Agenda item

The Presiding Member advised that the next report to be presented by the Leader, was the Climate Change Plan Annual Report for 2022-2023.

The purpose of this report was to provide the organisational emissions for 2022-2023 and an update on the projects supporting the Council’s decarbonisation efforts.

This is the first full annual report of the Climate Change Plan which was signed off in March 2022.

The Climate Change Plan sets out how the organisation would achieve Net Zero by 2030 in line with commitments.

Turning to the report itself, overall, Carbon emissions were down, excluding procurement, and operational emissions; this figure had reduced by 7.69% since 2021-2022.

This figure is lower than previously reporteddue to  changes in the reporting guidance and initiating engagement with our supply chain to start to build more detailed figures specific to Newport.

With a City-wide Local Area Energy Plan in place, actions in year 2 of the climate change plan have a much tighter focus on organisational emissions. The majority of actions for Year 2 of the plan have in-year completion dates.

An important detail to note is the recommendation for the separation of Action Plans from the main Organisational Plan. Action Plans would be publicly available but separating them from the body of the Plan itself meant that the Plan did not need to be amended and re-published on an annual basis in its entirety.

Climate Change projects of note in the past year included:

§  The roll-out of Carbon Literacy training to members and senior managers and the achievement of Bronze Accreditation status.

§  The establishment of the Climate Change Staff Network which had over 30 members who met monthly.

§  The installation of further solar panels through Egni, the community solar co-operative.

§  Installation of Air Source Heat Pumps at Caerleon Comprehensive.

§  The achievement of Tree City of the World Status in recognition of the management of tree stocks.

§  Completion of the Devon Place Bridge to support active travel across the city.

§  Changes to procurement processes to support decarbonisation through the larger purchases made, soon every procurement over £75,000 would need endorsement from the climate change team.

In the coming year, the main areas of focus for the Climate Change Plan would be the ongoing decarbonisation of heat in Council buildings, removing the need to use fossil fuels where possible, delivery of widespread EV charging, evaluating the decarbonisation potential for Council owned land and the development of internal and external communications plans to ensure that there is effective communication and engagement with staff and the public.

The report was seconded by Councillor Forsey.

Comments from Councillors:

§  Councillor Forsey considered the progress under the comprehensive report on retrofitting to buildings, replacing fleet vehicles, and being awarded Bronze Carbon Literacy Accreditation Status. Councillor Forsey referred to extreme weather events and the toll this has on lives and food production. It was therefore vital that we continued with this work. Councillor Forsey concluded that whilst good progress had been made it is vital that this must continue.

§  Councillor Davies advised that the Council had a commitment to achieve net zero by 2030 and throughout the city by 2050.  Councillor Davies was proud that the plan  was already achieving results, such as reducing carbon emissions by 29%, and increasing energy efficiency in buildings.

§  Councillor Corten felt proud of progress under the climate change plan and felt that all actions taken to address this as a city added up to a greater sum.

§  Councillor Morris concluded that there had been many changes in expectation in terms of climate change response, and the Council needed to work together to address this.

Councillor Evans called for a pragmatic, proportionate and realistic approach to addressing climate change for those on all levels of income and felt that the Council needed to work together to address this.

§  Councillor Routley referred to traffic emissions in Bishton and Langstone that are perceived as an air quality concern.

§  Councillor Hourahine stated that he had attended a[EB1]  clean air zone meeting for Chepstow and Caerleon Road and the indication from the officers was that it had vastly improved and would be re-assessed as a clean air zone.  Councillor Hourahine considered that this was largely due to the electric vehicles and electric busses that have been introduced.

The Leader summed up by thanking everyone for their contribution.  The Leader concluded that the report set out great achievements and wanted to recognise the commitment of officers.

Resolved:

Council reviewed progress and approved the Annual Report.