Meeting documents

1 THE ISSUE

1.1 To sign off the Council's 5 year Carbon Management Plan, which has been developed with the support of the Carbon Trust over the last ten months, and which is the first main plank of the corporate Climate Change Work Programme.

2 RECOMMENDATIONS

2.1 That the Cabinet approves the Carbon Management Plan 2009-2014, bearing in mind that the work will be reviewed and updated each year as projects are completed and new projects developed and implemented throughout the five years.

2.2 That the Cabinet agrees that the Council aims to reduce carbon emissions from its operations by 30% April 2014, from the baseline established for the year 2007/08.

2.3 That the Cabinet notes that the agreed budget for 09/10 has included within it:

(1) £282,00 as an `invest to save' allocation to help finance this plan; and

(2) £200,000 of pump priming allocation to enable investment in projects that may not meet the `invest to save' criteria.

3 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

3.1 In summary, the investment needed over the five years to achieve a 30% cut in emissions is in the region of £5million, of which £2.5m relates to schools. This investment is estimated to save the Council and schools in the region of £5.7m to £8.3 million in avoided future energy costs over the five years and ongoing savings thereafter from many of the measures implemented, although the figures are highly dependent on varying forecasts of future energy prices. (The indicative investment programme for the five years can be found at Section 5 of the Plan at Appendix 1)

3.2 Funding of £482k for 2009/10 has been provisionally allocated by Council (£200k one-off and £282k invest to save) subject to final agreement of the Cabinet Member for Resources in consultation with the s151 office and the Chief Executive. Further work is needed to develop the mechanisms for funding carbon reduction work in schools, including taking advantage of external `invest to save' loan opportunities.

3.3 The Council will be included in the new Carbon Reduction Commitment mechanism that is being introduced to stimulate action by local authorities and others to reduce carbon emissions in line with the new statutory national targets (80% by 2050 and 34% by 2020). This cap and trade mechanism, administered by the Environment Agency, will begin in 2010 and will be financially neutral in the first two years. After that, depending on the cost of carbon at the time, the Council will be liable for financial penalties if it cannot demonstrate that it is reducing carbon emissions sufficiently fast. Participation in the Carbon Trust's Local Authority Carbon Management Programme over the last year, leading to the development of our first five-year Carbon Management Plan, puts us in a relatively good position with regard to the Carbon Reduction Commitment, so long as the plan is fully implemented and the carbon savings achieved.

3.4 The allocation of resources in future years will be subject to the annual budget setting process and this will need to take account of progress and performance arising from the investment in 2009/10, as well as analysis of the implications of the `cap and trade' arrangements.

4 CORPORATE PRIORITIES

5 THE REPORT

5.1 The Carbon Management Plan begins with the Council's vision to tackle the causes and effects of climate change, leading by example.

5.2 The Plan goes on to explain the Council's carbon footprint, for the baseline year 2007/8, which is 26,500 tonnes, and shows where the emissions are coming from. 44% comes from school buildings, 21% from Council buildings (offices, libraries, depots, car parks), 13% from street lighting, 11% from transport fuel and 11% from leisure facilities (Aquaterra).

5.3 The business case is explained and demonstrates the need to invest in order to avoid future increases in Council energy bills from today's £4.7m to anything between £6.9m to £11.6 m per annum, if we do nothing. Achieving a cut in energy consumption and carbon emissions of 30%, will save the Council between £5.7 m and £8.3m over the five years.

5.4 Twenty-seven carbon reduction projects have been identified and quantified so far. If all these were implemented, this would yield in the region of 3300 tonnes of carbon savings, out of the total 8000 tonnes that we need to save to achieve a 30% cut. We will implement those that will yield the biggest savings fastest first, with ongoing work across many departments to bring forward more projects over time, always seeking the most cost-effective and taking full account of the office rationalisation plan and schools' rebuilding and refurbishment programmes.

5.5 Financing of the programme is explained and was submitted to the Medium Term Service and Finance Planning process and is summarised in Section 3 above. Paragraphs 3.1 and 3.2 above.

5.6 The Plan finishes with sections on how carbon management will be embedded across the Council's services and through the management layers and how the programme of work will by managed. We recognise, in the Plan, the areas of weakness that could hamper successful development and implementation, and the Sponsors are actively tackling these to ensure success.

6 RISK MANAGEMENT

6.1 The report author and Lead Cabinet member have fully reviewed the risk assessment related to the issue and recommendations, in compliance with the Council's decision making risk management guidance.

6.2 There are a number of identified risks in this programme. These are managed through risk arrangements in the individual projects and through the Climate Change Advisory Group.

7 EQUALITIES

7.1 In the implementation of Our Big Energy Challenge, consideration was given to the impact of certain energy efficiency measures on people with physical and visual disabilities and promotional materials tested. Modifications were made as a result. The majority of the work in train now is internally focussed, particularly around energy efficiency measures in buildings, where disabilities in particular needs to be taken into account.

8 RATIONALE

8.1 The recommendation to approve the approach to cutting carbon emissions contained in the Carbon Management Plan is made following ten months' work with the Carbon Trust and completion of all the milestones in their Local Authority Carbon Management Programme. The Carbon Trust advises that we have a robust plan and that if we continue as we have started, we should be confident of our ability to deliver the 30% cut in carbon emissions by April 2014.

8.2 Local authorities who are now considered exemplars of best practice on climate change and carbon reduction have all been through the Carbon Trust programme and used their Carbon Management Plan to stimulate action on climate change not only across their own operations but, in the best cases, across their local strategic partnerships. Our experience of working on the programme and developing our own plan is already helping us to support our partners as they embark on the same journey. Implementation of the Plan and achievement of the target will strengthen our ability to lead work across the district to tackle climate change.

9 OTHER OPTIONS CONSIDERED

9.1 The Carbon Trust Local Authority Carbon Management Programme is the only carbon management programme designed specifically for local authorities.

10 CONSULTATION

10.1 Cabinet members; Overview & Scrutiny Panel; Staff; Other B&NES Services; Stakeholders/Partners; Other Public Sector Bodies; Section 151 Finance Officer; Chief Executive

10.2 Through meetings and discussions over the last year, the programme has been developed with input and support from the Climate Change Advisory Group made up of the Cabinet member, the Council's Energy Member Champion, Liberal Democrat and a member from the Labour group.

11 ISSUES TO CONSIDER IN REACHING THE DECISION

11.1 Sustainability; Human Resources; Property; Corporate; Impact on Staff

12 ADVICE SOUGHT

12.1 The Council's Monitoring Officer (Council Solicitor) and Section 151 Officer (Strategic Director - Support Services) have had the opportunity to input to this report and have cleared it for publication.