Changeworks, one of Scotland’s leading social enterprises, joined Scottish and international partners at the Social Enterprise World Forum’s Social Procurement Fringe Conference in October to share how Scotland’s world-leading procurement and climate legislation is driving environmental and social impact, and to build new partnerships that can accelerate decarbonisation both in the UK and internationally.
Scotland remains world-leading in its approach to an impact economy with social procurement legislation along with climate change legislation and a climate change plan.
Scotland’s legislative framework – including the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014, the Climate Change Act, and the Climate Change Plan – places it at the forefront of building an impact economy. The Scottish procurement system mandates each public body to seek sustainable impact from procurement and to report on this annually.
This framework demonstrates how governments and businesses can work together to embed social and environmental impact into procurement at scale.
Changeworks’ participation at SEWF25 provided an opportunity to share our experience of delivering large-scale decarbonisation programmes within this framework. This included how we apply social procurement principles through our own supply chains – and to learn from and collaborate with global leaders to strengthen this ecosystem.
Learning from Scotland and beyond
Alongside James Finnie, Social Enterprise Business Consultant at CEIS Group and Jennifer Beason, Global Director at SAP, I took part in a session on “Learning from Scotland: Government Leadership in Social”, which followed similar sessions involving Ikea Foundation, KPMG and SK Group.
Scotland’s procurement framework embeds social and environmental outcomes in law and practice through the social value act and our climate change legislation, making reporting on both essential for public procurement.
Warmworks, Changeworks’ joint venture partnership with Everwarm and Energy Saving Trust is a clear example of this. Warmworks delivers Warmer Homes Scotland, a national fuel poverty scheme funded by the Scottish Government, supports over 600 fuel-poor homes every month, and is helping to build the local skills base needed to accelerate decarbonisation.
At Changeworks, we also ensure that public funds procured through our work are used to help grow and impactful supply chain. We’ve signed the Buy Social Pledge to support social enterprises into our supply chain, embed Fair Work, the Living Wage, fair payment terms, and diversity into our own procurement whilst giving our suppliers training and support.
Changeworks is a People and Planet First verified social enterprise, part of a global collective that’s helping accelerate the transition to an economy that puts people and the planet first.
Across the week there were great opportunities to share notes on our work with companies like Create Borneo who support community energy schemes in Seba and the Australian Centre for Rural Entrepreneurship who drive economic development through a rural place-based model.
Both of whom are asking the same questions Changeworks is, but in different contexts. There were also opportunities to discuss impact led inward investment into Scotland as well a chance unpack learnings from around the world with representatives from governments across the UK.
Ensuring outcomes
Given the associated investment of time and carbon, our decision to participate at the SEWF25 in Taipei was driven by clear strategic objectives that align directly with our mission. These include:
- Strengthening government partnerships to accelerate policy and delivery collaboration
- Forming new, global relationships to share learnings and open pathways for wider collaboration for large-scale impact
- Showcasing Scotland’s approach as a replicable model and signalling Scotland as key for international social investment that advances the UK’s net zero and social impact goals.
Changeworks is committed to ensuring that the carbon cost of international engagement is justified by the strategic value and measurable outcomes it delivers.
By taking part in SEWF25, Changeworks is helping to position Scotland as a global exemplar of how procurement can drive both social and environmental transformation, while advancing our own mission to decarbonise Scotland and inspire similar action internationally.