Spotlight on Climate Change & Sustainability

October 14, 2024
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General Officer Scotland, Major General Robin Lindsay, hosted a Defence, Climate Change & Sustainability Seminar at Scottish Power House, Glasgow, on 12 September.

Highland RFCA’s Michelle McKearnon, Roy McLellan and Hayley Munro attended along with guests from Highland RFCA area Defence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) Gold Award holders the Scottish Ambulance Service, Scottish Water and Serica Energy. Future X Innovation was also in attendance.

There were a total of 77 attendees representing 17 Ministry of Defence or Government departments, 22 businesses and five universities.

Major General Robin Lindsay behind a lectern.

Major General Robin Lindsay addresses participants.

The seminar – from 0930 to 1600 – was an opportunity to share and discuss Climate Change & Sustainability (CC&S) challenges and potential solutions among a selected group drawn from within Defence, business, industry and academia.

The three themes of the seminar were ‘Powering the deployed force’ (energy as a deployed capability); ‘Securing the supply’ (sustainability of fuel supplies); and ‘A sustainable platform’ (a carbon-neutral defence estate).

Participants were encouraged to contribute to the discussion, sharing some of the CC&S challenges that their organisation faces.

Seminar participants share a discussion around a table.

Participants shared their knowledge.

Coming from the Ministry of Defence were General Officer Scotland, Naval Regional Commander Scotland and Northern Ireland, and the three single Service CC&S leads. There were also representatives from Ministry of Defence Departments and Directorates; including Directorate of Climate Change and Environment, Defence Infrastructure Organisation, Directorate of Basing and Infrastructure, Defence Equipment and Support, Directorate of Industry Trade and Economic Security, Defence Science and Technology Laboratories, Defence and Security Accelerator, Army Strategic Centre and Army Strategic Command HQ.

The seminar stage.

One of the presentations.

Following a successful and productive event, General Lindsay thanked Headquarters 51st Infantry Brigade and HQ Scotland and Scottish Power for organising the day. Scottish Power is an ERS Gold Award holder.

Taking the opportunity to address the employers in the room, he pointed out that the Army is the largest provider of apprenticeships in the UK, taking 4,000 people onto 40 schemes every year covering 10 to 15 trade groups, with the majority being within STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics).

He added: “In order to promote in the Army you have to display leadership acumen, leadership potential and leadership skills, but you also have to be a decision maker. We teach ethical decision-making using a values-based system so, from Service leavers, employers get individuals with hard skills and soft skills which I think are of benefit to your businesses and the Scottish economy.”

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