We were assigned to develop a DNZ Action Plan for the three governmental Enterprise Agencies (Scottish Enterprise, South of Scotland Enterprise, and Highlands and Islands) and Visit Scotland to support the Scottish tourism sector on the challenging but much-needed transition to Net Zero.
Review policy documents, reports and actions to date on Net Zero to identify gaps and priority areas for future actions
Provide insights on the current work and priorities of various government departments around the transition to Net Zero
Review and source inspiration from successful initiatives on climate actions from destinations around the world
Guide public sector agencies on how to support the Scottish tourism industry on the Net Zero journey
Scotland is one of the global leaders in the tourism sector’s response to the climate emergency, with a significant amount of work already being undertaken across the country, and in various parts of the tourism sector.
Our first step therefore, was to review and analyse evidence of the work undertaken to date in Scotland as well as of the global best practice in the journey to Net Zero that would help inform the development of the DNZ Action Plan. This was complemented with the insights gathered from several interviews with the government representatives from various sectors as well as with our previous and current work on climate action in Scotland and globally. Our primary and secondary research helped us identify gaps and then informed the priority areas of focus and actions for 2022-2025 and beyond. After presenting the findings to the Scottish Tourism Emergency Response Group (STERG), we facilitated the development of the draft Destination Net Zero Action Plan by the project partners. We then conducted another round of interviews and some more desk research to test some of the proposed actions with relevant stakeholders that then informed the development of the final DNZ Action Plan, which was structured around the Glasgow Declaration 5-pathway framework (Measure; Decarbonise; Regenerate; Collaborate; Finance).
Global Benchmarking and Best Practice Case Study Analysis of 35+ case studies on climate actions from destinations around the world.
Policy context analysis in Scotland and the UK to understand the approaches and actions taken in several sectors related to tourism.
10+ one-to-one stakeholder interviews with Scottish government representatives, the enterprise agencies, Visit Scotland, Nature Scot and several NGOs.
Gap Analysis report on 12 Priority Areas for Action, based on the Glasgow Declaration, presented to STERG.
Online action planning workshop with client and partners.
DNZ Action Plan report with six key priority areas for investment.
The project has given us a detailed overview of the policies, commitments and actions (both current and planned) of the public partners in Scotland to fulfill the commitments around the transition to Net Zero in tourism and related sectors such as transport, energy, agriculture and nature conservation. At the same time, thanks to the research on the benchmarking destinations worldwide, we also gained a good understanding of what other governments and DMOs around the world are doing in this space.
Our approach to guide the project partners to work on the draft Action Plan, and then test and cross-check the proposed actions, has resulted in a solid final Plan that has been well-received by government agencies in Scotland.
Our work has helped to spark discussions among various government and non-government organisations in and beyond the tourism sector about the challenges presented by the transition to Net Zero, and the need to cooperate around solutions.
By providing structure, guidance and support to the project partners during the development of the draft Plan, we’ve also helped to build the skills and capacity of Scottish Enterprise to implement and accelerate future Net Zero actions.
Executing the DNZ Action Plan will support the recovery of Scottish tourism destinations, by building resilience and accelerating their pathway to a NetZero tourism future.
