Communications and Cleaner Air for ScotlandDr Stephen Thomson,

Head of Environment & Sustainability Transport Scotland

‘A national awareness raising campaign is the single most important tool to improve air quality.’

Healthy Air policy call 2015, referring to the EAC 2011

COMMUNICATIONSA Scotland where all citizens are well informed, engaged, and empowered to improve our air quality.

•Develop a Scottish Air Quality Indicator to assist in assessing compliance with air quality legislation and delivery of the CAFS objectives

•Develop a national air quality public awareness campaign

•Support the on-going Greener Scotland communication campaigns, encouraging individuals to use the car less to improve their health and their local environment

WHAT YOU NEED TO DO:• Make green seem easy and normal • Make people realise what they’ve already achieved • Make them see the bigger picture • Appeal to hearts, minds, national pride and purse

WHAT YOU NEED TO AVOID• Making green seem weird or undoable• Overloading people; only focus on the achievable• Making people feel bad for the things they can’t do

‘’Communication campaigns can modify driver behaviour but…

…barriers to changes in driver behaviours include (i) no clear linkage between AQ emissions and impacts and (ii) lack of alternatives.’

Par Hill Research 2014

REPUTABLE SOURCES•Medical community•Scientists•Health/Environmental NGOs•Government?

AGENTS OF CHANGE•Employers/Businesses

Key audiences

• Goal: Well informed, knowledgeable and responsible for their contribution.

• Approach: Specific focus on health and wellbeing impacts and benefits.

• Task: Awareness of personal actions

General public BusinessGovernment

# Tasks Target1 Scope out work package on developing a

Scotland specific air quality indicator, based on Daily Air Quality Index

Commission development of Scottish AQ indicator

March 2016

By end of 2016

2 Develop communication strategy outline (for national AQ awareness campaign) in conjunction with STEP/stakeholders.

Launch phase 1 of national air quality public awareness campaign

Evaluate phase 1 and prepare phase 2

Launch phase 2

March 2016

June 2016 onwards

October 2016

January 20173 Understand how existing Greener Scotland

campaign can support AQ messaging via action #2

February 2016

“If people do not trust you, then empowerment is artificial, it’s a shadow. You don’t empower people…without trust. Seek first to understand, then to be understood…if you want to influence.”

Stephen R. Covey

Dr Stephen Thomsonstephen.thomson@transportscotland.gsi.gov.uk

www.stepscotland.com@step_scotland