I think probably some of the main benefits were it was very sort of practical and specific to
19:39 our company. So it provided us with a lot of suggested actions and helped kind of break
19:45 them down into manageable and tangible tasks and prioritise them, which was really great for
19:51 encouraging those who are trying to fit these tasks in around their main role, as I mentioned,
19:57 which was quite a lot of the people on the cohort that I was on. Like, for example, doing one thing
20:04 a week is much less daunting than just thinking, right, I need to work on sustainability, where
20:08 does that start? So it was more like, okay, this Friday morning, I'll look at sourcing printer
20:14 paper from recycled materials, just for an example, or next Friday, I will send an email to
20:19 ask for volunteers to start a green team and stuff like that. That's just an example, because we
20:26 already had green teams set up at each of our venues, but it was very sort of practical and
20:32 simple tasks that you could do within a set time period. It was also, as I mentioned,
20:39 really specific to our different business types. Obviously, there was a lot of different
20:43 people from different sort of companies there. So we kind of categorised ourselves into what type
20:51 of business we are working for. And then there were specific tasks and ideas and recommendations
20:58 for that type of company, rather than just loads of generic ones that weren't really,
21:01 really relevant to us. Another really good thing about it was that I now have a great network of
21:08 similarly minded people kind of working towards similar goals, and we can share our knowledge
21:13 and experience on what we've learned and what we've done as a result of that. So I'm still
21:18 in touch with people from my cohort and other people that I've been introduced to since then,
21:23 because there's been a couple of kind of catch up sessions as well. So it's good, because we can
21:29 still then say to Alison, the lady that kind of run our course, you can just go to her with a
21:35 question and she'll say, oh, such and such from this company has looked at this recently, and I'll
21:40 ask if they mind passing on your details, and then we can just discuss that between the two of us. So
21:45 it's good to have a great network of people that can draw on for experience like that.
21:50 The networking side does sound like a big benefit for SMEs who might be struggling to think what to
21:56 do on their own, but you can chat to someone else about it. Yeah, exactly. So what advice would you
22:01 give to businesses thinking about the Climate Springboard programme? I think especially at the
22:04 moment, there might be small businesses saying, oh, we don't have time to do it, we've got to
22:08 focus on the bottom line, we've got to focus on making profits, saving money. So what would you
22:12 say to them in terms of encouraging them to do Climate Springboard? Honestly, it's not that much
22:19 time out of your day. Like, I don't know if it's exactly the same now, but it was like
22:24 every second week, it was a morning every second week, which you just like managed to fit in,
22:30 because again, it's about prioritising it. But I think the course was really good, because it kind
22:35 of covers off the basics first, like what is climate change? What does net zero actually mean?
22:39 And maybe people, if they don't really get that and don't really understand like the importance
22:45 of it, maybe that's a good place to start. Again, that's actually optional for like those who are
22:54 like quite knowledgeable about the subject already. So that was like the very, very start.
23:00 It doesn't assume you're at a certain stage in your sustainability journey. In fact,
23:04 most of the people in my cohort will only just literally starting to think about considering it.
23:08 So it's good that way. I do think often sustainability measures go hand in hand
23:17 with saving money as well, like, or increasing profits, all the projects that we've looked at,
23:24 have less than a five year payback period. So even when the outlay is substantial,
23:29 you're then seeing savings after a relatively short time period. We've had audits done by
23:35 Business Energy Scotland, that was recommended by the climate springboard, but I had already
23:42 had dealings with them in the past, so I kind of was aware of what they did. But more recently,
23:48 we had an audit done at our biggest venue, Dale Park, and it was one of the only venues that we
23:57 still had non-LED lights in, so our biggest function suite. They recommended we change
24:08 the lights in the ceiling coffers to LED strip lights, and they showed us the savings that we
24:14 could make, and we managed to get a grant for 75% of the work. So the remaining 25%, we got
24:23 a zero interest loan for, and the payback period was less than a year. So now we're just
24:29 seeing savings because we're saving energy on that. So yes, it can be expensive, but I do think
24:39 if you do it now, you're going to see the savings sooner. It's kind of a no-brainer,
24:45 most of the things. Thanks, Kay, and thanks for the examples there. And
24:49 James, the same question to you. What would you say to businesses thinking about climate
24:52 springboard and encouraging them to do it? What do you think the benefits they would get from it
24:56 would be if they're slightly wary and thinking about it? What would you recommend? Well,
25:01 just looking at the news this week in terms of all the flooding, and you can't deny anymore,
25:08 you know, we see it every season of the year, a different threat from climate change. And I was
25:14 listening to a Carbon Trust talk the other week, and they're saying it costs 16 billion,
25:21 no, sorry, not 16 billion, 16 million pounds an hour is the cost of climate change at the moment.
25:30 So, you know, it's huge, huge costs involved. So in terms of, I totally agree with what Kay said,
25:38 you know, pretty much all the initiatives do have the savings, but it is tricky because you need to
25:45 find that time. And once you kind of, you know, you prioritize it and fitting those few hours
25:53 in a week, every other week, you know, you might not see the savings, you know, instantly,
26:01 but you're moving on that journey. And you're bringing in other people because one of the
26:09 best returns of investment is staff training, you know, staff training,
26:14 closed down procedures, and getting your energy use to match your operating hours, you know,
26:22 not burning cash when you're closed. So all these things, and you know, I think your staff
26:29 and your guests and your clients all expect you now to be sustainable. So, you know, you need to
26:37 be moving in that direction, because, you know, you need for your clients, but also,
26:43 there's going to be only going to be more and more stringent regulations and, you know, fines
26:51 and stuff for not moving in that direction. So, you know, it's an inevitable win-win.
26:58 I'm going to ask about that. Do you find more guests now are asking or thinking about
27:02 sustainability when they're choosing where to stay, where to go, where to eat?
27:05 Well, they were talking about it in this hospitality event. And they said that, although
27:13 they're not always willing to pay the excess, you know, they're especially at the moment with the
27:20 cost of living. But, you know, the people who are environmentally conscious shout a lot louder
27:28 than the people that aren't. So, you know, you need to be doing that. Because if you are,
27:35 like there was a lady who had, I think it was the Good Farm, or the Wellbeing Farm, and they,
27:40 she just totally, you know, got B Corp recognition for everything. And she was saying that, you know,
27:47 she's got a waiting list, not just for her events, but also for people that want to work for her.
27:52 You know, because they've got that good reputation. And, you know, people are a little more
27:58 socially conscious now, I think, in terms of they want to be, you know, dedicating their time and
28:04 their effort to an organisation that shares their, you know, morals and beliefs.
28:12 So that's really interesting. And, and Mari, we've heard a lot there from Jamie and Kay about
28:18 Climate Springboard and their experiences and the benefits. Anything you'd like to add about
28:21 Climate Springboard and what you'd like to say to businesses about it and what it offers?
28:25 Yeah, I mean, I think I couldn't have found better advocates for it than Jamie and Kay. And I think
28:32 a couple of the points that both Jamie and Kay raised there was actually, you know, about making
28:37 small changes. So starting small, otherwise you might not start at all. And one of the biggest
28:43 things that we want to do as a bank is to try and make this sustainability conversation a wee bit
28:49 more accessible for businesses. It can be quite overwhelming when you're dealing with everything
28:54 else that you're dealing with in business. But actually, if we can try and demystify the
28:59 conversation a wee bit and help with some jargon busting, then, you know, that's really important
29:05 for us as well. So obviously, the Climate Springboard is just one element of the support
29:10 that we have. We do also have a free online tool called the Royal Bank Carbon Planner,
29:17 which allows businesses to calculate their estimated carbon footprint. And then it can
29:22 help set them, build action plans to help reduce emissions. And obviously, if there are products
29:29 or resources that they want to explore as part of that action plan, then that's all built into
29:33 the Carbon Planner as well. Probably just worth pointing out, Rosie, there's loads and loads of
29:39 information on our Climate Hub on the website, including green funding options. So it might be
29:46 green loans or asset finance for things like boilers and batteries. And obviously electric
29:52 vehicles, you know, there's funding options for them as well. And obviously, signposting is one
29:59 of the biggest things that we can do to help support customers as well. But we would always
30:04 encourage businesses to speak to us if they have any questions at all about how they can make
30:09 efficiencies or, you know, make their journey to net zero that wee bit easier, then, yeah,
30:15 definitely come and speak to us. And really important to say as well that you don't have to
30:19 bank with us to have that conversation. It's very much an open door and we would always,
30:26 always welcome the conversation. Thanks, Mari. Sounds like there's lots available in terms of
30:31 support from Royal Bank of Scotland. As we just finish off our conversations, we reach the end.
30:36 Kay, perhaps you could say what is next in your sustainability journey? What is the big priorities
30:41 for you for the next few months, a year, say? I think continuing to keep our green teams
30:49 motivated is an important one. They are doing so well on their own. My favourite thing is when
30:58 they come to me with ideas and suggestions rather than me constantly giving them things,
31:03 because I feel like I'm not on my own and it really is becoming a team effort and a kind of
31:08 shift in culture throughout the company. One of our venues, Angels Hotel, that I mentioned
31:14 earlier, their green teams have teamed up with a local gardening group, Grewa Dingston, and they've
31:19 been volunteering to litter pick around the village. And they're, Grewa Dingston, are now
31:24 collecting their used coffee grounds from the venue to use in their compost and as a fertiliser
31:31 and to kind of deter pests and things like that. So that's really nice for me to see them kind of
31:38 going off on their own and doing their own thing. And it also looks really good for us as a company,
31:43 because it's kind of recognised around the local area and in the local community as well.
31:48 I mentioned also, I've been looking at PV solar panels. That is one of our next steps to get
31:58 renewables at every one of our venue, ideally. It's just proven to be a longer project than I
32:05 first anticipated. I'd also really like to get EV charge points at all of our venues. We've got
32:12 them at two out of five just now. As an electric car driver, I find it very frustrating the level
32:17 the charge networks at the minute. So I think if we're trying to encourage people to buy electric
32:23 vehicles and become more sustainable, we need to kind of make it more practical and feasible for
32:26 them to operate them. So I know how much it helps me if I'm visiting somewhere for lunch or dinner
32:32 or a hotel for an overnight and I can charge my car while I'm there, rather than having to look
32:37 for somewhere after or before it. So yeah, those are the kind of imminent things on our list,
32:46 as well as a lot of smaller things that are on the to-do list that we've got ideas from the Climate
32:52 Springboard thing, from our ESOS report and from our Business Energy Scotland audit. So
32:57 there's a lot to do. Thanks, Kate. Busy time ahead. And James, same to you. What's your focus
33:04 in terms of sustainability over the next few months, a year? Yeah, so I'll mirror what Mary
33:12 said in terms of making it easier for companies to make changes. And there's a really good website
33:20 called Energy Conscious Organisations. And they basically talk about how people are your best
33:30 asset. And just by doing these training courses, have the best return of investment and the shortest
33:37 payback periods of any technology. And so a few of the things they recommend are fortnightly
33:48 communications, changing posters and stickers regularly, giving that feedback. So you've got
33:55 the kind of social, you know, what's the word, the social proof that things are actually working.
34:06 And, you know, giving, they're saying things, you know, get your green champions, but also
34:16 they should be peer kind of nominated. You know, you don't always have to pick the manager. It can
34:23 be someone else in the organisation and, you know, making sure that, you know, all the cleaners know
34:28 how to close things down properly and stuff we were saying before. So really just keeping that
34:34 momentum and kind of showing people. And I think what Kate said about the recommendations, you know,
34:42 having these idea boxes, you know, trying to make it easy. So, you know, how can we use, I don't
34:49 know, QR codes or email or something to be like, right, or a WhatsApp group, you know, making these
34:56 kind of simple ways that people say, oh yeah, what about this? And then you can review them in your
35:01 monthly or fortnightly energy meetings. So yeah, it's really just about, and, you know, everyone's
35:08 the same, you know, if you've got multiple businesses trying to start, they're all in different
35:14 buildings with different types of guests, with different, like it's, you know, everyone's got
35:18 the same challenges, but, you know, you can apply the same theory to a lot of them. And then by
35:26 tweaking your operating, you know, out of hours, timeframes and, you know, when you're closed.
35:34 And basically, at a lot of them, I go to a lot of these events and stuff and they all say,
35:43 you know, the data is key, because sometimes I think, you know, should we be investing in
35:49 energy monitors or should we just be investing in solar panels? And so I said that to the
35:55 Carbon Trust, I was like, you know, why don't everyone just put solar panels on? And they said,
36:00 well, because of all the complications in terms of the carbon installed in those solar PV panels,
36:07 you know, the carbon to install them and everything, you're always going to get a better
36:13 return by saving energy and energy efficiency, because if you don't get your energy efficiency
36:21 down low enough, then you're going to need more solar panels, more everything else to actually,
36:28 you know, feed, you know, hungry building. That's great. Thank you. Thanks to both Jamie and Kay
36:36 for telling us about Climate Springboard and the experience of your businesses and
36:39 the challenges and opportunities for hospitality in general. And thanks,
36:44 Mari, for telling us more about Climate Springboard and what Royal Bank of Scotland
36:47 offers businesses when it comes to sustainability and reaching net zero.
36:51 Thank you very much for listening to this latest episode of the Sustainable Scotland series,
36:54 produced by the Scotsman. This episode is delivered in partnership with Royal Bank of Scotland.
36:58 Please listen out for and enjoy more episodes of Sustainable Scotland on all your main podcast
37:01 platforms. This episode was presented by me, Rosemary Gallagher, and produced by Andrew Mulligan.