Scottish Government Policy
· The Scottish Government is committed to reducing Scotland's overall ecological footprint, a measure of the global impact of our consumption patterns in terms of an estimate of the land and sea area needed to provide all the energy, water, transport, food and materials that we consume.
· The ecological footprint is influenced directly by the resource consequences of the goods and services which the Scottish public sector uses, and indirectly by the example which the public sector provides to business and society at large and by the extent to which public spending supports market demand for more resource efficient products.
Factors to be considered in creating Sustainable Specifications/Targets
- The factors to be considered include not just climate change emissions created in Scotland, although these are important, but also the whole life use of energy and other resources. Further guidance is available on the Scottish Procurement Directorate website:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/Procurement/policy/corporate-responsibility/13744#a2
- The "Buy Sustainable - Quick Wins" (now known as Government Procurement Standard) will also support a more efficient use of resources
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/Procurement/policy/manual/policy-notes/SPPN152008/
http://www.defra.gov.uk/sustainable/government/what/priority/consumption-production/quickWins/index.htm
Further Information
Information on Scotland's indicators relating to resource efficiency, on waste, energy and transport, and carbon and ecological footprint can be found at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/scotPerforms/indicators
Contacts Details
John Landrock
Environment Analytical Services
Scottish Government
Tel 0131 244 0441
Email: john.landrock@scotalnd.gsi.gov.uk