FOREWORD

Little, it seems, stands still for long when it comes to our environment. The pace of change is accelerating at global, European and national levels. Keeping up with these changes can be difficult enough but looking forward and staying ahead of the game can be a real challenge.

Climate change is a good example of a rapidly changing environmental landscape with significant implications and opportunities at every level, from individual households to global governance.

Climate change has rocketed up the international political agenda over the past year. Greenhouse gas emissions have increasingly come under the spotlight at a European level, particularly through Pollution Prevention and Control (PPC), the EU Emissions Trading Scheme and emissions reporting. In the UK last year the Stern Review highlighted the potential costs of climate change, but also the opportunities presented by the urgent need for adaptation and emissions reduction. In Scotland the new SNP administration has announced its ‘strategic outcomes’, which include a greener Scotland, and a Climate Change Bill is high on the agenda.

But, whilst welcoming these developments, we must not allow the rise of climate change up the political and environmental agenda to overshadow the demands and opportunities presented by other pressing and continuing environmental issues.

The Environmental Liabilities Directive, which came into force on 30 April this year, sets out requirements for the prevention and remediation of environmental damage. It will have significant implications for assigning liability and setting remediation standards, which may include returning a site to baseline condition, equivalent off-site measures where this is not possible, and compensatory remediation for the loss of natural resources and services pending recovery. The requirements of the Water Framework Directive are now fully integrated into SEPA’s regulatory role, and the focus on catchment management will mean

more changes in how we protect and improve Scotland’s water resources in the coming years.

Questions are being asked about carbon offsetting and the best answer is...

to reduce emissions. Our carbon footprint features more in the news and we can all consider our impact whilst on the earth and after we leave, see the green funerals article, to see what each of us can do to make a difference.

These are just some of the challenges and opportunities over the coming years. The environmental barometer is reading ‘change’, but the ongoing creation of a greener Scotland is a challenge to which we must all rise.

Campbell Gemmell
Chief Executive

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