Carbon Management Plan Outcomes

COMMUNITIES, HOUSING & ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE

15 September 2015

Is the final decision on the recommendations in this report to be made at this meeting?

N/A

 

Carbon Management Plan Outcomes

 

Final Decision-Maker

Communities, Housing & Environment Committee

Lead Director or Head of Service

John Littlemore Head of Housing & Community Services

Lead Officer and Report Author

Dr Stuart Maxwell

Classification

Non-exempt

Wards affected

All

 

 

This report makes the following recommendations to the final decision-maker:

1.    That the Committee is aware of the outcomes of the Carbon Management Plan

 

 

 

This report relates to the following corporate priorities:

·          

Keeping Maidstone an attractive place for all

 

 

Timetable

Meeting

Date

Corporate Leadership Team

1 September 2015

Policy and Resources Committee

 

Council

 

Other Committee

15th September 2015



Carbon Management Plan Outcomes

 

 

1.                        PURPOSE OF REPORT AND EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

 

1.1      Maidstone Borough Council introduced a Carbon Management plan in 2009, covering the period from 2009 to 2015.

 

1.2    This period has now finished, and therefore the purpose of this report is to inform the committee about the outcomes of the Carbon Management Plan and what has been achieved.

 

 

 

2.                        INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

 

2.1      In 2009, Maidstone Borough Council, in partnership with the Carbon Trust, introduced a Carbon Management Plan, setting out how the Council would reduce the carbon emissions associated with its estate and operations.

 

2.2    The Plan defines the scope of the Council’sbaseline carbon emissions, which include:-

 

o   Energy used in council owned buildings

o   Building energy use for outsourced council functions, eg Maidstone Leisure Centre

o   Council owned fleet use

o   Council owned business travel

o   Fleet fuel use for outsourced council functions, eg, the waste collection service.

o   Business Travel for outsourced council functions

o   Water used in Council buildings and operations.

 

These items were previously included in the Council’s NI185 return, and now form part of the Greenhouse Gas returns submitted to the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC)

 

2.3    The Plan contains 43 actions and projects aimed at reducing carbon emissions. These fall into four categories, namely:-

 

o   Existing projects, which were already underway in 2008/09

o   Planned and funded projects, which were due to be implemented and for which funding was in place.

o   Near and medium term projects, which are due to be implemented during the timeframe of the Plan but require more work before they can be finalised.

o   Long term projects, which were in the early stages of consideration, and were deemed to be aspirational.

 

2.4    The Plan committed the Council to a target of reducing its CO2 emissions by 20% from the 2008/09 level, by the end of the 2014/15 financial year.

 

2.5    The 20% reduction would result in a decrease of CO2 emissions from the 2008/09 baseline level of 5840 tonnes per annum to 4672 tonnes per annum in 2014/15. The Plan also set a target for the cumulative total of the reduction in carbon emissions over the life of the Plan of 5295 tonnes CO2.  This was based on the assumption that there would have been a cumulative increase of 1075 tonnes of CO2 increase over the period of the plan, based on the ‘business as usual’ scenario. This assumption is based on a 0.7% annual increase in demand.

 

2.6    The Table given as Appendix 1 shows which of the projects have been completed, and which have not. A summary is presented below.  Of the 43 projects in the plan, 19 have been completed and a further 4 mostly or partially completed.  6 more projects have been investigated but found not to be cost effective, or otherwise not viable. A further 8 have not been done, but are still planned or under consideration, or may be revisited in the future. Owing to various staff changes, there are 6 projects for which no up to date information could be found at the time of writing.

 

Outcome

 

Complete

19

Partially complete

4

No longer considered viable

6

Not complete but still under consideration

8

No up-to-date information could be found

6

 

 

2.7    Broadly speaking, the planned, funded and short term projects have been completed, whilst the projects which have not been completed are the more long term or aspirational ones.

 

2.8    In 2013/14 MBC’s carbon emissions were reduced from the baseline of 5840 CO2 tonnes to 4791 tonnes CO2 which was an 18.4% reduction from baseline.  The cumulative reduction since 2008/09 was 3239 tonnes CO2e.

 

2.9    In 2014/15 MBC’s carbon emissions increased from 4791 tonnes to 4998 tonnes, which was a 4.3% increase on the 2013/14 year, and represented a reduction from the baseline year of 14.9%. The primary cause of this unexpected increase is thought to be a break down of the Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant at Mote Park Leisure Centre which resulted in a large increase in electricity consumption

 

2.10  This means that CO2 emissions have been reduced by a cumulative total of 4081 tonnes since the 2008/09 baseline year. The Plan’s target of 5295 tonnes cumulative reduction is based on the assumption that, there would be a cumulative increase of 1075 if nothing were done. When this assumption is factored in, the total cumulative saving from over the life of the plan is 5056 tonnes CO2. Compared with the 5295 tonnes CO2 target, this cumulative saving represents 95.5% of the target.

 

3.                        AVAILABLE OPTIONS

 

3.1      This report is for information only and no decision is required. 

 

 

 

4.         PREFERRED OPTION AND REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS

N/A

 

 

 

5.        CONSULTATION RESULTS AND PREVIOUS COMMITTEE FEEDBACK

 

5.1    No consultation has been undertaken, and no consultation is required. The report is factual in nature and does not form part of any policy change.

 

5.2    The report has not previously been submitted to the committee.

 

 

 

6.        NEXT STEPS: COMMUNICATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DECISION

 

No next step

 

 

7.        CROSS-CUTTING ISSUES AND IMPLICATIONS

 

 

 

Issue

Implications

Sign-off

Impact on Corporate Priorities

Great Place.  Demonstrates that MBC is taking practical steps to reduce its own carbon emissions. 

John Littlemore

Risk Management

None

John Littlemore

Financial

Reducing carbon emissions results in lower expenditure on energy.

Paul Riley

Staffing

None

John Littlemore

Legal

None

Legal Team

Equality Impact Needs Assessment

None identified.

Clare Wood, Policy & Information Officer

Environmental/Sustainable Development

Demonstrates the council’s commitment to taking practical steps to reduce its own carbon emissions.  Also highlights that more work could be done in this area although most factors contributing to missing the target are beyond MBC direct control.

John Littlemore

Community Safety

None

John Littlemore

Human Rights Act

None

John Littlemore

Procurement

Potential to highlight need to give greater emphasis to carbon emissions in procurement of services and equipment.

John Littlemore

Asset Management

Main cause of missed target was broken CHP unit in leisure centre. Highlights that prompt action in such cases is important in meeting carbon emission targets.

 John Littlemore

 

 

 

8.         REPORT APPENDICES

 

The following documents are to be published with this report and form part of the report:

·           Appendix A Carbon Management Plan Project Update Table

 

 

9.         BACKGROUND PAPERS

 

 

 

Maidstone Borough Council Carbon Management Plan

 

http://dynamic.maidstone.gov.uk/pdf/MBC%20Carbon%20Management%20Plan.pdf