The summit reconvened the May Day Network, the largest group of businesses and organisations committed to take collective action, managed north of the border by Scottish Business in the Community. It heard from the Prince of Wales and Prime Minister Gordon Brown on the aim to engage 10,000 organisations by 2012.

The summit was designed to inspire business and organisation leaders to take steps towards a low carbon economy, by asking them to make pledges that involve action within their own companies and by engaging their employees, suppliers and customers.

Samantha Barber, chief executive of Scottish Business in the Community, welcomed the enthusiasm of the public sector toward the May Day Network: “Climate change affects us all whatever sector we happen to work in. The May Day Network offers a framework for collaborative action for organisations of all sizes and sectors. We believe the public sector can learn much from the private sector, and vice versa. Many of the businesses in the network have already made great progress in tackling their carbon footprint and are happy to work together with other sectors.”

Councillor Alison Hay, COSLA’s Regeneration and Sustainable Development spokesperson, said: “Many councils are ahead of the game, but we are all eager to drive forward real change, and taking this forward in partnership with business, the Scottish Government and others, will make our actions all the more effective.”

Among the public sector organisations leading the way are Scottish Enterprise, which has a programme covering energy use, waste, travel and staff engagement; Registers of Scotland, which has a carbon management plan for its buildings and an ‘eRegistration’ process aimed at reducing the 17m sheets of paper used annually to register land and property; and South Lanarkshire, which has a seven-point sustainable development plan, covering energy efficiency and waste management, transport and includes a scheme providing energy efficient lightbulbs to 30,000 households.