Carbon Neutral Cornwall We hope that the Localism workshops, for - - PDF document

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Localism workshop

Carbon Neutral Cornwall

We hope that the Localism workshops, for Cornwall’s local councils and community groups, will help you and us to benefit from sharing knowledge, ideas, resources and solutions. The Council can’t make Cornwall carbon neutral on our own and we know there is a huge amount of expertise within Cornwall’s

• communities. Thanks to you and other people like you there is some

great work happening right across Cornwall to help communities become net carbon neutral and to tackle climate change together. I’d like to thank you for joining us today and am really interested to hear about what you are all doing. I’m going to give you a quick update on what the Council is doing now.

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The risks in Cornwall

• 1. Disadvantaged and vulnerable

most likely to be impacted

• 2. Vulnerable coastline
• 3. Seasonal changes will impact food chains

The Motion: January 2019

• 1. Declare a ‘climate emergency’
• 2. Lobby for resources and powers
• 3. Prepare an Action Plan towards carbon

neutrality by 2030 published July 2019

Cornwall Council – Climate emergency

Cornwall is one of least developed areas in Europe with a series of challenges including fuel and transport poverty that will be further impacted by climate change. The Council declared a climate emergency and provided resources to develop the Action Plan that has shaped the Council’s initial activity, required to transition towards becoming carbon neutral by 2030. This is an ambitious target, that will require us all to act in our capacity as residents and local leaders in Cornwall.

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Cornwall’s carbon footprint

After declaring an emergency, it was important to appreciate Cornwall’s current carbon footprint to understand the highest emitting sectors and help inform the areas we needed to focus on. In developing the Action Plan we also spoke to thousands of residents to understand their views on the options we were considering. Based on the data available at the time Cornwall’s current carbon footprint is 4 million tonnes of Co2e. Preliminary figures, since the last Greenhouse Gas inventory, tell us that Cornwall’s Co2e footprint has reduced by around 19.5% since 2011, primarily due to the 37% of our electricity that now comes from renewable sources.

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Cornwall’s greenhouse gas emissions

Cornwall’s carbon emissions come from four main areas:

• Commercial / industrial buildings
• Road transport
• Heating and running our homes, and
• Agriculture

The other areas are important too but reducing green house gases in the four main areas will achieve the biggest results towards carbon neutrality.

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Do nothing v aiming for 2030 / 2050

We all know that doing nothing isn’t an option. The Government has set a target for the UK to become carbon neutral by 2050. Cornwall Council has set a target for Cornwall to become carbon neutral by 2030; that will be much harder but if we aim to achieve more we will make a difference sooner so by 2050 we will be able to make a bigger difference.

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We are building on previous work such projects under the Green Cornwall programme:

• Retrofitting houses
• Installing electric vehicle infrastructure
• Promoting community projects
• Developing potential new forms of power

(geothermal). The Environmental Growth Strategy is driving major investments in innovative flood reduction programmes, biodiversity improvements and business engagement. Local Transport Plan – working to transform and integrate the public transport network and improve rail services as well as promoting active travel, identifying town wide walking and cycling networks.

Building on what has already been achieved

We are not starting from scratch. We are building on existing programmes of work including: The Green Cornwall programme, Environmental Growth Strategy and Local Transport Plan which all have a green growth focus alongside the 50:50 Future Cornwall Strategy.

Within our Carbon Neutral Cornwall programme:

• We have already invested in the UK’s first deep geothermal heat and power projects

at United Downs and the Eden Project ‐ with the potential to create a new energy sector for the UK

• We are one of the only regions of the UK to see an increase in public transport use

and that has led to us securing £23 million to support new bus subsidies, which will start during 2020 to help reduce bus fares, and

• We are capturing methane from slurry pits on some of our own Council owned farms

that is being adapted as bio‐fuel that is being used in our first CORMAC bio‐gas van and to run a ‘Hot Box’ road resurfacing machine. 6

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Areas we can influence or ask for nationally Areas we can influence locally Areas we can enable through policy Areas we can enable through funding Areas we directly control and guide

Cornwall Council’s role in the system

Cornwall Council emissions account for around 1.5% of Cornwall as a whole and it is important that we acknowledge our role in the areas we can control and the need for systems leadership to deliver on the ambitious target. In developing our Action Plan we looked at what is directly within our control, what we can enable and influence through our funding and policy, along with what we will need to ask for nationally. We have a direct role in making changes to Council services and the responsibilities within our direct control ‐ for example our buildings, highways and waste, but will need to work with others to tackle the

• ther 98.5% of emissions. We can’t do this on our own and we need

the ‘hive mind’ of Cornwall to help.

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Striving towards Carbon Neutral Cornwall

As well as getting our own house in order to strive towards becoming a Carbon Neutral Council, we are working with different sectors to help Cornwall become carbon neutral as well. There are several areas we have to focus on for Cornwall to reach carbon neutrality:

• All the electricity we use must ultimately come from clean

production technologies

• Road vehicles will need to be running on near zero carbon
• We will need to consume less and repair more of our products
• Next to no buildings will have to use oil, gas or coal to warm them
• Our land (and coast) will need to be managed differently to absorb

more CO2

• We will need to focus on clean growth, and
• We will need to create less waste, recycle and compost more, and

be more innovative to create circular economies.

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• Council’s Operational Programme:

Councils’ control

• Cornwall Facilitation Programme:

Council as enabler or partner

• Cornwall Regional and

National Programme: Working across border and with Government

Our Action Plan – three emerging programmes

Cornwall Council’s Action Plan is split into three parts acknowledging

• ur role in the system:
• an operational programme that focuses on getting our own house

in order, and leading by example and sharing good practice

• the areas we can facilitate as an enabler or partner through

funding, policy and partnership working and

• where we can build on our strong track record of delivery, and

work with other regions and the Government to secure additional powers and funding to respond to the climate emergency.

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Update on Cabinet’s early priorities

Whole House Retrofit Forest For Cornwall Climate Change Delivery Plan Document (DPD)

Since July last year we have focused initially on three immediate priority projects, identified in our Action Plan, and we have made good progress on them: We have secured funding from the Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy and SSE Energy, and the Council is contributing £2m to create a £4m fund for our Whole House Retrofit Project that will reduce the running costs of 83 Cornwall Council owned homes ‐ by up to 20% and carbon emissions by 80%. Work has commenced on a Climate Change Development Plan Document or DPD which will provide policy for requiring future development in Cornwall to be more energy efficient; the use of renewables; and managing coastal change and flood areas. We have Rob with us today to tell you more about that later. The first trees towards the 8,000 hectare Forest for Cornwall were planted in Saltash in December with the help of residents, volunteers and local schoolchildren, the Town Council, and representatives from

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partner organisations, charities and businesses. Everyone can let our Forest for Cornwall team know of any trees planted using the contact form on our website cornwall.gov.uk/forestforcornwall where we also have a tree‐o‐meter that is tracking how many trees have been planted ‐ which is currently over 52,000. We have Roxana with us today to help with any queries you have about the Forest for Cornwall.

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Decision making

Acknowledging the need to consider social justice and to ensure that residents are not worse off, in developing our response the climate emergency we have introduced the new climate change decision making tool, based on the Kate Raworth Doughnut Economics model. The decision making wheel has already been utilised in all Cabinet decisions since September. The tool aims to show the environmental and social implications of proposed decisions to ensure that neither

• ur climate or people are negatively impacted by the decisions the

Council makes. The tool is being rolled out across all of our decision making processes, challenging our strategies, procurement and investment decisions with the purpose of placing people and the climate at the heart of our strategies and decisions to create a ‘New Normal’ way of working.

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Moving to a Carbon Neutral Council

Showcasing sustainable farming practices on our own farms Rationalisation and improvement to our office estate Removing avoidable single use plastic from our estate Reducing our paper consumption Improving Council recycling rates Model for retrofitting homes being tested on 83 of our housing stock Ensuring new builds developed with renewable heating and electricity generation Transitioning up to 60 of the Councils pool cars fleet to ULEV Developing a corporate travel plan to reduce our business and commute travel Renewing our energy contract to a green tariff Increasing our renewable energy created on council estate Using council land and resources to accelerate Forest for Cornwall Pilot bio‐methane capture solution

• n six farms as proof of concept

Embedding climate change into

• ur own

governance and decision making Improving the carbon literacy

• f staff and

helping them to make more sustainable choices

In moving towards being a carbon Neutral Council, as well as embedding climate change into our own governance and decision making, we are helping our staff to understand what is meant by and involved in carbon neutrality and helping them to make more sustainable choices. As part of this work we are:

• Showcasing sustainable farming practices on our own Council owned

farms

• Replacing up to 60 of our pool cars with electric vehicles, and

developing a corporate travel plan to reduce our business and commuting travel, and we are

• Renewing our energy contract to a green tariff.

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Lobbying for a Carbon Neutral Cornwall

Responding to the National Infrastructure Strategy New waste legislation New Homes Standard Resources to support mass scale retrofit Bring forward commitment to ban sale of new diesel/petrol vehicles New measures to support modal shift towards public transport and active travel Strategic investment in Cornwall’s energy grid Partnering with West Midlands Combined Authority to pilot energy innovation zones Responding to the new Environment Bill Reform the Common Agriculture Policy or Brexit equivalent to promote low carbon and regenerative agricultural

Lobbying Government Responding to legislative change

Beyond making changes to how we operate as a Council, we are lobbying Government for the national legislation and resources required to help Cornwall become carbon neutral. We are pressing Government for the financial and training requirements needed to undertake the mass housing retrofit of all Cornwall’s housing stock, along with a quicker transition towards the Future Homes building regulations standard, and the facilitation of strategic investment and reinforcement in the South West’s grid to ensure that vital electricity grid upgrades are made in a timely manner.

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Moving to a Carbon Neutral Cornwall

Working with partners to shape sector plans Local Industrial Strategy with a focus on clean growth Mobilising new waste contract Piloting initiatives to develop a circular economy Improving our understanding of the condition of Cornwall’s housing stock Providing critical investment to warm some of our most fuel poor homes Increase bus use through new bus contract and capped fare scheme Increase Cornwall’s EV charge point network Assessing the viability of

• ffshore wind & investing in

deep geo‐thermal Partnering with West Midlands Combined Authority to pilot energy innovation zones Develop partnership approach to achieve Forest for Cornwall Develop offsetting scheme

Setting policy to enable more energy efficient homes, promote the use of

Facilitating community engagement, co‐design and behaviour change

renewables and manage coastal change and flood areas

Promoting active travel with new trails and trialing new public e‐bike scheme

To support Cornwall in moving towards Carbon Neutrality the Council is setting policy to enable more energy efficient homes, promote the use of renewables and the need to manage coastal change and flood areas. We are facilitating community engagement and co‐design – through events like these, and encouraging behaviour change through social media campaigns and have adopted the Eden Project’s pledges.

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Involving stakeholders

Working collaboratively

We are working with and involving experts, key stakeholders and communities through collaborative working. Early priority initiatives include:

• Sector Specialists Panel
• Localism Climate Change Cluster Workshops
• Community Stakeholder Group
• Youth Panel

As well as engaging through the existing Council’s Resident ePanel.

We are working collaboratively with and involving experts, key stakeholders and communities, our early priority initiatives include:

• Sector Specialists Panel
• Localism Climate Change Cluster Workshops
• Community Stakeholder Group
• Youth Panel

And we will be engaging through the existing Council’s Resident ePanel. 15

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We are working with partners to co‐design and co‐host ‘Team Cornwall’ Community Stakeholder Groups to help facilitate collaborative working, sharing information and best practise as part of a ‘Hive Mind’ The ‘Team Cornwall’ Community Stakeholder Group will bring together keys audiences and influencers and Cornwall Council will be one of the many partners helping to co‐host events.

Team Cornwall Plc

The Council is working with partners to co‐design and co‐host ‘Team Cornwall’ Community Stakeholder Groups to help facilitate collaborative working, sharing information and best practise as part of a ‘Hive Mind’ approach. The ‘Team Cornwall’ Community Stakeholder Group will bring together keys audiences and influencers and Cornwall Council will be

• ne of the many partners helping to co‐host events.

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Team Cornwall ‘Hive Mind’

Local meetings Local meetings

Cornwall Stakeholder Group

Cornwall Stakeholder Group

Local meetings

We have had initial conversations with the Voluntary Sector Forum, the Eden Project and the Good Companions about co‐hosting ‘Hive Mind’ events to help bring together local community leaders,

• rganisations, and groups to share knowledge, ideas, resources and

solutions. Knowledge shared through the Team Cornwall Hive Mind can be taken back to local groups and communities to inform their own choices and actions. Much as we hope these Localism workshops will help you in supporting your own organisations and local areas. Thank you for joining us today and for making a difference. Community groups and other organisations sharing information and inspiration will be crucial to the success of Cornwall reaching carbon neutrality together.

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Thank you / Meur ras

There is lots of information on our website: www.cornwall.gov.uk/climatechange

There is lots of information about how you can get involved as individuals, organisations and communities on our website www.cornwall.gov.uk/climatechange 18