Agenda item

This report provides an update on the emissions (Scope 1, 2 and 3) of the Council for the 2022-2023 financial year.

The Climate Change and Sustainability Officer presented his report which was providing the Committee with an update on the emissions (Scope 1, 2 and 3) of the Council for the 2022-2023 financial year which the Committee was being asked to note.

Each of the scopes was explained in detail with the report providing an overview in terms of where each of the scope’s emissions were sitting for the 2022-2023 year whilst also providing a comparison to the baseline year which was 2020 to 2021 financial year. 

Having provided a detailed presentation, it was confirmed that the Council’s overall total emissions had been reduced across the Council and this could be confirmed as a 35% reduction.  A breakdown was provided for each scope as set out below:

·         Scope 1 had seen a minor increase in emissions relating to gas from heating the Council’s buildings, but a reduction in terms of fuel used for fleet vehicles as a result of the Council transitioning its vehicle fleet to all electric vehicles.

·         Scope 2 – emissions had remained at zero as the Council had continued to purchase its electricity from renewable technologies with the Council reporting market based rather than location based emissions meaning the Council was measuring based on its purchasing decisions.

·         Overall, for Scope 1 and 2, this had seen a drop from 392 in 2021 to 2022 to 170 tCo2e in 2022-2023. By following actions within the Climate Change and Biodiversity Work Plan there was potential for these to be even further reduced.

·         Scope 3 – as expected continued to be where most of the Council’s emissions sat. This scope continued to be the largest source of emissions sitting at 99%, with the two largest single emitters being, purchased goods and services (91%) and leisure centres (6%).  The total tCo2e had seen a significant reduction but this was still an area needing to continue to be looked at with increasing urgency and commitment. It was explained that the levels of reduction were likely to be linked to the changes in methodology used by the consultants and the general inaccuracy of using spend data to monitor supplier emissions. As part of this year’s work procurement emissions would be addressed by targeting the Council’s top suppliers and engaging with them more around climate action.

In conclusion, it was important to ensure emissions were reduced across all scopes to reach the 2030 Carbon Neutral target. Overall, total emissions had reduced across the Council representing a 35% reduction. As part f the Climate Change and Biodiversity Action Plan, the Council had also undertaken numerous projects which were also supporting reducing emissions reduction and Arun’s impact on the environment.  Appendix A to the report provided the full set of results for the 202-2021 and 2022-2023 financial years with Appendix B providing the comparisons across all three years.

These results showed a step in the right direction, but no at a fast enough rate, threatening the Council’s chance of achieving its Carbon Neutral target by 20230.

The Climate Change and Biodiversity Action Plan was being revised in accordance with the updated results along with specific actions and would be reported to the next meeting of the Policy & Finance Committee on 7 March 2024.

Following the detailed presentation provided, many questions were asked by the Committee. Looking at the methodological changes, what were the consequences of those changes in terms of what was not being counted and in comparison, to what was being counted before. It was explained that this was very difficult to quantify and at the moment like for like figures were not available, however, contact would be made with the consultants to obtain as much information as possible.  This led to further discussion and a request being made that Officers arrange for a multi-year contract to be placed with a contractor so that methodologies could be compared year on year and comparable data achieved.

The Joint Interim Chief Executive and Director of Environment and Communities confirmed that this would be investigated by Officers and that an update on progress would be brought to the Committee.

A request was made for further detail on the report from the consultant to be emailed to Councillors. It was agreed that this would be actioned.  A spreadsheet providing a summary of the actions listed and what had been achieved in the Climate Change Action Plan was also requested. It was explained that this information would be reported to the next meeting of the Committee. 

The Committee was pleased that there had been a significant reduction in reduction in emissions and this was seen as a very positive step in the right direction, however, at not a fast enough rate. In order for the Council to achieve its 2030 target, were there any other measures that the Council should be adopting to ensure that the target would be achieved. In response, it was confirmed that the biggest issue to overcome was that of procurement with this being an extremely difficult area to reduce and so many other councils were struggling. Additionally, the Council could look to upgrade its buildings to help further Scope 1, but this would represent a very small saving. The best next step would be to deep dive into procurement. The Council had results from some exercises completed and so it needed to start implementing them to address this.

The Committee then gave its permission for a non-Committee member to address the meeting. Reference was made to the Council’s leisure facilities and what success had been made in ensuring that such buildings installed solar panels. A similar request was made in relation to the Council’s housing stock and possibly beach huts. It was confirmed that PV panels had been installed to the south elevation on the wet side at the Arun Leisure Centre. There had also been a successful application to the swimming pool support fund for PV installation at the Wave in Littlehampton. Discussions were ongoing with Officers to source additional help to the leisure centre to reduce emissions. On social housing, this was not something that had been investigated by the Climate Change and Sustainability Officer as the Council’s housing emissions did not fall within scopes 1, 2 or 3. However, now that the new Group Head of Housing was in position this could be revisited. Beach huts had not been investigated but could be.

The Committee then noted the contents of the report.