Tackling Climate Change - Learning from Others
July 2006 was the hottest July on record.
Climate Change has been a big issue in Nottingham & elsewhere in July, and I’ve been involved in loads. Some highlights are presented below.
Many will know that the Labour Gov’t has tried to give this issue some impact before - at a launch in September 2004 and at the 2005 G8 summit. The Gov’t is trying again, this time hooked onto their energy policy launch. (The Prime Minister visited California to launch a UK-California initiative on climate change, and attended an Clinton Foundation event to launch a city-based climate change initiative, led by the Mayors of Los Angeles and London. I spoke to the Washington Post about the visit.)
Meanwhile, the Council is considering how it might -
- encourage people to pledge to “Respect the Climate”
- adopt a new resolution on Climate Change, during local democracy week, where a particular effort will be made to involve young people.
Highlights from July -
- giving an interview to the Guardian's podcast service;
- the preview of Al Gore’s movie “An Inconvenient Truth” at BAFTA, hosted by David Miliband, at which Nottingham made a pitch to be a part of the national campaign;
- 3 bin collections started in Mapperley ward to increase collection of sorted waste; the new system is being rolled out across Nottingham during the next few weeks;
- A tour of Nottingham, Leicester, London, Sutton and Woking of Nottingham & East Midlands Councillors and officers to see the best practice in sustainable development and climate change mitigation practice; (see lessons drawn below)
- discussed the next generation of wind turbines at Off-Grid Power Supply presentations at a meeting of the Business Council for Sustainable Development (UK) at the University of Nottingham; including from WindSupply; the British developed the current design of wind turbines and we can develop the next generation;
- the new Nottingham Declaration Action Pack is launched by Angela Smith MP, Department for Communities and Local Government Minister, as a new resource and one-stop shop for Councils wanting information and guidance on climate change; it’s now available at: http://www.nottinghamdeclaration.co.uk/ ;
- Met Office issued a Level 3 – Heatwave alert; "A guide to looking after yourselves and others" is available;
- attended the ICLEI North American Congress to present the work of the Nottingham Declaration on Climate Change, on behalf of the British Government; the Congress was opened by Margaret Beckett; the Nottingham Declaration is an equivalent to the Mayors’ Climate Protection Agreement which in the USA is seen as very radical because of the Bush Gov’t; (see lessons drawn below)
- the Gov’t announced findings of an energy review with a news emphasis on being more efficient in how we generate and distribute energy;
- reported to Regeneration, Infrastructure and Sustainability Standing Panel (scrutiny, chaired by Emma Dewinton) on climate change which essentially approved 45 recommendations for mitigating and tackling climate change;
- Local Government Conference (LGA conference) at Bournemouth; David Miliband highlighted his concern over climate change and supported the drive for local generation of electricity; (I wrote a letter to the Municipal Journal - see below)
August began with a visit to an energy farm near Loughborough.
Coach Trip to learn best practice from others - Ideas from the trip to Nottingham Uni., Leicester, London, Sutton and Woking
That the Declaration Partnership should drive a declaration on climate change for universitieswith references beyond operation of the organisations to the content of relevant coursesincluding lessons on climate change;
That the sustainable development technologies at Nottingham University were showingfailures as well as successes;
That we should consider the use of LEDs for lighting beyond existing uses for traffic lights;
That to make progress on the design of buildings and refurbishment, professionaldevelopment should be arranged for development control officers; and for architects,surveyors and other professional trades; some awareness for clients might also be useful;
That partnerships akin to the Groundworks / Environ in Leicester should take forward thedevelopment of environmental practice in schools, especially in primary schools, perhaps at a3 cities or 6 counties level, mindful that some of the gains achieved in Leicester may havealready been achieved in Nottingham in different ways;
That whilst there may be arguments for EMAS over ISO14001, we should recognise thatsignificant parts of the Council already have ISO14001;
That the GLA’s lists of flooding concerns w.r.t. climate change adaptation should be reviewed,with particular attention on pluvial flooding and groundwater flooding;
That the GLA’s lists of heat concerns w.r.t. climate change adaptation should be reviewed,with particular attention on -
- Using the values of Nottingham in Bloom to promote the use of plants in window boxesand roof top gardens;
- raising public health concerns on
o keeping people cool at night, but use of blinds and curtains and closed windowsduring the day;
o informing people of the significance of give the body respite from heat, by beingat below 19oC during the night;
That the GLA’s lists of air quality concerns w.r.t. climate change adaptation should bereviewed, but given Nottm’s position, the focus be more on increasing awareness of airquality and ventilation inside houses;
That we drive higher standards for new buildings by a 10% carbon dioxide reduction inemissions (achievable within 2 years); followed by a pump-priming funds for councilproperties, possibly aided by funds that the NHS has been able to reach; and a fund forencouraging the private sector to be more ambitious;
That we note Sutton’s acknowledgement that Nottingham’s reputation comes before us;
That we explore the cost implications of matching Sutton’s current performance of 30%domestic waste sorted for recycling;
That we note that systems now exist to break 110,000 tons of waste into compost-able andnon-compost-able waste; and that the compost-able waste can be turned into sufficientlyfine compost and insufficiently fine (which is re-processed) and steam / heat; and that thenon-compost-able waste can be tuned into material to burn (40,000 tons) and further metal(4,000 tons); that this is without anaerobic digestion which could yield different products,including methane; that such a scheme appears not to have smell problems but this needs tobe verified when the scheme is fully running; that we should visit an anaerobic digester(suggest South Shropshire); and the Sutton scheme for 4 boroughs be revisited in 2 monthstime when more fully operational;
That the Bedzed scheme be noted for given some social mix and being an exemplar ofsustainable design, but that concerns about cost, operations of CHP and use of grey water benoted;
That a fuller understanding of the progress of the private sector on sustainable developmentissues and technologies be quickly established;
That the Woking / Cardiff stand-alone street-lights (Hybrolights) be evaluated in time for thePFI scheme, noting the extra concerns on security that we would have in Nottingham; andthat further the use of low energy bulbs be used in any scheme; and that the attachments ofNottingham in Bloom fixings, and the potential for CCTV / security measures to be attached tothe column be explored;
ICLEI conference in Chicago
There were a significant number of ideas from the ICLEI conference in Chicago -
· In response to the Rockerfeller Institute presentation, and the Architecture 2030 challenge, I have asked City Council officers involved in economic development and liaison with the private sector to establish the degree of progress made already and to see whether the commercial sector in Nottingham is ready to take a further step on; we may organise a programme of events or a campaign amongst, and then alongside the private sector, on the commercial benefits of going green, in terms of cost savings, opportunity for new jobs, products and services and preparing earlier for the inevitable obligation to convert.
· In response to the Architecture 2030 challenge, I will ask planning, development control and building control officers to explore how the timescale for the 2030 challenge in Britain might be met. I’ve have also asked our property manager what the challenges we face for our own estate becoming carbon neutral by 2012, as proposed for gov’t buildings by Tony Blair.
· In response to the presentation by Citizens for Global Solutions, who have run competitions for teenagers & young people to develop their own Flash animation files, some of them exceptional, I will ask the Nottingham Declaration partnership to consider running such an exercise, before then exploring whether something similar can be run for an initiative in Nottingham called “Proud of Nottingham”. (And whilst on the notion of pride, I think I saw a photo of Nottingham University’s Jubilee campus in Ed Mazria’s Architecture 2030 presentation.)
· In response to the campaign in the USA to require manufacturers to ensure cars can be adopted to be hybrid (essentially using braking to charge up batteries to reduce amount of fuel used), I will ask our officers to advise on the latest developments in Britain and consider whether and such call should be part of the planned resolution on Climate Change that Nottingham City Council is to take in October. (I understand our 21st century light rail system uses this hybrid technology.)
· As part of our own carbon dioxide emissions reduction programme, I will ask officers to assess the impact of new energy saving devices and I have already raised how we can make our procurement more environmentally friendly with our Corporate Services Director. I will ask about the value of using ICLEI’s tool for preparing emissions inventories and reduction plans – the Harmonized Emissions Analysis Tool (HEAT) need to explore using site to log emissions for energy used in Nottingham, although our Asset Management Plan already has some such information.
· In response to the presentations from Chicago, I will check whether as part of “Nottingham in Bloom”, we could or should follow up the concept of roof gardens (and window boxes), for a combination of beauty, reducing building cooling costs and possibly for cropping bio-mass; and I will ask how rain water from roofs might be utilised (although the issue in Nottingham is our own water table is rising cos we don’t draw from it for industrial purposes and for drinking like we used to). We will also seek to download Toronto and Portland Oregon's presentations of achievements and check our climate change plans against their progress.
· Finally, the Council will consider how to celebrate the first showing of the Al Gore film when it comes to the Broadway cinema in September.
Summary of Proposed Next Steps on the City Council’s response to Climate Change and Sustainable Development
Taken from scrutiny report on July 11th.
1. Our Ambition
Nottingham City Council believes that cities are good for us and that they can and should be sustainable. We are proud of what we have achieved already on sustainable development and declare our intention to be recognised as a City of Ambition in the European Cities for Climate Protection campaign. We will formally confirm our new commitment by:
· Responding positively to the Climate Change Scrutiny Review in July 2007
· Adopting new policy in September 2006 and a climate change strategy by March 2007
2. Working within the Council
We will turn our commitment into action using our mainstream planning processes:
· Incorporating climate change into our 2006 - 2011 Corporate Plan, 2006 - 2009 Community Strategy and 2006/7 Local Area Agreement Refresh
· Incorporating environmental targets into Departmental Statements of Accountability and Service Plans from 2006/07 onwards
· Developing an environmental management system and gaining accreditation by 2009/10
· Monitoring and publicly reporting on the outcomes of our actions for climate protection, sustainable development and quality of life by March 2007
· Seeking to achieve ‘carbon neutrality’ for the Council in a similar way to central Government
3. Working within the Community
We will also work at a local level (Transforming Nottingham’s Neighbourhoods) on climate mitigation and adaptation by:
· Building more sustainable buildings ourselves (through a new policy) and influencing others through the planning system
· Using the growing stock of sustainable buildings in Nottingham to inform, inspire and train people
· Developing the first ever Zero Carbon Zone in an established community (funding permitted) – The O Zone in the Meadows
· Further extending kerbside recycling
· Improving the management, quality and accessibility of Green and Open Spaces through new strategies and resources
· Engaging local people in the care of their environment through an expanded Nottingham in Bloom campaign, Greenweeks Greater Nottingham and Springwatch 2007
4. Capturing the Benefits
We will exploit and demonstrate the economic benefits of climate protection by:
· Saving money on utility bills through environmental management over the next five years
· Nurturing the environmental economy in Nottingham (with the two universities) to bring about jobs, training and opportunities through the application, research and development of sustainable design, construction and enviro-technologies
5. Working with Others
We will continue to work with others at different levels to achieve greater impact:
· Work with local partners to develop the Greater Nottingham Health and Environment Partnership and progress towards a Sustainability Hub for Greater Nottingham throughout 2006/07
· Support our national partners in the Nottingham Declaration Development Group in doubling the number of councils publicly committed to climate protection (from 100 to 200 by December 2006) and in developing and launching a new Councils’ Climate Action Pack with the All Party Parliamentary Group on Climate Change on 18th July 2006
· Work with international partners (ICLEI and others) in the development of the CCP campaign in Europe by endorsing the Stockholm Impulse
6. Learning from Others
We will continue to search for best practice in the UK and elsewhere and look for opportunities to implement good ideas in Nottingham:
· We participated in the Stockholm Conference ‘Towards a Future with Zero CO2 Emissions’ for European local government in May 2006 and will speak at a sustainability congress in Chicago for US, Canada and Mexico local government in July
· We will conduct a ‘High Level/Low Carbon’ Study Tour on 24/25 July 2006 for Members, senior officers and key partners
Background notes
‘High Level/Low Carbon’ Study Tour -Coach Trip to learn best practice from others - Introduction
A coach trip to London. How that brings back memories.
Aged 9, on a primary school trip from West Shropshire, going to London rather than Llandudno, which was certainly going to make my “What I did” essay easier to write. Discovering chewing gum and coca-cola - this strange black drink had almost been allowed to go flat before one of us was brave enough to try it. Waking the room of 4 lads up cos I’d got cramp so going on a trip on the Underground to keep us occupied - and the teacher being given a 10 bob note cos the commuter had never seen such polite children.
Will our journey be so memorable in 36 years time?
Well, by then we’ll know. Not so much as whether climate change is happening - but whether we saw the signs and were able to do enough, fast enough.
And if we did, people may look back at this time, this year even, and even possibly this month and say this is when the steps were taken.
Could the Energy Review be that important? With its emphasis on efficiency and the new emphasis on local generation of energy. Only yesterday, I was told that 30 minutes of the sun’s energy falling on the earth is enough to keep the human race going for a year. Free and renewable. Surely we can do better.
On Thursday, at the meeting of Sustainable Development Commerce (check title), at NottinghamUniversity, I met a range of people dedicated to persuading the world of commerce and manufacturing to embrace the opportunities. And in Nottingham, we have the expertise in electrical engineering to lead the world on the next generation of wind turbines.
There are now signs of business seeing both the opportunities in cost saving and for new products and services, businesses and jobs. Who would have expected the leaders of British big business to publicly call on the British Gov’t to stick by more challenging targets?
So a new consensus is developing - and many of you on this trip would no doubt say - at last people are listening.
Just this month - I’ve seen
David Miliband express his concerns about climate change to hundreds of leading Councillors (he’s even invited me to the movies next Thursday - I said OK but he’s buying the popcorn);
the City Council’s scrutiny report on Climate Change be assessed (and 45 recommendations agreed) on how to improve our game;
ministers support the launch of Nottingham Declaration’s new reporting procedures and
most extraordinarily, our Foreign Secretary taking a detour from her 2 day trip to the States to address leading environment officers from amongst local government in North America to demonstrate her commitment to change at the ICLEI congress (indeed, the British Embassy and their consulate in the United States are being told to organise amongst local gov’t to promote the climate change agenda).
I returned from the ICLEI congress with a whole range of ideas (appended), the most startling of which was Architecture 2030’s assertion that such is the rate of new build and building refurbishment, that strict carbon emission targets on building construction alone could save the planet by 2030 (24 years). I may not agree with their analysis - I think we have to prevail upon less travel for work and shopping - but their vision is simple and dramatic and worth considering.
We have to be ready to learn from others. Architecture 2030 say most US schools of architecture have no element of reducing carbon footprint in their courses - something we can check on in Britain and maybe even have a declaration for British Universities that say all schools will consider whether their courses can be adapted to reflect the importance of tackling climate change.
Great ideas come from being willing to listen and to learn. As you know, cos that’s why you’re here. Nottingham has done well on public transport, transport planning, green energy purchase, reducing energy bills for the most needy, “Nottingham in Bloom” and by providing leadership at key times - the Nottingham Declaration.
It’s now time to take a step up. The City Council will seek to crystalise all the good ideas into a dramatic resolution to be agreed at its October full Council. With the emphasis being on how we can make a difference.
And to help us - you will be asked to do that essay - “What I did”.
Enjoy the trip. Here’s to the next 24 years.
-
Sustainability Tour Success Criteria
The tour will be judged to have been a success if we come back with:
• A stronger sense of a low carbon vision for Nottingham/East Midlands, and profile
• A clear sense of whether or not some of these beacon examples could work in Nottingham, what the benefits would be and how we would set about making them happen.
• Some more ideas of how we can also work with others to mobilise local action, particularly local government action, in the UK and particularly in the East Midlands.
Participants will all be asked to identify:
1 Any key changes that could be made in either local/regional/national policy as a result of seeing best practice on the tour and what the benefits would be, eg.
• Leicester: EMAS and Education
• London: Sustainable Energy and Ambition
• Sutton: EMAS and Waste/Recycling
• Woking: Sustainable Energy
2 How these could be applied, eg.
• By Nottingham City Council (which directorate/service area), or other body
• In Nottingham, Greater Nottingham, East Midlands, etc.
3 What the next steps would be in making them happen
Responses will be analysed and drawn up into a short report for the Council’s Portfolio Holders, Strategic Management Team, and RIS (expand) Panel.
Guests for the evening dinner included -
o Sir John Harman, Chair, Environment Agency Board
o Ted Cantle CBE, Deputy Chair, Environment Agency Board
o Nick King, Midlands Regional Strategy Manager, Environment Agency
o Alan Simpson, MP for Nottingham South
o Anna Randle, former Head of Policy at NLGN
o Andrew Wells, Director, New Housing & Communities, Places, Planning & Communities Group, DCLG
o Adrian Harvey, Head of Policy, CABE
o Ian Parker, LLM Communications
· Sir John Harman launched the revised Nottingham Declaration on Climate Change last December, to which 100 councils were signatories
Declaration of intent - letter to the Municipal Journal
Cllr Michael Edwards
Deputy leader
Nottingham City Council
Tory leader David Cameron's speech to the Local Government Association conference reflecting concerns on powers for local government and about climate change reflected the points made earlier in the week by ministers David Miliband and Ruth Kelly. He blended in very well.
But on climate change, we are anxious to hear whether the commitment to act includes the commitment to match the planned government spending on developing alternative energy technologies.
Many councils are achieving great things on mitigating climate change.
Nottingham City Council is one of the 25 largest purchasers of renewable energy in the EU, and has saved more than 30,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide as a result.
Nottingham's radical transport policies have stabilised congestion and carbon dioxide emissions from transport over the last five years. And we have ambitious plans to learn from others and do more.
Around one-third of councils in England and Wales have already signed the Nottingham Declaration on Climate Change - or its equivalent.
This public statement of commitment identifies those signatories who are up to the climate change challenge, and are willing to take action to develop a climate-change strategy.
The Nottingham declaration is one of a number of voluntary national frameworks which have been showcased internationally in the last year.
I have only just returned from the ICLEI North American Congress in Chicago, at which I presented Nottingham's declaration to US, Canadian and Mexican local government leaders.
The new Nottingham Declaration Action Pack was launched on 18 July by Angela Smith MP, Department for Communities and Local Government minister, as a major new resource and one-stop shop for councils wanting information and guidance on climate change. It's now available at: http://www.nottinghamdeclaration.co.uk/
[Updated 2006-08-03]
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