Hansard

I thank members for their support of the motion and the Carbon Trust for the excellent briefing that it circulated to members before the debate. Last but not least, I give special thanks to colleagues who have stayed half an hour later than usual after a busy parliamentary week to speak in the debate.

The scientific community agrees that climate change is happening, that it is happening because of man's activities and that it is probably still possible to avert potential catastrophe by modifying our activities. The urgency of the message that we must modify our activities has been reinforced this week by the report that polar ice is not refreezing after the summer melt; by the fact that, closer to home, people had to flee their homes yesterday because of flooding; and by the 14 flood alerts that were in operation throughout Scotland this morning. That follows the warnings in the Stern report that the cost of doing nothing will be far greater than the cost of taking action now and that the longer we leave it, the more costly it will be.

When that message prompts the business community to ask, "What can we do?" the Carbon Trust comes into its own. The Carbon Trust is an independent company that was established by the Government. It helps the United Kingdom to meet its climate change obligations by helping businesses to understand the importance of lowering their carbon emissions and by offering practical advice on how to do that. Businesses are responsible for about half of all the UK's carbon emissions, so it is important that they get the message, advice and help.

The Carbon Trust has developed a comprehensive range of carbon management activities for large organisations that wish to manage and reduce their carbon emissions while growing profitably. Two large paper mills in the north-east are benefiting from that. Aberdeen City Council pioneered, and Aberdeenshire Council is using, the local authority carbon management programme, which has been adapted for the public sector and provides councils with technical and change management support and guidance to help them to realise carbon emission savings.

The Carbon Trust has a carbon management product that is tailored to the needs of the higher education sector, and the trust's national health service carbon management programme is designed specifically for NHS trusts. The programme provides staff with support in and guidance on integrating good carbon management into their organisation's infrastructure and day-to-day operations at all levels. I am delighted that my local health board, NHS Grampian, is working with the Carbon Trust in the NHS carbon management programme. It is the only NHS Scotland board that is involved in the programme, and it is one of only 10 that are taking part in the UK. The programme runs until the end of March 2007, and goes beyond energy savings and awareness. It examines issues such as procurement, planning, travel and transportation, business strategies and capital programmes. NHS Grampian could significantly reduce, in a sustainable way, its carbon output and energy-related costs. By the end of March 2007, it will have developed a strategic implementation plan for carbon reduction targets and cost reductions over the short, medium and long term.

What is interesting and attractive about the Carbon Trust's approach is that modifying our activities to combat climate change does not require a hair shirt. Businesses and organisations continue to function, to produce and to provide services, but they do so with an awareness of the carbon cost, as well as the monetary cost, of their activity. By sensible planning and the elimination of waste, they save not only carbon emissions but money.

Buildings are responsible for approximately 40 per cent of the UK's carbon emissions, with non-residential buildings being responsible for approximately half of that. Members will not be surprised that the Carbon Trust has a free building design advice guide, which contains a detailed overview of all that people need to know about procuring good, energy-efficient buildings. The trust will help people to mitigate the climate change impacts from buildings by making the most of low-carbon design and technologies and ensuring that buildings are economically carbon responsible from their concept design through to their final occupation. The Carbon Trust has supported to the tune of £250,000 the development of an innovative new building membrane technology at the University of Aberdeen.

At about 1.5 per cent per annum of UK building stock, new build represents only a small fraction of the opportunities that are available to reduce carbon emissions from buildings. Although many older buildings have poor energy performance, buildings typically undergo major refurbishment every 20 to 30 years, which offers opportunities to reduce carbon emissions. There are online tools to help people working in offices, industrial buildings, sports centres, civil estates and hospitality premises to compare their energy use with that of similar organisations. The Carbon Trust operates from the large scale of carbon management programmes to the small scale of free starter packs, containing energy-saving fact sheets, energy-saving tips relevant to businesses, posters and stickers to motivate staff to take simple energy-saving measures, and details of the free products and services that the Carbon Trust offers to help people to make further savings.

People can phone the trust on 0800 085 2005 for free advice on any aspect of energy saving. Its experts will answer simple requests for information or detailed technical questions about particular technologies. A huge range of information can be found on its website, including everything from lists of suppliers of energy-efficient equipment to comparative studies of different technologies to the criteria for receiving financial and other help to start new companies. One such company is Clear Process, which is a spin-out company from the University of Aberdeen that was supported through its birth pangs by the Carbon Trust. Strategic and business development consultancy, advice on corporate finance, mentoring for management teams, energy-related market research and guidance on technical support are all available where there is carbon-saving potential.

The Carbon Trust has the financial capacity to co-invest to develop low-carbon technologies, to fund or part fund large-scale demonstration projects and to conduct research into and analysis of different technologies and models. Its great strengths are its independence, the objectivity of the research that it conducts or commissions and the reports that it produces.

I hope that this debate will help to spread the word about what the Carbon Trust can and will do to help organisations and businesses of every shape and size to rise to the challenge that we face and that we must meet of mitigating climate change by saving carbon.