Sustainability Fair at Liberton High School

In early April the Communities team were invited to attend Liberton High School’s Sustainability Fair. We were thrilled to join an extensive group of organisations, to showcase how different industries working across Scotland are prioritising sustainability in their everyday operations and strategies. 

Last year, we launched Paper Trails, an ambitious, multi-year project, in partnership with Edinburgh Libraries and the Streetreads Library, celebrating and supporting the work that these vibrant cultural hubs do in the local community.  Over the next five years, we’re partnering with five library services across the city, including Liberton High School Library. Since the start of this partnership with Liberton back in July 2025 we have hosted a series of zine-making workshops with S1 pupils (which you can read more about here: Looking back on three weeks of zine-making! | Edinburgh International Book Festival) and an  eight-week Creative Career Pathways project, challenging S6 pupils to curate their dream book festival (more information on this coming soon!). We thought the invitation to this brilliant fair would be an interesting opportunity to present to students how we, as an international festival, navigate challenges around sustainability and environmental impact. 

We began our conversations with students on how the Book Festival operates across the year. We asked the question: ‘What do you think are the key challenges for an organisation which operates the way we do?’ and ‘What are some ways we can become more sustainable?’.  

Here are some of the key takeaways and observations made by students which came out of our discussions: 

International Travel and Literary Festival Coordination

Many conversations began with the big word ‘International’, and how our extensive range of authors coming from all corners of the globe is something that we carefully consider each year. We spoke about the ways we coordinate with other Festivals in Europe to offer international authors the opportunity to attend more than one festival; reducing flight travel and therefore achieving greater impact during their trip. 

Sustainable Travel Pilot

We also discussed how the process of travel could be altered all together. In 2025, three authors attending the book festival (Elaine Garvey, Clara Kumagai, Catherin Prasifka) travelled to Edinburgh through the Sustainable Travel Initiative in partnership with Culture Ireland, which encourages authors to travel via bus, train, ferry and foot, rather than traditional methods such as flying. Their use of lower-carbon methods resulted in a 25-32% emissions reduction per author and a total saving of 74.2 kgCO₂e. Here’s an article written by Elaine Garvey with reflections on her journey to Edinburgh:

Guest article: Slow travel to the Edinburgh International Book Festival 2025 - Culture for Climate Scotland. 

And for those seeking a little extra reading, here’s a report on our Sustainable Travel Pilot from its first year in 2024:

Digital/Virtual Events

Several students pointed out how the rise of technology can be advantageous to dealing with sustainability challenges. We discussed how the reality of streaming has allowed our audiences to enjoy quality events with international authors, who haven’t moved from their own homes. Whether this is for physical, political or environmental reasons, authors can attend their events digitally. And importantly, this also applies to audiences. In 2025, our libraries streaming project - where a selection of our Book Festival events where livestreamed to audiences in their local libraries- reached over 40 libraries and over 700 attendees across Scotland. 

Major Venue Change

We also spent some time reflecting on our major move to the Edinburgh Futures Institute, moving away from the previous Book Festival home in Charlotte Square. We discussed how operating within a new venue with pre-existing buildings and infrastructure has majorly reduced our use of energy (no longer needing multiple generators, allowing a process of equipment-sharing with new venue, reducing the scale of site-implementation). 

For us, the afternoon was an incredibly insightful way of learning how young people are considering the importance of sustainability and eco-consciousness with great attention and care. We are certain that amongst the many young voices we spoke to, there are some incredible characters who will be the future of Scotland’s sustainable transformation! 

 Thank you to Binks Trust, Cruden Foundation, Ettrick Charitable Trust, and Russel Trust for supporting Paper Trails in 2026. Our Community's Programme is made possible by players of Postcode Lottery.