Issue - meetings

The Council considered the first annual report of the Climate Change Board which summarised the Board’s activities and achievements, including a summary of the reduction of the Council’s carbon emissions for 2022/23. 

Councillors noted that, in 2019, the Council had committed to achieving net-zero carbon emissions across its operations by 2030 and making the entire borough carbon neutral. However, the initial years faced significant challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic, financial pressures and resource constraints, which slowed progress. By early 2023, the Council had established and adopted a comprehensive Climate Change Action Plan (CCAP), which had set out a roadmap for reducing emissions across nine key areas of the Council’s business and operations.

Since the declaration of the Climate Emergency in 2019, the Council had:

·      Formed a Climate Change Board (CCB) to oversee the Council's climate initiatives.

·      Established a carbon emission baseline and set a carbon reduction trajectory.

·      Adopted a Climate Change Action Plan (CCAP) to provide a pathway to achieve GBC’s carbon reduction and climate change goals.

·      Completed 19 of the 305 actions described in the CCAP, while 86 were in active development.

·      Adopted a Corporate Strategy within the past year which included sustainability as one of the key priorities.

The Report noted that, for 2022/23, the Council had recorded a net carbon footprint of 7,472 tonnes of CO2 equivalent (tCO2e), representing a 13% reduction from the baseline year of 2019. Additionally, 2022/23 emissions were slightly lower than the previous year.  Both 2020/21 and 2021/22 were considered as “non-standard” years in terms of the Council’s activities, due to the Covid pandemic and subsequent recovery period. This indicated that there had been real-terms progress in carbon reductions in the most recent year for which figures were available. However, despite this progress, the Council was currently not on track to meet its 2030 net-zero target.

The report had identified and acknowledged that there remained ongoing challenges in terms of financial and resource constraints and the complexities of measuring Scope 3 emissions (indirect emissions from procurement, contracts, and services).

Whilst significant progress had been made since 2019, achieving net-zero by 2030 remained an ambitious goal requiring continued effort, innovation, and collaboration.  The Council was committed to overcoming these challenges and would continue to refine its strategies to ensure meaningful reductions in carbon emissions, in line with both local and national climate objectives. The Council’s CCB would play a critical role in monitoring and advising on these efforts and ensuring that the borough remained on the path to sustainability.

At its meeting on 3 October 2024, the Executive had also considered this report and had commended it to full Council in recognition of the Council’s current carbon emissions and climate change status.

The Lead Councillor for Environment and Climate Change, Councillor George Potter proposed, and Councillor Joanne Shaw seconded the adoption of the motion to formally adopt the annual progress report.

During the debate the following points were made:

·      Concern that the reduction of carbon emissions from the Council’s operations was off track  ...  view the full minutes text for item 51

Decision:

Noted the report and commended it to full Council (meeting on 8 October 2024) in recognition of the Council’s current carbon emissions and climate change status.

Reason(s):

The Climate Change Board is constitutionally a working group of the Executive and is required to report on its business and achievements to the Executive at least annually. On 23 July 2024, full Council adopted a new Corporate Strategy that included a ‘more sustainable borough’ at Priority 1 and once again reinforced this Council’s commitment to reaching net zero by 2030. For this reason, the Executive is asked to refer the report to full Council for its wider circulation, engagement, and comment.

Other options considered and rejected by the Executive:

None.

Details of any conflict of interest declared by the Leader or lead councillors and any dispensation granted:

None.

The annual report set out an overview of the council’s progress in its ambition to reach net zero by 2030 in recognition of the Climate Emergency declared by full Council in July 2019.

Included, was a summary of the activities and achievements of the Council’s Climate Change Board (CCB) and a summary of the reduction of the Council’s carbon emissions for the fiscal year 2022/23. There was a lag on reporting in this respect and it was expected there would be a further report detailing the council’s more recent emissions data in the spring.

The report also set out progress and achievements made following the adoption of the Climate Change Action Plan (CCAP) in March 2023.

Since adoption of the CCAP there had been good progress made against a broad spectrum of actions and of those nineteen actions had already been completed and eighty-six were in progress. Past emissions data had seen an ongoing decline albeit somewhat affected by the pandemic period.

Climate change was now a key priority within the council’s recently adopted Corporate Strategy which would influence service plans and budgets across the organisation.

In regard to the trajectory, it was noted that the current illustration of progress as a gentle, continuing decline would be unlikely. More likely, there would be step changes as the council implemented its policy commitments, for example the decarbonisation of the waste fleet. It was also expected that some offsetting might be involved. The trajectory could be used to set the council’s carbon budget and was itself an important tool for the organisation. The coming 3-4 years would be critical for the council in terms of reaching Net Zero by 2030.

The CCB partnership work was noted as was the ambition of the council in setting itself high targets. The current constraint on resources was also noted but it was hoped budgets would enable additional resource as soon as was prudent.

RESOLVED:

To note the report and commend it to full Council (meeting on 8 October 2024) in recognition of the Council’s current carbon emissions and climate change status.

Reason(s):

The Climate Change Board is constitutionally a working group of the Executive and is required to report on its business and achievements to the Executive at least annually. On 23 July 2024, full Council adopted a new Corporate Strategy that included a ‘more sustainable borough’ at Priority 1 and once again reinforced this Council’s commitment to reaching net zero by 2030. For this reason, the Executive is asked to refer the report to full Council for its wider circulation, engagement, and comment.