Issue - meetings

The Lead Councillor for Climate Change introduced a report by the Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE) Energy which was before the Board for consideration.  APSE Energy was APSE’s local authority energy collaboration arm and the report provided the findings of the carbon footprint calculations and trajectory towards the Council achieving net zero carbon by 2030, in accordance with the commitment in its Climate Emergency Declaration of 23 July 2019.

The report explained that the Council had been recording its carbon emissions since 2008/09, which was the baseline year utilised as a reference point to track performance.  The trajectory baseline carbon footprint year was nominated as the financial year of 2019/20, which was the reference point on which to base current emissions and to forecast the pathway to net zero carbon.  The carbon footprint was categorised into scopes, which covered:

o      Scope 1 (direct) emissions from activities owned or controlled by the Council, such as those from combustion in council owned or controlled boilers, furnaces and vehicles.

o      Scope 2 (indirect) emissions associated with purchased electricity, heat, steam and cooling as a consequence of the Council’s energy use that occurred at sources that the Council did not own or control.

o      Scope 3 (other indirect) emissions resulting from the Council’s actions that occurred at sources the Council did not own or control and were not classed as Scope 2 emissions.  These included business travel by means outside the Council’s ownership or control, and disposing of the Council’s own waste and purchased goods in the supply chain.

The carbon footprint from Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions within the Council’s operations equated to 8,613 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e).  It was estimated that a budget of £6.6million was required to reach net zero carbon by increasing energy efficiency in buildings, generating power and developing a tree planting scheme.  £26.6million capital was required to upgrade the vehicle fleet to electric, largely due to the 43 refuse lorries.  It was estimated that these initiatives would financially benefit the Council by £1.6million annually by 2030.  It was predicted that there would be 3,407 tonnes of CO2e from hard to reduce sources that would require offsetting through a solar farm and a tree planting scheme.

The Climate Change Officer gave a presentation in support of the report which outlined the following areas:

·             Context

·             Purpose and contents of the Trajectory Report

·             Carbon footprint

·             Net greenhouse gas emissions 2019-20 and emissions trend

·             Emissions relative to previous years and change in scope emissions over time

·             Energy consumption

·             Recommendations for data gathering

·             Pathway methodology

·             Interventions for reducing gas and electricity usage

·             Heat pumps

·             Achieving net zero carbon

·             Tree planting

·             Linear decarbonisation trajectory

·             Cumulative cost savings and forecast capital costs

·             Next steps

The following points arose from related questions, comments and discussion:

1.           In terms of procurement, carbon emissions were included in a miscellany category in related documentation.  Procurement could be influenced to reduce carbon emissions by procurement managers stating in specifications the associated carbon  ...  view the full minutes text for item 12