Priority 5
Transport Scotland will support the Scottish Government in its climate ambitions through its procurement practices.
Delivery sub-action 5.1
Work across our organisation to ensure consideration of the climate emergency is integral to procurement decisions.
Consideration of the climate emergency is included within all project procurement strategies, with project managers required to consider whether to buy, what to buy and how to buy as they plan their procurement. It is standard practice to include a question relating to the tenderers’ approaches to the climate emergency within the award criteria for our procurements.
During this report period, we implemented the new Scottish Government requirement to ask suppliers to provide a Climate Change Plan as part of the selection stage for contracts deemed to be ‘relevant’ or ‘priority’ contracts. These plans include evidence of their ability to address the climate emergency and reduction of their Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions.
Transport Scotland has developed its own carbon calculator which is used to calculate the emissions associated with works projects at the design stage in order to determine emissions reduction targets. This ensures consideration of the impact of emissions at an early stage of the procurement. During the reporting period the requirement to use the calculator was included in the contract for the M8 Kingston Bridge works and the A985 Kincardine Bridge Southern Piled Viaduct Replacement.
The procurement team collaborated with environmental colleagues and supported with the development of the Transport Scotland's Carbon Management Plan 2022-2027. This document contains a section that is focussed on procurement’s contribution to reducing our impact on the environment and meeting net zero emissions across our corporate functions, as well as contributing to our Public Bodies Climate Change Duty reporting. In addition, updates on developments of Transport Scotland’s policy on incorporating climate change considerations within procurement activity are discussed with senior managers from all of our Directorates at our quarterly Procurement Group Meeting, enabling internal stakeholders across the organisation to provide feedback on how procedures will work within the sectors in which they are procuring.
Delivery sub-action 5.2
Collaborate with internal and external stakeholders, as appropriate, to facilitate sharing of best practice in carbon management.
Transport Scotland is an active, supportive member of the Scottish Government’s Procurement Collaboration Group and sectoral Procurement Cluster Group, enabling us to discuss and exchange best practice with our peers from across the public procurement sector.
We have also been an active member of the Scottish Government’s Construction Leadership Forum and have contributed to the development of the Scottish Government Multi-Supplier Civil Engineering Works Framework, including carbon considerations.
During the reporting period there was ongoing collaboration with the Scottish Water Net Zero Expert Panel on consider best practice to reduce carbon in construction. Transport Scotland also met with National Highways to discuss approaches to carbon management and the target of achieving of net zero on projects. We also participated in working groups with Scottish Water to investigate low carbon materials such as low carbon concrete.
Delivery sub-action 5.3
Gather data and monitor information to support and develop procurement opportunities to address climate emergency priorities.
The climate and the circular economy are considered within the procurement strategy for all regulated procurements, and provisions are included in tender documents where it is relevant and proportionate to do so. This requires suppliers to provide details of their approach to climate and circular economy considerations within the award criteria of our procurements.
An earlier version of the Transport Scotland carbon calculator has been implemented on our construction projects over a number of years, and this has enabled us to gather data on scope 3 carbon emissions created by construction. This has led to the development of an updated carbon calculator tool for construction, which has been included in recent bridge refurbishment projects including the M8 Kingston Bridge works and the A985 Kincardine Bridge Southern Piled Viaduct Replacement.
