Agenda item

Carbon Action Work Plan Update [30 Minutes]

This report provides an update on projects within the Action Plan and an overview of the Council’s Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions for the 2021-2022 financial year. 

 

Minutes:

The Climate Change and Sustainability Manager presented the update report to members where he advised that it contained the emissions update for the 2021/22 financial year as well as  updates to a number of projects that have been going on over the last year. . He then highlighted the following key points;

 

·       Not all projects were able to have emission figures reported currently, these have been included where they are available.

·       The main body of the action plan provides information on sustainable projects that the council had undertaken and completed, were currently being undertaken or were planned for as future work.

·       Scope 1 – emissions directly attributed to the burning of fuels e.g., running the council’s fleet and heating of council offices.

·       Scope 2 – indirect emissions from the generation or purchase of electricity

·       Scope 3 – the activities of the council occurring from sources not owned or directly controlled by the council, these are both up and down stream sources and included things such as commuting, business travel and procurement. Scope 3 was confirmed as the most challenging area to reduce.

·       Scope 1 and 2 made up only 0.75% of total emissions with the remaining 99.25% lying within Scope 3

 

The projects detailed within the document are those which will result in the direct and indirect reduction of carbon usage. It was stated that it was important for members to note that the council must have a significant focus on its procurement as it was the highest and most challenging area to reduce and without a significant reduction in this area, an overall all significant reduction would not be achievable.

 

The Chair then invited questions and discussion from members. Discussion was had regarding the work being completed to reduce the number of diesel vehicles used by the council’s waste contractor, Biffa. It was confirmed that a number of options were being reviewed, however, the Officer did not believe that the technology in terms of electric vehicles was where it needed to be, in order to provide the significant reduction, the council wanted to see made. It was also stated that the council would be guided by Biffa in terms of the consideration of vehicle types e.g. electric, hydrogen etc as Biffa would be the users of the vehicles. A request was made from the Director of Environment and Communities for confirmation of the addition revenue and capital figures were regarding the food waste collections, the Director of Environment and Communities confirmed a written response would be provided. 

 

A request was made to obtain further information from Biffa in relation to the procurement emissions as it would be good for members to understand what Biffa’s performance in this area was currently, including their own plans on future targets.

 

Discussion moved on to reviewing of opportunities to install additional solar PV on council estates, including car parks and leased buildings. It was commented that it would be beneficial for the Alexandra Theatre in Bognor Regis to be included in this work.. Moving on to action point 22 in the action plan, it was asked if there had been any additional research completed on the water usage at recreation grounds for which the council had responsibility. Further information was sought on the councils Climate Champions and the training being offered to employees; would this also be rolled out to members? It was confirmed that the council had recently undertaken several building audit, this work included reviewing options to install PV . Once the results of these audits are reviewed and details finalised these could be shared with members. The officer then advised that the climate champions were a group of officers who had shown a keen interest in climate change and biodiversity, this group of officers were being updated regularly so that they can spread the message to the wider employee audience around what the council is doing around climate change. In terms of training, some staff had completed a recent 8-hour training session called Carbon Literacy training, however there would be some e-learning being created to specifically be shared with members (and officers) in the future. A written response was agreed for the information requested regarding water usage at council recreation grounds.

 

Discussion then moved on to the financial figures included in the report, specifically how much had been spent on phase one and what was left to spend on phase two. It was confirmed that phase one had seen £28,000 spent with the remaining budget left for phase two. The officer agreed to review the figures to ensure that they matched correctly.

 

In summing up the Chair reminded members that the continuation of the weekly bin collections was the cheapest option and that the weekly food collection costs were the most expensive. Moving to the recommendations the Chair confirmed that each recommendation would be votes on separately as had been requested.

 

The recommendations were then proposed by Councillor Goodheart and seconded by Councillor Stanley. Upon the vote being taken recommendation 2.3 was not carried and, therefore.

 

The Committee

                    

                     RESOLVED that it

                    

2.1. Continued to support the work of the Climate Change and Sustainability Manger in reducing the Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions produced by the Council

2.2. Notes the report, particularly the challenges identified in reducing Co2 emissions referred within the conclusion of the report.

 

Supporting documents: