Lead Member – Councillor Ian Nellins – Deputy Leader, Portfolio Holder for Climate  

Change, Environment and Transport 

Report of Mark Barrow, Executive Director of Place 

RESOLVED

1.1.       That Cabinet approves the draft Corporate Carbon Performance Monitoring report 2021-22 (Appendix 1) for publication;

1.2.       That Cabinet supports:

i.        Efforts to widen understanding and ownership of the need for urgent climate action and carbon reduction through training and the identification of a staff ‘climate change’ champion in each service.

ii.       An Officer report being prepared to explore how the Council’s procurement policies can be updated to help accurately quantify and help suppliers to reduce indirect carbon emissions, which now account for around 93% of the Council’s corporate carbon footprint.

iii.     Work to prepare a corporate ‘Climate Change Adaptation’ strategy during 2023 to identify key climate risks, their potential impact on the delivery of council services, staff and service users and to set out actions and measures to moderate these risks.

The Portfolio Holder for Climate Change, Environment and Transport introduced the report explaining that whilst the level of the reduction in corporate carbon footprint was disappointing, the past three years of carbon monitoring had been influenced significantly by the covid pandemic.  There was also a lag between identifying potential actions and projects, the delivery of measurable savings and performance was expected to accelerate significantly in future years. 

During discussion members welcomed the carbon literacy training undertaken by senior staff and Cabinet members hoped this could be spread widely to all staff and members as soon as possible, and particularly procurement staff as a priority.  The work commissioned for a detailed analysis of supply chain carbon emissions was also welcomed as well as the continued investment in projects which did not benefit the council’s performance directly but would help to reduce emissions from communities and businesses.  Measures related to fuel and heating in buildings were also discussed and the need to work effectively with partners and lead the way for the county.

The Leader reported on efforts with local education providers to establish retro-fitting courses and recruitment issues experience on finding anyone to teach these.   

The Deputy Leader thanked the support from members on the cross party panel which was much valued alongside the hard work and expertise of the dedicated officer team.

RESOLVED

1.1.         That Cabinet approves the draft Corporate Carbon Performance Monitoring report 2021-22 (Appendix 1) for publication;

1.2.         That Cabinet supports:

i.        Efforts to widen understanding and ownership of the need for urgent climate action and carbon reduction through training and the identification of a staff ‘climate change’ champion in each service.

ii.      An Officer report being prepared to explore how the Council’s procurement policies can be updated to help accurately quantify and help suppliers to reduce indirect carbon emissions, which now account for around 93% of the Council’s corporate carbon footprint.

iii.     Work to prepare a corporate ‘Climate Change Adaptation’ strategy during 2023 to identify key climate risks, their potential impact on the delivery of council services, staff and service users and to set out actions and measures to moderate these risks.