Carbon performance

The Council's carbon performance

One of the Climate Change Programme's priorities is to drive the Council's CO2 reductions and associated financial savings, as outlined in the 2009 Carbon Management Plan.

This means generating, evaluating and implementing new ideas to drive efficiencies. The scope of this work extends to the Council’s key assets, main contractors and schools. The Council reports on this work in its annual Carbon Performance Report. From 2011, the Government requested that all Local Authorities in England measure and report on greenhouse gas emissions from their estates and operations, therefore the Council also produce an annual Greenhouse Gas Report.

Targets

The Council aims to reduce carbon emissions from its own operations by:

30 per cent by March 2017 from its 2007/08 levels, creating annual savings of £1.15million
40 per cent by March 2020 from its 2007/08 levels, creating annual savings of £1.5million

Progress

In 2013/14 the Council reduced its carbon emissions by 21.6 per cent compared to the 2007/08 baseline. We estimate the cumulative financial savings since 2007/08 are £2.05million. The savings are primarily derived from reduced energy usage, reduced fuel consumption and improved resource efficiency.

Future Outlook

The Climate Change Programme continues to work closely with other departments to identify ways in which the carbon produced from the Council’s operations can be reduced. The future outlook of the Programme will be focused on improving the efficiency of existing and new buildings, procuring a greener fleet and strengthening sustainability in procurement. Example projects will include:

Conducting building energy audits, waste audits and efficiency projects.
Ensuring all new development or major refurbishment work incorporate energy efficiency measures. The BREEAM Excellent energy efficiency standard is required for all new Council development.
Creating real-time energy use displays for Council buildings and engaging with staff to help them reduce their energy use at work.