HERTFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

POLICY AND RESOURCES CABINET PANEL

WEDNESDAY 15 SEPTEMBER 2010 AT 2.00PM

Climate Change Activity and Performance Update 2009/10

Report of the Director of Environment and Commercial Services

Author: John RumbleTel: 01992 556296

Executive Member:Derrick Ashley (Environment, Planning and Waste)

1.Purpose of report

1.1To provide an update on the climate change work being undertaken by the County Council and performance achieved during 2009/10.

2.Summary

2.1Performance in reducing CO2 emissions from the authority’s operations is progressing well. However, much of the reduction reported to date has been due to better data collection and the correction of errors in previous estimates of gas consumption by the authority. Overall, electricity use is increasing slightly and direct transport use within the organisation is going up.

2.2Planned activity on CO2 reduction in 2010/11 is substantial, and programmes are in place to address staff behaviour in relation to energy use and to continue to improve information and intelligence on energy use in both property and street lighting. Significant for 2010/11 is the inclusion of departmental carbon reduction plans: draftplans are expected to be made available by the end of September 2010 for each department.

2.3Activity in relation to climate change adaptation has been focused on the inclusion of climate factors in corporate and departmental risk management processes. This is well underway, and appropriate measures to manage significant risks are being put in place where necessary. Joint work with district councils is being discussed with a view to all local authorities progressing to level 2 (an explanation of the levels used to assess performance in relation to adaptation can be found in Appendix 3) by the end of 2010/11. If this is achievedit should enable the County Council to report level 3 in April 2011.

2.4Work undertaken with the Hertfordshire Climate Change Partnership and Hertfordshire Forward has resulted in the agreement of a climate change Strategic Framework for Hertfordshire. This is being followed up by the creation of a joint action plan to address both CO2emissions within the county and climate risk activities. It is expected this will be complete by the end of this financial year.

2.5This report will be considered by the Environment and Planning Cabinet Panel on 14 September 2010 and by the Policy and Resources Cabinet Panel on 15 September 2010.

3.Recommendation

3.1ThePanel is invited to note and comment on the report.

4.Background

4.1Climate Change activities within the County Council are undertaken in three main areas, these being:-

  • Activity to reduce the amount of CO2 being generated by the County Council from its estates and operations (mitigation);
  • Work with partners to address both CO2 reduction and climate change adaptation within Hertfordshire;
  • Activity to ensure that the organisation is resilient to the potential impacts of future climatic change (adaptation).

4.2These activities are monitored using three national performance indicators which are as follows:-

  • NI 185-% CO2 reduction from Local Authority operations
  • NI 186-Per capita reduction in CO2 emissions in the LA area
  • NI 188-Planning to adapt to climate change

These indicators and the targets associated with them have been included variously in the County Council’s Corporate Plan and the Local Area Agreement for Hertfordshire. The targets set are:-

  • NI185-25% reduction on a 2008/09 baseline by 2012/13
  • NI 186-9.1% reduction on a 2005/06 baseline by 2010/11
  • NI 188-To achieve level 2 ( scale is from 0 to 4) by 2010/11

4.3In 2009 the County Council reported its starting position against all of these indicators as follows:-

  • NI 185-The County Council reported a baseline of CO2 emissions from its property, street lighting and Highways energy use and from its use of transport of 170,492 tonnes CO2. This excludes emissions from buses although if these are included the overall emissions for HCC rises to 171,872 tonnes CO2.
  • NI186-Information on this indicator is provided to the County Council by the Department for Energy and Climate Change. In 2009 this showed that the county had achieved a 3.96% reduction on the 2005 baseline. This is on-target for the 9.1% reduction to be achieved by 2010/11.
  • NI 188-At the end of March 2009 the County Council reported its performance against NI 188 at level 1. This puts the authority on target to reach level 2 by the end of 2010/11.

4.4The County Council has signed up to additional CO2 reduction targets via the national 10:10 campaign. This commits the organisation to achieving a 10% reduction in its CO2 emissions from non-schools uses during the financial year 2010/11. The amount of CO2 to be saved is determined by the authority’s 2008/09 NI185 return. For HCC this means a saving during 2010/11 of 5,350 tonnes CO2. Performance results against this target will be available by July 2011.

4.5To date there has been no information from national government concerning the future of the climate change national performance indicators. At present we are assuming that we will have to report performance against these three indicators, NI 185, NI 186 and NI 188 as per the usual timetable for the period 2010/11.

4.6Since1 April 2010 the County Council has been required to participate in the new mandatory emissions trading scheme the ‘Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme’. This scheme will require the authority to purchase carbon allowances for all of its qualifying emissions (those from property, including schools, and highways related energy use). It is estimated that the cost of allowance purchase for the County Council will be in the region of £1.5 to £1.8 million per annum, with most of this being recovered via a performance-related payment recycling scheme, which in its first year will be based on 10% of the County Council’s allowance purchase cost.. The County Council will be required to purchase its first set of allowances in April 2011 to cover the year 2011/12.

5.Carbon reduction activity and performance update 2009/10

5.1Hertfordshire County Council achieved a reduction of 12.2% in its overall CO2 emissions in the year 2009/10. The reported CO2 reduction via National Indicator 185 is slightly higher, and shows a reduction of 13.9% as this figure excludes emissions from buses used or supported by the County Council as part of its service delivery. The breakdown is shown in table 5.1 which also sets out the targets for the end of 2010/11 and 2012/13.

5.2The breakdown of these emissions by fuel source for property and highways-related energy use is shown in table 5.2. This shows that the majority of savings realised from these areas are related to gas consumption and reflect more accurate data being available for 2009/10. This has enabled previous errors arising from over-estimates of gas consumption to be corrected. One significant issue arising from this data is that electricity consumption actually rose in 2009/10, which is a cause for concern.

Table 5.1HCC CO2 Emissions 2008/09 – 2009/10

Source / CO2Emissions
(tonnes) / % Change / Targets
(tonnes CO2)
2008/09 / 2009/10 / 2010/11 / 2012/13
Schools / 95,118 / 78,420 / -17.6% / 71,338
Property / 24,352 / 23,560 / -3.3% / 18,264
Highways (incl. street lighting) / 23,246 / 23,083 / -0.7% / 17,435
Transport / 6,547 / 6,850 / 4.6% / 4,910
Outsourced Services / Property / 1,462 / 967 / -33.9% / 1,097
Transport / 21,147 / 18,023 / -14.8% / 15,860
Total / 171,872 / 150,903 / -12.2% / 128,904
Bus Emissions / 1,380 / 4,146 / 200.4%
NI185 Qualifying emissions / 170,492 / 146,757 / -13.9%
10:10 qualifying emissions / 54,145 / 53,493 / -1.2% / 48,144

Table 5.2Property and highways emissions by fuel source

Fuel Source / CO2 emissions (tonnes) / % Change
2008/09 / 2009/10
Electricity / 73,976 / 74,830 / 1.2
Gas / 68,717 / 49,700 / -27.7
Oil / 1,484 / 1,465 / -1.3
CHP / 0 / 35 / N/A
Total / 144,177 / 126,030 / -12.6

5.3Data for CO2 emissions from transport is set out in table 5.3. This shows an ongoing increase in car-related emissions. Whilst the overall picture for transport related emissions shows a decrease, this is due to the significant drop in emissions from outsourced services. If this is excluded from the figures the picture is somewhat different and the emissions from direct HCC transport have increased.

Table 5.3Transport emissions by mode

Source / CO2 emissions (tonnes) / % Change
2008/09 / 2009/10
Air / 36 / 27 / -25.1
Car / 3,816 / 3,862 / 1.2
HGV / 1,454 / 1,435 / -1.3
Bus / 27 / 18 / -34.6
Rail / 81 / 90 / 10.5
Van / LGV / 1,004 / 1,156 / 15.0
Fuel use (mode unknown) / 128 / 262 / 105.0
Outsourced Services / 21,147 / 18,023 / -14.8
Total / 27,694 / 24,873 / -10.2

5.4Work has taken place during 2009/10 to break down the authority’s emissions to a departmental level. The results of this can be seen in Appendix 1 to this report. This includes two tables: table A1 details the emissions by department and by emissions area for 2008/09 and 2009/10, and table A2 shows the breakdown of transport emissions by mode and use for the same period. These tables demonstrate a mixed picture for both overall emissions and for transport emissions across the departments of the County Council. For overall emissions, although the figure for the authority is down, emissions are increasing at the departmental level for Strategy and Partnerships, Fire and Rescue Service and CSF non-schools. For transport emissions only, all departments, with the exception of Adult Care Services and Resources and Performance, have seen their emissions rising: this is in the main due to increased business and fleet mileage.

5.5Figure 5.1 shows the percentages of emissions assigned to each department. As can be seen, schools are still responsible for the majority of emissions; however Environment and Commercial Services have a significant role to play because of their overall responsibility for highways-related energy use.

Figure 5.1HCC Departmental Emissions 2009/10

5.6For 2010/11 each department has been asked to produce its own CO2 reduction plan, and the first drafts of these are expected to be completed by the end of September 2010. Each plan is aiming for a 10% cut in emissions in line with the authorities target under the 10:10 campaign.

5.7During 2009/10 a significant number of projects aimed at cutting CO2 emissions are being implemented. The County Council has in place a ring-fenced energy efficiency fund totalling £1 million which is part financed by the national Salix Initiative provided by the Carbon Trust. During 2009/10 this fund has been used to support a wide range of projects that address energy use across the HCC property portfolio. A summary of the projects supported by this fund and the anticipated CO2 savings can be found in Appendix 2. These projects should realise their first full year emissions savings in 2010/11.

5.8Other significant initiatives being put in place for 2010/11 include:-

  • The installation of a Photo Electric Control Unit (PECU) array for street lighting, to enable better monitoring of street lighting emissions through the accurate recording of turning on and off times during the year.
  • The initiation of an energy saving campaign and supporting web site, ‘the Terence campaign’, to encourage changes in staff behaviour over energy use to be promoted and supported.
  • The installation of automatic energy use meter reading (AMRs) at all significant HCC sites, including schools. This programme will be completed in 2011/12.
  • The development of a schools energy advisory service, funded by schools, to support the development of school-based energy plans.

5.92010/11 is the first full year for the new Carbon Reduction Commitment: Energy Efficiency Scheme. The County Council is required to participate in this mandatory emissions trading scheme and will be required to purchase its first full year’s allowances as of April 2011. During 2010/11 the authority has to complete the registration process for the new scheme and be in a position to complete its first footprint report at the end of the financial year. HCC’s registration process was completed in July 2010 and the work being undertaken on AMR’s and NI 185 reporting has put us in an excellent position to be able to compile an accurate footprint report at the end of this year.

6.Climate Change adaptation activity and performance update 2009/10

6.1The authority’s reported performance in 2008/09 on National Indicator 188 was at level 1 on the scale of 0 – 4 (see Appendix 3 for a full explanation of these levels). In 2009/10 HCC reported the same level of performance, level 1, however this is still on target for reporting level 2 in 2010/11 as is set out in the Corporate Plan.

6.2Work during 2009/10 has been focused in getting climate change risk established as part of the organisations risk management processes and working with departments to understand what this means for their services and how these risks can be managed. Work to include all significant corporate risks arising from climate change is underway, and when completed will be held in the authority’s risk management register. In addition all County Council departments are working on including relevant departmental risks into their own risk management processes. Appropriate control measures are being established and where necessary action is taking place to manage these risks.

6.3Work is also taking place with key partners, including district councils, with the aim of getting all local authorities in the county to progress to level 2 by the end of 2010/11. This is an ambitious objective and will require all partners to participate fully in its achievement. A joint work programme is currently under discussion and is expected to be agreed by October 2010. If this work is successful then it will take the collective Hertfordshire level to 2 and should mean that we will have achieved level 3 by the end of 2010/11.

7.Partnership working on Climate Change

7.1The Hertfordshire Climate Change Partnership is constituted under Hertfordshire Forward and chaired by the University of Hertfordshire. During 2009/10 work led by the County Council resulted in agreement and publication of a Hertfordshire Climate Change Strategic Framework. This document sets out the main principles for addressing climate change mitigation and adaptation activities as well as setting out the major challenges that will need to be tackled. It is planned that a climate change action plan, setting out partner activities on both climate change mitigation and adaptation will be compiled by the end of 2010/11.

8.Financial Implications.

8.1There are no additional financial implications arising from this report.

8.2Registration and annual subscription costs for the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) scheme were agreed as part of the 2010/11 budget. Costs for emissions allowance purchase have yet to be determined, although the authority is working on the assumption that money for allowance purchases in April each year will be balanced by recycling payment received in October each year. Any loss/profit arising as a result of the recycling payment will be managed on a risk basis.

Background information used in compiling this report:

HCC NI 185 return for 2008/09 and 2009/10

HCC NI 188 returns for 2008/09 and 2009/10

HCC Corporate Climate Change Risk Assessment 2010

Hertfordshire Climate Change Strategic Framework

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Appendix 1 -Departmental Emissions breakdown for 2009/09 and 2009/10

Table A1CO2 Emissions by Source and Department 2008/09 and 2009/10

Department / CO2 emissions (tonnes) / % Change
2008/09 / 2009/10
Property / Transport / Highways / Total / Property / Transport / Highways / Total
ACS / 2,483 / 720 / 3,203 / 1,912 / 581 / 2,493 / -22.2%
S & P / 788 / 109 / 897 / 809 / 131 / 940 / 4.8%
R & P / 12,068 / 143 / 12,211 / 11,065 / 140 / 11,205 / -8.2%
E & CS / 1,624 / 2,072 / 23,246 / 26,942 / 1,497 / 2,231 / 23,083 / 26,811 / -0.5%
FRS / 1,937 / 814 / 2,751 / 2,342 / 939 / 3,281 / 19.2%
CSF - non-schools / 5,452 / 5,452 / 5,935 / 5,935 / 8.9%
CSF - schools / 95,118 / 95,118 / 78,420 / 78,420 / -17.6%
CSF - transport / 2,689 / 2,689 / 2,828 / 2,828 / 5.2%
Outsourced Services / 1,462 / 21,147 / 22,609 / 967 / 18,023 / 18,990 / -16.0%
Total / 120,932 / 27,694 / 23,246 / 171,872 / 102,947 / 24,873 / 23,083 / 150,903 / -12.2%
Bus emissions / 1,380 / 1,380 / 4,146 / 4,146 / 200.4%
NI185 qualifying emissions / 120,932 / 26,314 / 23,246 / 170,492 / 102,947 / 20,727 / 23,083 / 146,757 / -13.9%
10:10 qualifying emissions / 24,352 / 6,547 / 23,246 / 54,145 / 23,560 / 6,850 / 23,083 / 53,493 / -1.2%

Table A2Transport Emissions by Source and Department 2008/09 and 2009/10

Department / Transport Type CO2 Emissions (tonnes) / % Change
Air / Bus/Rail / Business / Fleet / Total / Air / Bus/Rail / Business / Fleet / Total
2008/09 / 2009/10
ACS / 1.1 / 9.4 / 699.3 / 10.6 / 720.4 / 0.2 / 7.0 / 569.4 / 4.2 / 580.8 / -19.4%
CSF / 32.0 / 72.6 / 2,066.3 / 517.8 / 2,688.6 / 16.0 / 74.0 / 2,152.0 / 586.1 / 2,828.1 / 5.2%
E&CS / 0.4 / 16.7 / 520.6 / 1,533.8 / 2,071.5 / 8.0 / 13.0 / 551.2 / 1,658.9 / 2,231.2 / 7.7%
FRS / 1.6 / 1.9 / 104.6 / 705.8 / 814.0 / 1.6 / 1.8 / 178.0 / 757.2 / 938.5 / 15.3%
R&P / 0.9 / 2.5 / 133.6 / 6.2 / 143.2 / 1.2 / 4.0 / 128.0 / 6.3 / 139.6 / -2.5%
S&P / 0.0 / 2.6 / 85.6 / 20.6 / 108.8 / 0.0 / 2.9 / 118.5 / 10.0 / 131.4 / 20.8%
Total / 36.0 / 105.7 / 3,609.9 / 2,794.8 / 6,546.4 / 27.0 / 102.9 / 3,697.0 / 3,022.7 / 6,849.6 / 4.6%

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Appendix 2 -Projects being supported by the HCC Salix fund

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Appendix 3 -Reporting Levels for NI 188

Level / Requirements
0: Baseline / The Authority:
  • Has begun the process of assessing the potential threats and opportunities across its estate and services
  • Has identified and agreed the next steps to build on that assessment in a systematic and coordinated way

1: Public commitment and prioritised risk-based assessment / The Authority:
  • Has made public commitment to identify and manage climate related risk.
  • Has undertaken local risk-based assessment of significant vulnerabilities and opportunities to weather and climate, both now and in the future.
  • Has a sound understanding of significant vulnerabilities and opportunities not yet addressed in existing strategies and actions.
  • Has communicated significant vulnerabilities and opportunities to department / service heads and other local partners that have an influence over these.
  • Has set out the next steps in addressing significant vulnerabilities and opportunities.

2: Comprehensive risk-based assessment and prioritised action in some areas / The Authority:
  • Has Undertaken a comprehensive risk based assessment of vulnerabilities to weather and climate, both now and in the future
  • Has identified priority risks for council services.
  • Has identified the most effective adaptive responses.
  • Has started to incorporate adaptive responses into council strategies, plans, partnerships and operations.
  • Has Begun implementing appropriate adaptive responses in some priority areas.
  • Has Encouraged the LSP to identify major weather and climate vulnerabilities and opportunities that affect the delivery of the LSP’s objectives.

3: Comprehensive action plan and prioritised action in all priority areas / The Authority:
  • Has embedded climate impacts and risks across council decision making.
  • Has developed a comprehensive adaptation action plan.
  • Is implementing appropriate adaptive responses in all priority areas.
  • Is providing leadership and support for LSPs to take a risk based approach to managing major weather and climate vulnerabilities/opportunities across the wider local authority area.

4: Implementation, monitoring and continuous review / The Authority and LSP:
  • Are implementing the comprehensive adaptation action plan across the local authority area.
  • Have a robust process for regular and continual monitoring and review of the action plan.
  • Are taking appropriate adaptive responses

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