Agenda item

Joint report of the Head of Corporate Resources and Executive Director

The Committee considered the joint report of the Head of Corporate Resources and Executive Director that advised that the Council, at its meeting held on 18 July 2019, agreed a motion to declare a Climate Emergency and this was attached as Appendix A to this report; that in accordance with the terms of the Council motion, work had progressed on developing a programme structure, strategy and initial implementation plan for delivery of the motion and its objectives; that in order to further inform this work, a baseline position was required across the Council of work that was currently underway or planned that could contribute to the Council achieving the aims of the motion; and that the report provided a summary of work undertaken to date and the exercise that was required to be led through each Overview and Scrutiny Committee in order to establish that baseline position.

The report also advised that each Overview and Scrutiny Committee was being asked to lead an immediate piece of work for completion by the next cycle of meetings that:

The report concluded that the output from the work referred to above should be reported back to Overview and Scrutiny Committees in March/April 2020 and be led by the respective Heads of Service in conjunction with the Committee members and Cabinet Member; and that necessary support would be available from the Cabinet Member - Regulatory, Compliance and Corporate Service, the Head of Corporate Resources and the Executive Director in addition to the Council wide officer working group.

The Committee also received a presentation from Stephanie Jukes, Section Manager Energy and Environmental Management, Corporate Resources on the background to climate change and the Council’s Climate Emergency Declaration which included information on:

·       Sefton’s target of net zero carbon by 2030; and the establishment of a working group and its commencement of work on a strategy, action plan and partnership working

·       How Sefton quantified its emissions using the scope of the “Greenhouse Gas Protocol”

·       Next steps which included most departments having now received information on the issues associated with the Climate Emergency Declaration, had been tasked with completing an initial scoping exercise and to consider further options

Members of the Committee asked questions/commented on the following issues:

·       The Council’s commitment to reducing carbon emissions and to act in line with scientific consensus that emissions must be reduced to net zero by 2030

·       Initiatives to achieve net zero emissions by 2030 which included the involvement of Green Sefton, the use of solar farms and changes to tariffs to electricity and gas contracts

·       Acknowledgement was made of the financial constraints the Council had to operate in; and mention was made of achieving economies of scale by collaborative working with like-minded local authorities

·       Future technological improvements would reduce costs to help achieve carbon reduction targets

RESOLVED: That