Agenda item

To receive a presentation on the Cambridge Carbon Footprint Calculator and Charter.

Anni Sander, Cambridge Carbon Footprint, thanked the Chair for the opportunity to address the Panel and gave a presentation on the Cambridge Carbon Footprint Charter and Carbon Calculator tool.

The Chair thanked Anni Sander for her presentation.

Audio Recording – 1 hour 10 minutes.

Anni Sander, Cambridge Carbon Footprint, thanked the Chair for the opportunity to address the Panel and gave a presentation on the Cambridge Carbon Footprint Charter and Carbon Calculator tool highlighting:

·                Cambridge Carbon Footprint (CCF) was a small charity based in Cambridgeshire;

·                The Cambridge Climate Change Charter was designed to raise awareness of climate change and help people to take action;

·                The brief from Cambridge City Council as partner to the project was to create a charter to revitalise a historical project that had fallen out of use;

·                CCF delivered an online charter which individuals or businesses and organisations could sign up to featuring actions to take and pledges to reduce their carbon footprint, alongside a programme of events to raise awareness about the pledge and support signatories in their ongoing efforts to reduce their carbon footprint;

·                CCF had quantitative and qualitative means of assessing the success of the charter in recording the number of signatories and estimating the carbon savings from pledged actions;

·                Alongside the charter there was a Carbon Footprint Calculator available for individuals to input information about their housing, travel and day to day habits to help them understand their carbon footprint;

·                Businesses and organisations were signposted to other calculators and resources to help them assess their carbon contribution;

·                The charter included sections on measuring and reducing carbon output and indicated to the user which actions would have the most influence based on the sources of their carbon footprint;

·                Actions on the charter were supported with resources and information on their importance and effectiveness;

·                A total of 72 individuals and 14 businesses were signed up;

·                Limited events and marketing had been possible under pandemic conditions and take-up was not as high as had hoped, but CCF was ready to step up engagement efforts as restrictions eased;

·                Residents and businesses pledged so far had undertaken to save 25 tonnes of CO2.

The following Members and participants asked questions and took part in discussion:

·                Councillor Gerald Morris

·                Councillor Amy Allen

·                Councillor Mike Hughson

·                Councillor Steve Jarvis

·                Councillor Michael Muir

·                John Webb

In response to questions Anni Sander noted:

·                There was a ‘work from home,’ action in the Charter and working from home made a difference to carbon output in areas such as North Herts and Cambridgeshire where people often commute by car;

·                A business sustainability plan should include making facility for home working;

·                The 25 tonnes of CO2 saved was an estimate based on actions pledged by signatories to the charter;

·                The charter was open to everybody to sign, and relevant to residents of North Herts, particularly in Royston or areas close to Cambridgeshire;

·                Data collected by the charter was shared with Cambridge City Council as a partner organisation but it may be possible to differentiate between Cambridgeshire- and Hertfordshire- based signatories;

·                Some of the charters’ values and actions were specific to Cambridge but most of them were applicable to all residents of the south east of England;

·                The charter collected email addresses to onboard residents to newsletters and to allow CCF to check on progress on pledges and ask for feedback;

·                The calculator allowed you to record your results and resubmit answers to allow residents to measure any change in their output;

·                There were other calculators around e.g a WWF tool and other charters/pledges had been produced but to their knowledge CCF’s offer was the first time a calculator and charter had been presented by a Local Authority;

·                There was a balance to be struck between providing accurate and detailed calculation tools and maximising engagement.

The Chair thanked Anni Sander for her presentation.