Agenda item

To receive an update from the Cabinet Member for Environment and Climate Change and the Climate Sustainability Officer.

The Group had before it, and NOTED a report* from the Cabinet Member for Environment and Climate Change.

As the Cabinet Member for Environment and Climate Change was unable to attend the meeting, the Chair updated the Group on her behalf as he was also the Chair of the Net Zero Advisory Group.

The following was highlighted within the report:-

·         The Council would now be collecting pots and pans across the whole district.

·         There had been a mixed picture with regard to the carbon footprint particularly in respect to housing renovations and upgrades.

·         There had been a fantastic response from the first informal online Forum with supporting workshops, where over 30 stakeholders attended including farmers and educators where ideas and support was exchanged.

·         The Climate and Sustainability Specialist would be attending the Big Green Fair on Saturday in Crediton where home energy and retrofit advice would be available.

·         Work with Dart Valley Farmers was ongoing for an event in November 2025.

·         Partnership work with the Blackdown Hills National Landscape would engage stakeholders around natural flood management and climate adaption.

·         The 2024/2025 carbon footprint result was 2% higher than the previous year which was mainly due to the climate change impacts linked to spending for example the rise in construction spending.

·         Emissions had been successfully cut by investing to decarbonise the Tiverton and Crediton Leisure Centres.

·         Social housing had a significant lower carbon footprint.

·         Net emission for elements in the Councils direct control which comprised of the Council offices, facilities, transports and offsets contributed just under 9% of the 2024/25 overall total.

·         The 1,589 carbon dioxide figure for 2024 was circa 35% which was lower than the 2,427 figure for 2028/2029 baseline (almost 840 carbon tonnes less).

·         Reductions since 2018/2019 came from Council offices and facilities from 1098 to 705 carbon tonnes.

·         Since 2018/2019 fleet impacts had changed although the Council now served circa 2500 more households.

·         Rapid progress had been made to replace social housing with 48 net zero new build homes due to be in place by the end of the year.  The procurement of those construction projects would make a climate impact on the 2025/2026 carbon footprint.  The investment would reduce the Council’s annual carbon footprint by approximately 136 tonnes per year.

·         A broad range of support had been given to businesses to promote the Green Enterprise Grants alongside free advice for Mid Devon farmers.

The Chair thanked the Climate and Sustainability Specialist and the Cabinet Member for Environment and Climate Change for all their hard work.

Discussion took place with regard to:-

·         The decarbonised Leisure Centres and how the heat pumps worked.  It was explained that by decarbonising, centres had moved away from fossil fuel for heating, however more electricity was being used to drive heat pumps to replace that (capturing heat to warm the centres and extracting heat to cool the centres as required).  The Council purchased “green electricity” (with REGO certificates) in addition to power from its own solar panels, and energy was being used in a more efficient manner.  This meant that the Council was cutting its carbon footprint.

·         Property Services planned to upgrade building energy management systems at Phoenix House so it could be run more efficiently. It was explained that a stage by stage project shopping list was being put together  and those costs would be covered under the Capital Programme.

Note: * Report previously circulated.