Dr Sam Gardner graduated from the University in 2000 with first-class honours in Ecology. Now Head of Climate Change & Sustainability at ScottishPower, one of Scotland’s largest energy companies, Sam has built a distinguished career in environmental leadership and is regarded as a trusted and influential voice in this field.

Q: What inspired your interest in Ecology?

I’m one of three brothers who have all studied Ecology at the University of Edinburgh, which is quite remarkable!

As a child, I was fascinated by the natural world. Studying Ecology during A-level Biology revealed the invisible connections of the natural world that tie species together into functioning ecosystems. Ecology shows you that complexity, why it exists like it does. It’s fascinating because it’s like peeling away a cover and being able to read the landscape around you.

Q: How did your studies influence your career path?

I’d always aspired to having a job working in conservation. After graduating, I wanted to get closer to where change felt possible and that was in the world of policy making. It led me to a PhD in human geography at UCL, where I explored how public perception contributes to environmental decision making, including its effectiveness and impact.

Over the course of my career, I’ve worked in a range of environmental-focused roles, including at the RSPB, SEPA in Scotland and at WWF, before moving to ScottishPower in 2019.

Q: What led you to where you are now?

I’d spent just under 13 years lobbying for setting the right ambition on tackling climate change. We’d been successful in securing legislation, policy and targets, but with challenges being seen more in implementation and delivery, I wanted to also be a part of that response.

Q: What does your role at ScottishPower entail?

I lead the Climate Change and Sustainability team, which sits across the three businesses (customer, supply and networks) that ScottishPower has.

At one level it’s to ensure that we are continuing to demonstrate leadership in sustainable development, not just in tackling climate change, but everything we do. There’s also a big responsibility around disclosure for environmental information, communicating our sustainability performance to key stakeholders.

The role takes me into lots of different discussions!

Q: What role do you think organisations and individuals can play in creating meaningful change?

We can all play a part in delivering change, though for some that opportunity is greater than others.

If we’re to transition to a net zero economy, it has to be done in a way that’s fair, governments and organisations need to work together to ensure that opportunities are there for everyone.

We also need to reorientate the policy environment to help people make the right choices. For instance, it’s hard for someone to jump on a bike and cycle to work if they’re competing against heavy traffic and there’s no cycle path. Behavioural shifts can be challenging if the institutional change isn’t there to support them!

Q: How urgently does the world need to tackle climate change?

The urgency has been apparent for as long as I’ve been working on climate change. The world’s emissions are much higher now than they were in 1990 and we have already passed the 1.5-degree temperature rise. Every fraction of a degree matters and we need to redouble our efforts to prevent those future impacts.

In the UK and here in Scotland, we have successfully demonstrated that we can cut our carbon footprint while still continuing to grow our economy.

Globally, we are trying to make change in a system that needs to be reorientated to better account for environmental impacts. This shift and adopting policies and business strategies that are aligned to it are about mitigating risks, but also about grasping opportunities.

Well over 75% of the world’s economy operates under some form of a net zero commitment, this is a global technology race and a massive economic opportunity, and similarly there is ever growing understanding and appreciation of the risks of failing to respond.

It’s this that will make low carbon technologies far more abundant and available to more people.

Q: What advice would you give to someone to play their part in tackling climate change?

It’s about encouraging people to consider how their activities impact on climate change and how they can get a handle on their carbon footprint, but it’s not just that, it’s also about talking about climate change and engaging with the options we have for a better future.

It’s not the same as stopping everything you are doing, but is about understanding which parts of your daily life have the greatest impact and then thinking about how you could change those.

Q: How can we as individuals make change for the better?

Collective action, where lots of individuals work towards the same goals can make a real difference and we can see this happening when changes drive markets. It can provide signals to politicians and they can create the public mandate for the actions that we need to see supported at a systems level.

Organisations have greater power in the first instance, but collective individual action can really influence change.

Ultimately, we have to pull every single lever available to us and shift the dial. We recognise that individual actions aren’t as impactful without the wider systems changing, but the systems are dependent on signals from us as individuals.

Q: What can the next generation of students do?

A low carbon economy is the future that we’re committed to and every role across society will, to varying degrees, have a contribution to play towards it.

One thing that is certain is that their career will take place in a space that is shaped by climate change and our response to it.

There is real opportunity for students now in understanding what that transition looks like and where they can play a part in it. But responding to the climate change crisis or the nature crisis doesn’t just require scientists or engineers. It requires everybody, from communicators to engineers and everybody in between, to have an appreciation of how their roles can impact on that.

There is an urgency to it, but there is also significant opportunity in developing new solutions, taking those solutions to market and building the public consensus. It can be a really exciting space to be in for young people, what could be better than being part of creating a safe and prosperous future for everyone.

Sam Gardner was interviewed by Geri Dick.

Related links

The University’s Climate Strategy: Zero by 40

(Image: © Sandy Young Photography)