City councillors will consider a report on a new climate change strategy at the council’s Strategy and Resources Committee on 21 March 2016. The strategy will focus on reducing carbon emissions from the city and supporting residents and businesses to respond to the effects of climate change.
The strategy focuses on reducing emissions in four key areas that contribute most to the city’s carbon footprint and where the council has the greatest influence. These are: emissions from council buildings and activities; energy used by homes and businesses; sustainable transport; and reducing waste and consumption and increasing recycling. It also sets out measures to help residents and businesses adapt to the impacts of climate change, particularly those who are most vulnerable.
The strategy recommends that the council continues to support existing programmes and services which help reduce emissions, and identifies new areas where the council can have even greater impact. It also recognises that the council cannot tackle climate change on its own, and calls on local organisations and businesses to work on collaborative policies that will help reduce carbon emissions from Cambridge.
The council has set a target in its new carbon management plan to reduce carbon emissions from its buildings and services by 15% by 2021. This will be achieved through rationalising our office estate and investing £1.7m in 22 carbon reduction projects, ranging from replacing eight diesel vans with new electric vehicles, to installing energy efficient LED lighting throughout the Grand Arcade Car Park and Grafton East Car Park. The council has also agreed an aspiration to reduce our emissions by 20% by 2021 through further projects that are being developed.
The strategy sets out a further 47 actions to address climate change, including:
- Working with City Deal partners to invest £100m government funding in improvements to public transport and cycling infrastructure.
- Promoting low-emissions buses by setting stricter emissions standards and submitting a £4.5m joint bid for government funding with bus companies and Cambridgeshire County Council.
- Promoting low emissions taxis through consulting on new taxi licensing policies and submitting a £1m bid for government funding to roll out rapid electric taxi charging points across the city.
- Constructing new council homes to high sustainability standards and supporting residents living in private homes to access financial support for energy efficiency improvements to their properties.
- Using local planning policy to secure high sustainability standards in new residential and commercial developments in Cambridge, where possible within the new national planning policy framework.
- Continuing to promote recycling and increase opportunities for residents and businesses to recycle.
- Working with partners in the Cambridge Sustainable Food network to promote sustainable food sources and reduce food waste.
- Supporting residents and businesses to respond to the anticipated effects of climate change, including flooding, water shortages and heat waves.
The finalised climate change strategy has been updated to reflect the key issues raised through public consultation, including an online survey, a workshop with members of local environmental groups, and discussions with experts on climate change at the University of Cambridge and Anglia Ruskin University.
Cllr George Owers, Executive Councillor for Finance and Resources, said: “Following the international agreements reached in Paris in November, it is vital that the city council continues to do all it can to support international efforts to tackle climate change. This strategy builds on the council’s work to date and clearly sets out the steps we will take to help reduce carbon emissions over the next five years.”
“We have listened to the views of residents and experts expressed through the consultation, and have set a target for reducing the council’s carbon footprint, together with an aspiration to dramatically reduce emissions from Cambridge as a city. We call upon the city’s universities, businesses and local environmental groups to collaborate with us and help achieve this goal.”
*The international framework for action on climate change was established by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which was adopted at the Rio Summit in 1992. The COP 21 summit (the twenty-first session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC) took place in Paris from 30 November to 11 December 2015. The ‘Paris agreement’ negotiated at this summit commits national governments to “holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels.”
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Contacts
Cllr George Owers (Labour group), Executive Councillor for Finance and Resources, email: george.owers@cambridge.gov.uk, tel: 07833 012979
Cllr Tim Bick (Liberal Democrat group), Opposition spokesperson, email: tim.bick@btinternet.com, tel: 07720 413173
Cllr John Hipkin (Minorities group), Opposition spokesperson, email: castleindependent@gmail.com, tel: 01223 564126
Andrew Limb, Head of Corporate Strategy, email: andrew.limb@cambridge.gov.uk, tel: 01223 457004
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