Tag Archives: Carbon Emissions

New Climate Local Initiative Launched

Posted on June 29, 2012 by Admin

28 June 2012: Waltham Forest, Islington, Camden and Sutton are amongst the first 18 local authorities to sign up to a new ‘Climate Local Commitment’ launched today at the Local Government Association’s (LGA) annual conference.  Climate Local “will see councils committing to their own local actions to reduce carbon emissions and improve their ability to protect people and services from the anticipated changes in the weather.”

Climate Local will build on the Nottingham Declaration, launched in 2000, and the LGA news release states that “As part of the new scheme, local authorities will be sharing ideas and advice on the best ways to save money on their gas and electricity use and ensure there are preparations in place for keeping to a minimum disruption caused by extreme weather like snow, floods and heat waves.”

Further details are posted on the Climate Local webpage which includes the Climate Local Commitment form and also a  Climate Local Information Pack for local authorities.

Ed Davey, the Secretary of State for Energy, spoke at the conference stating that “…the role of councils in energy and climate change policy is much, much greater than even the LGA may currently think…I want to set out three strategic roles for local authorities in energy and climate change. First, in buying energy. Second, in saving energy. Third, in generating energy.”

On the Green Deal, Mr Davey said: “Local authorities and communities, who have the trust and faith of local people, will be essential partners in delivering the Green Deal.
Local authorities are leading work on financing models and joining together to create community interest companies. Six are involved in the Green Deal Finance Company.
Some are taking huge leaps forward – like Birmingham, which is pushing ahead with a £1.5 billion Energy Savers scheme, or Newcastle, which is leading a Green Deal partnership scheme which spans the North East. The GLA is bringing together the London boroughs.“

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Greenhouse Gas summary reports

Posted on June 15, 2012 by Admin

15 June 2012: DECC have issued a series of useful summary documents on greenhouse emissions related to key sectors:

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Olympics2012-Energy and Carbon Lessons Learned

Posted on May 13, 2012 by Admin

May 2012: The ODA have established a learning legacy website which “has the aim to ” sharing the knowledge and the lessons learned from the construction of the Olympic Park, to help raise the bar within the sector “. Included amongst the material posted there is a number of documents relating to the energy initiatives undertaken on site at the Olympics:

The Olympic Park Energy Strategy Case Study

Energy In Use Implementation Guidance for Project Teams sets out the ODA’s requirements and the standard tools, templates and methodologies for demonstrating compliance with the carbon objectives detailed in the ODA’s Sustainable Development Strategy.

The environmental impact of the thermal insulation used at the Olympic Park, where several contractors sourced and installed insulation materials which were considered to be healthier for the operative installing the product (and potentially future maintainers) and which came from natural sources, such as plant matter or recycled material.

Reducing embodied carbon through efficient design – As the operational carbon emissions from buildings are reduced through energy efficiency measures, the embodied carbon emissions in construction materials become more significant. Two key strategies were used at the Park to reduce the embodied carbon of venues and infrastructure.

Achieving the Part L target at the Aquatics Centre – the ODA target to exceed 2006 Part L Building Regulations by 15 per cent was not included in the Aquatics Centre’s original design brief, but was instructed by RIBA – the design team successfully incorporated the requirements by focusing on the building systems and fabric improvements.

The Velodrome, the most energy efficient venue on the Olympic Park – which has a designed energy efficiency improvement of 31 per cent over 2006 building regulations.

Carbon reduction in transport management– reviews the Olympic Delivery Authority’s (ODA’s) approach to reducing the carbon impact of its transport arrangements and associated lessons learned.

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City-scale emissions accounting standard for public comment

Posted on March 25, 2012 by Admin

20 March 2012: ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability and C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group released today a draft edition of the Global Protocol for Community-scale Greenhouse Gas Emissions(community protocol) to help cities around the world measure and report GHG emissions using a more consistent protocol.

The full document and accompanying fact sheet are now available for review.  Comments on the full document should be submitted through the feedback form template. The deadline for feedback is 20 April 2012. Feedback should be sent directly to GPC@iclei.org

ICLEI and C40 will be hosting two public webinars, with dedicated outreach to ICLEI and C40 member cities, onTuesday 3 April 2012 from 7:00am – 8:00am UTC (GMT) and Wednesday 4 April 2012 from 3:00pm – 4:00pm UTC (GMT).

To register or for receive further details on these upcoming events please contact GPC@iclei.org

Full details on the following news release.

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London’s Renewable Energy – Annual Monitoring

Posted on March 17, 2012 by Admin

March 2012: The Mayor has just published the latest London Plan Annual Monitoring Report (AMR), which monitors a number of key performance indicators (KPIs) set in London’s spatial strategy, the London Plan. This is the first AMR to be published since the new London Plan was published in July 2011.

Two KPIs are of particular interest are:
KPI 20 Reduce carbon dioxide emissions through new development
KPI 21 Increase in energy generated from renewable sources

In terms of KPI 21, London has recently set a revised target for renewable energy which is for 8,550 GWh of energy from renewable sources by 2026 (London’s current total non-transport energy use is approximately 115,000 GWh – see London’s 2011 energy strategy for further information). The target was an output of a significant  piece of analysis undertaken in 2011, and published earlier this year – the London Decentralised Energy Capacity Study. The AMR reproduces a table from that study setting out an estimate of renewable energy capacity and output in London in 2010:

The total output for 2010 of 858 GWh highlights that London has considerable way to go – a ten-fold increase – to achieve the 2026 target. DECC also produce regional renewable energy statistics – but only report on renewable electricity output (which is hard to compare to that reported above, as the largest GWh component in the table – for biomass  – has added the heat and power output components together).
Additional monitoring of the London Plan’s carbon and energy policies are reported here.

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Olympics Carbon Offset Scheme

Posted on March 1, 2012 by Admin

March 2012: London2012 announced a few months ago that ticketholders to the games would be able to participate in the Olympics carbon offsetting programme, BP Target Neutral, for free. The initiative states that the “more people who sign up, the more Target Neutral can support low-carbon development projects worldwide.” Further information about the offsetting programme, and how to sign up, can be viewed at bptargetneutral.com and spectatorneutral.bp.com.

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Embodied Carbon Footprints Survey for the GLA

Posted on February 28, 2012 by Admin

February 2012:  The Greater London Authority (GLA) has commissioned Best Foot Forward to develop a Guide to encourage the wider and more consistent measurement and reporting of embodied (scope 3) carbon from the construction sector. A survey to help inform the study can be undertaken here.

The issue of quantifying indirect – or scope 3 emissions – are discussed in the GLA Climate Change and Mitigation Energy Strategy (CCMES) – released in late 2011. The Strategy sets out that:

“Scope 1 emissions refer to CO2 emissions from the combustionof energy sources within London. Scope 2 emissions refer to CO2 emissions associated with London’s consumption of purchased electricity, irrespective of whether this electricity isgenerated inside or outside of Greater London’s geographic boundaries. CO2 emissions are therefore accounted for at the point of energy use. This avoids double counting of emissions, and savings achieved on them. Scope 3 emissions are not included. Scope 3 emissions refer to all other indirect emissions not covered by scope 2. Examples of scope 3 emissions include those associated with London’s consumption of goods and services, its production of waste, and travel to and from the capital.”

There have been a number of estimates of London’s indirect CO2 emissions. In 2009, a Bioregional and London Sustainable Development Commission report, Capital Consumption, estimated London’s combined Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions to be 90 million tonnes of CO2 (MtCO2) per year based on 2004 data. This compares to 47 MtCO2 per year in 2004 for London’s scope 1 and 2 emissions.

The new study will help inform a specific action in the CCMES which is to expand the number of suppliers included in future measurements of the GLA group’s scope 3 emissions (Action 16.1).

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What are the social impacts of climate change in the UK?

Posted on November 24, 2011 by Admin

24 November 2011:  Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) commissioned research, published today,  which highlights that the people who emit the least carbon in the UK are most likely to suffer from the consequences of climate change.

The report – The distribution of UK household CO2 emissions – “provides the first integrated dataset of household emissions and  confirms the direct relationship between household income and carbon emissions – the top 10 per cent earners emit more than twice as much carbon as the lowest 10 per cent.”

A second report – ‘Climate change, justice and vulnerability‘ – states that “The most socially vulnerable neighbourhoods in the UK tend to be in urban or coastal locations. There is a North-South divide in extreme socially derived flood-vulnerability in England, while nearly a quarter of London neighbourhoods are classed as extremely socially heat-vulnerable.“

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Background to the Climate Change Committee Study of LA emission savings

Posted on November 20, 2011 by Admin

November 2011:  A previous entry noted the announcement by DECC that the Climate Change Committee (CCC) were to help provide DECC with guidance on how local authorities could curb greenhouse gas emissions. No key information has been published as yet by the CCC on the study, however, what follows below is some background correspondence between DECC and the CCC on the basis of the study:
– Letter from Minister for Energy Greg Barker to Lord Adair Turner, Chairman of the CCC (13 June 2011) which states that DECC are “thinking of is benchmark advice on the scale of ambition that LAs may set themselves, possible approaches to deliver that ambition and how this would contribute to national carbon budgets.”
– CCC responded (24 June) saying that they “agree [d] that there is a potentially important role for LAs, particularly as regards energy efficiency improvement in buildings and promotion of sustainable transport, and also as regards renewable electricity and heat generation.”
– DECC Ministerial response (21 July)
– Following a meeting in mid – September CCC came back to DECC (28 September) setting out the four elements of the study and requested support from DECC and the LGA
– A Final letter from Greg Barker back to CCC (25 October) which amends the elements proposed by CCC stating that DECC are looking for “consideration of the local factors and circumstances that local authorities might wish to take into account when deciding on the approaches to adopt”. DECC further state that they need the work to be completed by the end of April 2012 “to ensure it can be fed into the permissive guidance for local authorites that CLG (the Department for Communities) is producing.” The guidance referred to is in relation to the revised Home and Energy Conservation Act (HECA) – originally to be repealed in the Energy Act 2011, until a volte face from Government.

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Achieving borough-wide community involvement to reduce carbon emissions in Haringey

Posted on November 15, 2011 by Admin

November 2011: Haringey are organising two workshops providing an opportunity for residents to input into an Action Plan for the borough to reduce carbon emissions in Haringey by 40% by 2020. These are to be held at the Civic Centre (Council Chamber) on the 15 November between 4pm – 7pm.

Further information is posted here. Views by emailing haringey4020@haringey.gov.uk before 25 November 2011.

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Committee on Climate Change to advise Local Authorities

Posted on November 3, 2011 by Admin

3 November 2011: At Friends of the Earth Councils, Communities and Climate Change conference, Minster of Energy Greg Barker announced that DECC have tasked the Committee on Climate Change to advise local authorities on identifying and quantifying the scope for local authorities to reduce emissions. The report is to be finalised by April and is to provide:

  • a high level assessment of opportunities in areas such as municipal food waste, transport and buildings
  • consider which ‘levers’ local authorities could pull to help
  • high level recommendations to encourage local authority actions.

No further details are posted as yet on the Committee’s website, but, speaking at yesterday’s conference, David Kennedy, Chief Executive of the CCC, said they would be consulting directly with local authorities to help prepare the report.

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Major new study – Is localism delivering for climate change?

Posted on October 21, 2011 by Admin

21 October 2011: Excellent new study from environmental think-tank Green Alliance based on a survey of local authorities, looking at work currently underway on climate change.

The report states “The survey revealed a three-way split between local authorities:.

  • 37 per cent are deprioritising climate change or state that it was never a priority. Starkly worded submissions such as, “the sustainability function within my local authority has been deleted and the climate change function has been discontinued” illustrate the scale of the loss in certain places.
  • 35 per cent remain firm in their commitment to climate change and believe that action could even increase in the context of localism.
  • 28 per cent are narrowing their ambitions to focus on reducing emissions from their estate and ceasing work on wider environmental issues.

Overall, the results suggest that climate changework has narrowed, is very weak or absent in 65 per cent of local authorities.”

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