HERTFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL
PLANNING & EXTERNAL RELATIONS CABINET PANEL
TUESDAY 7 APRIL 2009 AT 10.00 A.M.
Agenda Item No.
4
CLIMATE CHANGE UPDATE
Report of the Director of Environment
Contact: Bethan Clemence, Climate Change Officer
Tel:
01992 556296
Executive Member: David Lloyd (Performance and Resources)
1
Purpose
1.1 To update the Panel on the County Council’s climate change work
programme. Including an update on the County Councils CO 2
emissions for 2007/08, an assessment of the authority’s performance
in adapting to climate change and the position on the authority’s use
of natural resources self assessment for the CAA.
2
Summary
2.1
Activity on climate change within HCC has continued to progress
substantially since agreement to the 25% carbon reduction target back
in March 2008 and a substantial programme of work is now well
underway. This programme has the ultimate aim of reducing CO2
emissions across HCC and the local area, as well as incorporating
climate change into resilience planning and raising awareness on HCC’s
work in tackling climate change.
2.2 Implementation of the outcomes from the Authority’s Carbon
Management Strategy produced through the Carbon Trust’s Local
Authority Carbon Management Programme continues, supported by the
release of new HCC CO2 emissions data for 2007/08. Work is in
progress to establish systems and processes supporting the
implementation of CO2 saving initiatives, including additional funding
allocated as part of the 2009/10 budget.
2.3 In its first report on activity to adapt to climate change the authority will
be reporting that it has reached level 1 on a scale of 0 to 4 as of 31
March 2009.
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2.4 The recently completed self assessment on the authority’s use of natural
resources for CAA has indicated a score of 3 to 4, i.e. performing well to
performing strongly.
2.5 This report will also be considered by the Policy and Resources Cabinet
Panel.
3
Recommendations
That the Panel receive the report.
4
Background/ Context
4.1
The County Council signed the Nottingham Declaration on Climate
Change at the beginning of 2007, committing the County Council to
tackling climate change. Since signing that document HCC has
progressed a significant level of climate change work, including:
 Agreement of a carbon reduction strategy and the setting of a 25%
reduction target for organisational CO2 emissions by 2012/13.
 Establishment of a corporate climate change board to oversee activity
across the organisation.
 Switch-off campaigns at the authority’s main offices.
 Commissioning of adaptation research for ACS and Environment.
 Development of a climate change website.
 Establishment of a climate change partnership for Hertfordshire.
4.2
The introduction of the new national performance indicators on climate
change mitigation (action to reduce our CO2 emissions) and adaptation
(action to adjust to the unavoidable impacts of climate change) in early
2007 resulted in HCC embarking on a new and significant programme of
work. This will allow us to monitor and report CO2 emissions and
reduction annually, as well as integrating climate change adaptation into
the organisations resilience planning process.
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Reducing CO2 Emissions - Mitigation
5.1
Work within the County Council to reduce CO2 emissions is now well
underway with programmes aimed at reducing emissions from property
related energy use the most advanced. Additional measures have also
been agreed as part of the 2009/10 budget round to enhance activity on
energy efficiency works, particularly in schools, with the use of match
funding from Salix (part of the national Carbon Trust) to create a £1
million ring-fenced fund. In addition work to improve the monitoring of
energy use and CO2 emissions is progressing rapidly and the
information supporting this activity is being enhanced to enable better
decision making on future interventions.
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5.2
As part of the 2009/10 budget process an allocation of £543,000 capital
funding has been made available to support the creation of an enhanced
energy efficiency capital fund. This will be matched with funding from
the Carbon Trust through the Salix mechanism. This will create a ringfenced energy efficiency capital pot of £1 million which will be operated
over a minimum 5-year period with savings generated replenishing the
fund to enable further works to take place. This investment is expected
to deliver an additional £3.6 million investment in energy efficiency
during an initial 5 year programme and will result in circa 14,000 tonnes
of CO2 saving. This programme will be aimed at the worst performing
properties within the HCC property portfolio and in the first year of
operation this will include up to 50 secondary schools a few primary
schools as well as some of the authorities other sites such as County
Hall
5.3
The proposal for the creation of a corporate carbon reduction manager
who will take control of the authority’s responsibilities in relation to
emissions trading once the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) is
implemented was approved as part of the 2009/10 budget. The intention
is to have this post filled early in the new financial year to enable as
much preparation time for CRC. We will also be exploring with other
public sector organisations involved in CRC within the County
opportunities for partnership working on this issue.
5.4
For the first time the authority is being required to report its performance
on emissions reduction to government in its return on the new national
performance indicator NI185, the percentage reduction in emissions
from the authority’s estate and operations. The first reporting year is the
financial year 2008/09 and returns have to be submitted by the end of
July. In addition the responsibility of co-ordinating a County wide (HCC
plus all ten District Councils) return has been given to the County
Council
5.5
Information required for NI 185 relates to emissions arising from HCC’s
use of Buildings, Transport, Street Lighting and Outsourced Services.
As part of the preparation for the first years reporting an exercise to
gather data on HCC’s emissions for 2007/08 has been undertaken for
emissions from buildings, transport and streetlighting. This has now
been completed and is set out in appendix 1.
5.6
The programme to look at outsourced services has commenced with
activity to engage with contract managers and suppliers on information
required to support this indicator for 2008/09. A letter addressed from
the Director of Environment detailing data requirements has been sent to
all suppliers of outsourced services with whom the Authority spends over
£1million per annum. A series of pages on the County Council website
that can be directly accessed from the Authority’s existing supplier webportal have also been set up to support the engagement process.
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5.7
The results for 2007/08 show an increase in CO2 emissions of 11,181
tonnes (9.74%) between 2005/06 and 2007/08. This is due to more
emissions sources being included in the data and some changes in the
national conversion factors from energy use to CO2. A more detailed
explanation of these changes is given in appendix 1.
5.8
The 2008/09 emissions figures that will be available in July 2009 and
subsequent years will also include the emissions produced as a result of
HCC services that are delivered by outsourced suppliers. This is
expected to increase the Authority’s overall emissions totals.
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Adapting to climate change
6.1
HCC has undertaken a significant amount of work to support the
adaptation agenda. This has included:
 The preparation of the regional climate adaptation study, “Living with
Climate Change in the East of England”, completed in 2004.
 The development of a Local Climate Impacts Profile – this seeks to
assess the vulnerabilities and opportunities faced by HCC from
extreme weather events and future climate change
 The development of service briefing material on adaptation issues for
HCC departments
 Scoping and commissioning a climate change strategic risk
assessment of HCC’s key plans and policies.
 Worked with SERMU to assess the level of compatibility between
emergency planning and the climate change risk and monitoring
requirements of NI 188.
 Assessing the links between climate change and the Corporate Risk
Register, including the inclusion of key risks relating to climate change
adaptation and mitigation for 2009/10.
 On behalf of the Hertfordshire Environmental Forum, HCC led the
commissioning of groundbreaking research to review the impacts of
climate change upon the County’s NHS and Adult Care Services.
6.2
Over the coming 12 months work will focus on the active championing of
climate change adaptation across HCC, within all departments and
service areas in particular, ensuring that climate change impacts, risks
and potential adaptive responses are considered formally within policy
and budget decision-making.
6.3
For the first time we will be reporting our performance on climate change
adaptation as our response to National Indicator 188, adapting to climate
change. HCC’s target, in the 2009 to 2012 Corporate Plan, is to report
the achievement of level 2 on a scale of 0 to 4 by 2011. In May 2009 we
will be reporting that by 31 March 2009 we have achieved level 1
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Climate Change and CAA
7.1
As part of the new comprehensive area assessment process HCC has
completed an initial self assessment process relating to its use of
resources. One aspect of this self assessment was to look at the
authority’s use of natural resources, particularly energy, water, land,
materials and air. This assessment looked at 3 main lines of enquiry:
 does the authority understand and can it quantify its use of natural
resources?
 does the authority manage it‘s use of natural resources? and
 does the authority manage the environmental, risks it faces?
7.2
This sub-set of the self assessment has been submitted to the audit
commission with an estimated score of 3 to 4 with level 3 being:
consistently above minimum requirements; performing well and level 4
being; well above minimum requirements, performing strongly,
demonstrating innovation, strong outcomes for the community, achieving
excellent value for money. The process of discussion with the audit
commission on this self assessment is now underway and will take place
over the next few months.
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Next Steps
8.1
Over the next 6 months the climate change work programme is
focussing on the following activities:




Progression of corporate systems and processes to implement CO2
reduction initiatives across HCC.
Reporting on the climate change National Indicators:
 Compiling and reporting on energy and emissions data for HCC
property, transport, street lighting and outsourced services.
 Development of joint working with district councils to enable
area based reporting on NI185.
 Completing and reporting on the results of the Local Climate
Impacts Profile (LCLIP) process for HCC.
 Development of the HCC work programme on climate change
adaptation
Further development of HCC climate change web pages
Supporting the Hertfordshire Climate Change Partnership in their
activities
9
Financial Implications
9.1
There are no financial implications arising directly from this report,
however the introduction of the Carbon Reduction Commitment in April
2010 and the initial purchase of emissions allowance in 2011 will result
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in budget pressures which will need to be considered as part of the
2011/12 budget round.
Background information used in compiling this report
The New Performance Framework for Local Authorities & Local Authority
Partnerships: Single Set of National Indicators. Department for Communities
and Local Government, 2007.
National Indicators for Local Authorities and Local Authority Partnerships:
Handbook of Definitions, Draft for Consultation. Annex C4: Local Economy
and Environmental Sustainability. Department for Communities and Local
Government, 2007.
Analysis to Support Climate Change Indicators for Local Authorities. AEA
Energy & Environment Report to Department for Environment, Food and
Rural Affairs, 2007.
Climate Change Update Report, Hertfordshire County Council Policy and
Resources Cabinet Panel , 11 November 2008.
Consultation on the Draft Order to Implement the Carbon Reduction
Commitment, Department of Energy and Climate Change, The Scottish
Government, Department of the Environment Northern Ireland and Welsh
Assembly Government, 2009.
Local Authority Carbon Management Programme - Strategy and
Implementation Plan (SIP), Hertfordshire County Council and Carbon Trust,
2008.
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Appendix 1. Release of HCC CO2 emissions for 2007/08
A1. Figures detailing CO2 emissions from the use of energy in HCC property,
transport and street lighting for 2007/08 have been produced as a
preparatory exercise for the reporting on the new National Indicator 185
(CO2 reduction from LA operations). These figures also serve to update
HCC’s continuing progress on the Local Authority Carbon Management
Programme and have been reported to the Audit Commission in the
recent Use of Natural Resources Audit that forms part of the 2009 CAA.
A2. Emissions figures for 2007/08 are detailed in Table A1 alongside the
2005/06 emissions figures reported in the Local Authority Carbon
Management Programme Phase 5 Strategy and Implementation Plan
(LACM SIP).
Table A1. HCC CO2 emissions by source - 2005/06 and 2007/08
Property
Transport
Street Lighting
Total
CO2 emissions (tonnes)
2005/2006
2007/2008
91,478
97,709
5,193
5,985
18,142
22,300
114,813
125,994
A3. Emissions totals indicate a difference in CO2 emissions of 11,181 tonnes
(9.74%) between 2005/06 and 2007/08. The change in emissions has
been influenced by a number of factors that affect different areas of the
data, the two most prominent of which are detailed in A4 and A5.
A4. HCC has continued to improve the energy consumption data on which
CO2 estimates are produced for both its property and transport activities.
The overall quality of data has improved as the methods used to monitor
energy consumption become more robust, coupled with the fact that new
sources of emissions have, for the first time, been identified and included
in the 2007/08 report.
A5. To calculate CO2 emissions a set of nationally produced CO2 conversion
factors have been applied to energy consumption data. The conversion
factor for electricity use is derived from the various carbon intensities of
the mix of fuels used to produce electricity during that year. For 2007/08
this national energy mix shifted towards more carbon intensive fuel
sources (such as coal and other fossil fuels). When compared to
2005/06, the CO2 conversion factor for electricity use in 2007/08
increased by 21% from 0.43 to 0.523 kg CO2/kWh. The CO2 conversion
factor for gas remained consistently lower than that of electricity at 0.185
kg CO2/kWh and was the same for 2005/06 and 2007/08.
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A6. The two single biggest increases in HCC CO2 emissions over this period
came from electricity use in property and street lighting, with the
increase in the electricity conversion factor largely responsible.
A7. Property and buildings: Emissions from electricity use increased by
32.07% between 2005/06 and 2007/08 whilst emissions resulting from
the consumption of gas dropped by 9.32%. The majority of the rise in
electricity emissions is due to the increase in CO2 conversion factor, with
data improvements also contributing. The change in emissions from gas
use is due to improved data quality.
A8. Transport: Emissions increased by 15.25% between 2005/06 and
2007/08. The primary reason for this increase is due to the inclusion of a
greater number of emissions sources. Emissions from the entire Fire
and Rescue fleet (which accounts for 30% of the total fleet fuel usage for
2007/08), previously unrecorded mileage data for fleet vehicles operated
by the Environment Department and emissions from HCC rail and air
business travel are all new additions to transport figures for 2007/08.
When comparing like for like data on overall business (car) mileage, little
change is apparent.
A9. Street lighting: The energy consumption data on which the CO2
emissions figure from street lighting is based for 2007/08 is an update of
the 2005/06 data, and therefore emissions can be directly compared.
The amount of electricity consumed by street lighting increased very
slightly by 0.21% between 2005/06 and 2007/08. However, the
associated CO2 emissions increased by 23% over the same period. The
vast majority of the increase in emissions from street lighting is due to
the increase in the CO2 conversion factor for electricity.
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