Issue - meetings

REPORT OF THE POLICY AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT MANAGER

This report proposes a refreshed version of the Climate Change Strategy that was originally adopted in 2020 and amended in 2021. This refreshed version is The Climate Change Strategy 2022-2027.

RESOLVED: That Cabinet

(1)  Adopted the following documents, taking into consideration the additional actions proposed under each priority area:

·         Appendix 1 Climate Change Strategy 2022-2027

·         Appendix A Proposed Actions

·         Appendix B Achievements

(2)  Reflects on the Climate Change Strategy for contracted services when considering the revision of the Procurement Policy.

REASON FOR DECISION: In 2019, the Council passed a motion to declare a Climate Emergency. In this motion the Council pledged their commitment to do everything within their power to become carbon neutral by 2030. This iteration of the Strategy has been revised to reflect the latest legislation, research, and best practice; and includes additional proposed actions under each priority area to respond to gaps we have identified. Appendix B Achievements lays out progress against each action.

Audio recording – 16 minutes 58 seconds

The Executive Member for the Environment and Leisure presented the report entitled ‘Climate Change strategy 2022-2027’ and advised of the following:

·         This was an update to the previous strategy, taking into account changes in policy locally and nationally.

·         There were no changes to the objectives within the report and it did not change the actions to be taken to find savings on emissions.

·         The report had been updated to highlight the progress made and what had been achieved. It also added further requirements on the Council as technology, policy and requirements change.

The Chair of Overview and Scrutiny Committee presented the referral on this item and noted:

·         There had been a good level of debate and discussion on this item, with lots of information provided by the Executive Member.

·         It was interesting to see that the emissions of the main Council contractors would be included as part of our targets and this was felt to be a positive concept, as it would have been easy to omit these from the calculations to reduce the emissions of the Council.

·         The recommendations in the report were approved, with an additional recommendation included to request that Cabinet reflect this policy when revising and updating the Contract Procurement Policy at a later Cabinet meeting.

In response to a comment from Councillor Ruth Brown that this policy felt more ambitious than the previous version, the Executive Member noted that good progress had been made on assessing the current situation and what needed to be done to achieve goals. This means that areas to target for offsetting emissions had been identified and it just left questions as to when and how these would be achieved. The report offered a comprehensive overview of the progress made to date.

Councillor Steve Jarvis proposed and Councillor Elizabeth Dennis-Harburg seconded and, following a vote, it was:

RESOLVED: That Cabinet

(1)  Adopted the following documents, taking into consideration the additional actions proposed under each priority area:

·         Appendix 1 Climate Change Strategy 2022-2027

·         Appendix A Proposed Actions

·         Appendix B Achievements

(2)  Reflects on the Climate Change Strategy for contracted services when considering the revision of the Procurement Policy.

REASON FOR DECISION: In 2019, the Council passed a motion to declare a Climate Emergency. In this motion the Council pledged their commitment to do everything within their power to become carbon neutral by 2030. This iteration of the Strategy has been revised to reflect the latest legislation, research, and best practice; and includes additional proposed actions under each priority area to respond to gaps we have identified. Appendix B Achievements lays out progress against each action.