Our Promise to the Planet

Scouts Scotland’s environmental policy

“Leave this world a little better than you found it.”

- Robert Baden-Powell

Our promise

Everywhere we go and in everything we do we will be mindful of our impact on the planet.

The world is in climate chaos and it is essential that we act now to make sure our young people have a safe, habitable and beautiful planet in their future.

We are committed to embedding environmental responsibility into every level of our charity, and making it a key consideration in all of our activities and events. We will work hard to understand our current impact and identify specific areas where we can improve and reduce our carbon footprint.

Our values

Care – we care for our planet and each other

Respect – we respect our environment and are conscious of our impact

Integrity – we will act environmentally responsibly and lead by example

Belief – we will support our young people to explore their responsibilities to the planet

Cooperation – we will work with our members and partners to achieve our sustainability goals

What we will do

We will make sure that our sustainability goals are linked to our strategy

We will involve our members in our plans and learn from their feedback

We will support our membership to develop local sustainability plans

We will audit where we are now and establish a baseline to work from

We will work with partners who can help us to achieve our goals

We will be prepared to invest to reduce our carbon footprint

We will be bold and transparent in our goals and our journey towards sustainability

Specific areas for action

Travel and transport

Waste management and recycling

Conservation activities

Energy and water consumption

Financial decisions and purchasing

Environmental impact on mental health

Education and community engagement

Next steps

To deliver this policy we will:

Establish a working group with members from our board of trustees, staff team, and wider membership who have a specific interest/expertise in environmental impact.

Perform an audit to understand our impact across our headquarters function and Scout Adventures Centres.

Agree short-term and long-term sustainability targets.

Identify partnerships and funding opportunities to support our goals.

Create an action plan reach our goals, along with clear budgets for work.

Review policies to improve sustainability eg. purchasing, events, travel etc.

Support our Regions, Districts and Groups with tools to audit their own functions and create action plans to improve sustainability.