‘Businesses are making climate impact. They just don’t call it that.’

This Spring we say goodbye to Alison Wood, who is leaving her role at Edinburgh Climate Change Institute. For nearly three years, Alison has been the programme manager – and beating heart – of Climate Springboard, ECCI’s free net zero training programme for small and medium-sized businesses in Scotland.

The programme started in 2022 as a collaboration between the University of Edinburgh and The Royal Bank of Scotland. Today, more than 250 businesses have completed the programme, with around 15 more joining each month.

We sat down with Alison to reflect on her journey, what has changed about the programme and what lessons she is taking away.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

How did the programme start and why?

Alison Wood: The Royal Bank of Scotland had approached the University of Edinburgh and said they wanted something to train SMEs, to help them understand how the planet was changing. It had quite a broad remit: “Climate change is happening. The businesses who bank with us aren't coping. How do we help?”

When I joined, my job was to work out what is actually useful for businesses. What do they need? Because climate change is quite a big subject.

I went out and spoke to the businesses. After those conversations, I thought: “I don't think you need broad climate knowledge. None of you are saying you want climate literacy. You want it very specific: What does my company need to do about the climate crisis?”

What did the first iteration of the programme look like?

We started quite theoretical. We taught businesses to make a carbon footprint in Excel for a fictional company – Carbon Coffee Shop. But quite quickly I realised, these businesses have their own, real-life data. It's more useful for them to learn how to do it themselves than it is for us to teach the theory.

At first, there wasn’t much about taking action. What we did mention was big technology swaps – heat pumps, hydrogen. This was absolute sci-fi to most of these businesses.

Even when we're talking about heat pumps, many people still don't understand the technology. And it’s not helpful for a business owner if they've not insulated their building and have single-glazed windows. We'd jumped too far ahead.

Climate action can be messy, uncomfortable. You have to be willing to admit that you're doing it wrong to work out what needs to happen.

It was immensely frustrating to teach. I felt like I'd wasted eight hours of someone's time by adding to the perception that climate change is complex, and you can't do anything about it. 

I made the case to colleagues at the university that we should dial it back and focus on the immediately practical stuff for SMEs: What does climate change look like to you? Specifically, what do you need to do about it?

What did this look like in practice?

I can still remember logging into a workshop [in late 2022]. It was online, there must have been seven of them on the Teams call. I thought to myself, they all look ashen. What’s changed?

One of them said, “Our energy bills have just tripled. We're going to have to lay off staff.” I was terrified. I could see how desperately they didn't want to lay anyone off, and yet they couldn't find another way to do it.

In that moment, I decided I can't talk about carbon footprints. It just felt inappropriate. But I could say, “Okay, so your gas bill's just gone through the roof. What can we do to get your gas consumption down?” It felt like a really practical way to make a difference to their costs and reduce their carbon emissions.

I could instantly see the reaction from people was: “This makes sense. I know why I would do this. Let’s go.”

What else has changed since 2022?

It started with just me running it. We now have a team of five – three faciltiators, a graphic designer and a copywriter.

We also have an entirely different funding cycle. We’re now starting to work with a consortium of funders and finding new partners to support us.

The businesses, and their demographics, have changed. The first ones [who signed up for Climate Springboard] were already motivated by climate change. More and more, we train people who are openly like, “I'm not here for climate. I'm here because somebody has asked me.” It's cool that we can get them in the room. They’re making climate impact; they just don’t call it that. That is quite awesome.

Businesses attending the third workshop of the final Climate Springboard cohort of 2024.

What were some highlights?

The alumni breakfast we held in November 2024. I loved seeing all the businesses come back and knowing that, a year later, they were still on the journey.

The business owners were all so supportive of each other. Lots of people said things that didn’t cast their businesses in a good light but they were willing to say anyway, hoping that someone else is going to help and not judge. That takes an incredible amount of trust.

Climate action can be messy, uncomfortable. You have to be willing to admit that you're doing it wrong to be able to work out what needs to happen.

What were some challenges?

Many people were worried that they didn’t know enough about climate change to join the programme. I had to say: “It's okay. You’re allowed to say you don't understand how carbon dioxide molecules work. It's not important. All you need to know is, there's too much of it in the atmosphere – we need to get that down. Crack on.”

No one has enough time. This is such an under-resourced area. I would say 95 per cent of people who join the programme are not ‘sustainability people’ – they are marketing, quality assurance or something else. Most of them don't have enough hours in the day. 

Plus, they're all so terrified to talk about what they do in case they get accused of greenwashing. It's the big international companies who we should be calling out for this. But when it's SMEs, can’t we celebrate the smaller wins? I personally find that hard. I want to tell them, "Shout this from the rooftops!”

What is a lesson you’ve learned?

One of my biggest learnings is how hard people are trying. It's easy to feel like nobody is doing anything about the climate crisis.

Don't get me wrong, there are organisations who aren't doing anything. But there are people who really care. They’re fighting for change in their day-to-day jobs even though they're not in climate-related roles. There is quite a lot of positivity here.

What message do you have for the businesses you’ve worked with over the years?

Nobody is perfect. Some businesses have done so much marketing about achieving net zero that they've made everyone else feel like they can't say anything, because nothing is good enough. No. Most of you are in the same boat. Any progress is great right now. 

Yes, we have a mountain to climb, but step by step it makes a difference.