6 - DirApp - Carbon Emissions and Scope 3 - FINAL - 17-09-24
North Ayrshire Council · 31 October 2024
Back to Audit and Scrutiny Committee — 31 October 2024 and its agenda
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NORTH AYRSHIRE COUNCIL 31 October 2024 Audit and Scrutiny Title: Carbon and Scope 3 Emissions Purpose: To update the Audit and Scrutiny Committee on what is included in the Council’s carbon emission reporting, and ongoing work to understand and reduce scope 3 emissions. Recommendation: It is proposed that the committee note the progress and ongoing action to reduce carbon emissions in North Ayrshire and expand on emissions sources reported both internally and externally. 1. Executive Summary 1.1 North Ayrshire Council declared a climate emergency in June 2019, setting a net zero emissions target for 2030. Carbon emissions have been recorded since the Council’s first carbon management plan in 2006, and have evolved to include more sources of emissions. 1.2 Emissions are classed by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol into ‘scopes.’ The Council reports both internally and externally on these scope emissions, and are considering methods to increase scope 3 emissions, in line with the Public Bodies Climate Change Duties Report. 1.3 An update report on the ‘Climate Change Target and Associated Policies’ was presented to Audit and Scrutiny Committee on 29th August. Members requested a further report be presented to detail what was incorporated in carbon emissions (i.e. Council estate assets including office rationalisation, KA Leisure, Council housing and fleet operations), and note the wider work which was ongoing across the Council concerning wider (indirect) emissions, and how best to capture this information in terms of reporting. 2. Background 2.1 In 2018, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report warned that we have until 2030 to keep global temperatures from rising more than 1.5°C above pre- industrial levels before damage to the planet is irreversible. In response, the Council declared a Climate Emergency in June 2019 and set an area-wide ambition to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2030, in line with the IPCC report. 2.2 Carbon emission reporting has been undertaken by the Council since the first Carbon Management Plan in 2006, using a 2005/06 baseline year. As the Council’s strategies for carbon reduction have evolved, culminating in the most recent Sustainable North Ayrshire Strategy (2024-27), so too have the emissions calculations to include more emission sources. Council emissions are reported internally through the corporate performance management system, Pentana.
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2.3 Public bodies have statutory climate change duties under the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 to cut greenhouse gas emissions, prepare for the impacts of climate change and to act sustainably. The Climate Change (Duties of Public Bodies: Reporting Requirements) (Scotland) Order 2015, requires local authorities to report on their emissions annually. This is achieved by completing the Sustainable Scotland Network (SSN) Public Bodies Climate Change Duty (PBCCD) reporting template, for reporting to the Scottish Government. Within this template, emissions sources are categorised within three ‘scopes’ and these emission sources are also mirrored within the Council’s internal estate emission reporting. 2.4 Scope emissions were established through the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, as a way of measuring emissions arising from different sources. • Scope 1 emissions are direct emissions from activities owned or controlled by the Council for example fuel use for heating and fleet vehicles. • Scope 2 emissions are indirect emissions from the consumption of purchased electricity, heat, steam and cooling. • Scope 3 emissions are all other indirect emissions (not included in scope 2), arising from the procurement of goods and services from a third party or contractor, for example business travel in staff cars, waste, water use and procured goods or services. Table 1 below identifies the sources of emissions reported, the fuel used and the scope in which the arising emissions are classified: Table1 – North Ayrshire Council reported emissions. 2.5 Internal emissions are calculated by converting fuel used into tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e), using conversion factors published by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. These same conversion factors are used for PBCCD reporting. For 2023/24 the final outturn of internal emissions was 20,745tCO2e. This was calculated from the sources noted in Table 2 below:
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Table 2 – 2023/24 final outturn of annual emissions from Council estate. 2.6 Graph 1 below is a representation of the Council’s carbon emission journey since the baseline year of 2005/06. Through carbon reduction projects and policies, emissions have reduced across buildings, waste, street lighting, staff travel and transport by 69.4% since 2005/06. This is a reduction of 46,974tCO2e. Graph 1 – Council estate emissions in tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e) 2.7 In December 2023, Cabinet approved the Sustainable North Ayrshire (SNA) Strategy 2024-2027, which aims to tackle both the climate and nature crisis. One of the actions within the SNA Strategy is to develop a Carbon Project Register, to identify carbon reduction projects and monitor the emissions reduction associated with each project. Committing to carbon reduction projects in this way will better support annual projections. The Carbon Project Register is in development and will be initiated prior to the end of the year. 2.8 One example of a project to be recorded would be the Irvine Locality Property Review. It is anticipated that approximately 286tCO2e/year will be saved through property rationalisation in Phase 1 and 2. Investigation into the decarbonisation of the non- domestic estate and decarbonisation of fleet is well underway, with anticipated carbon savings to be considered once all data has been collated and business cases developed. 0 10,000 20,000 30,000 40,000 50,000 60,000 70,000 80,000 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25 2025-26 2026-27 2027-28 2028-29 2029-30Council Emissions (tCO 2e) Year Council Estate Emissions (tCO2e) Forward Projection to 2030
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2.9 In order to progress with area-wide emission reduction, where the Council leads by example and provides support to local businesses, community organisation and households, officers are participating in the development of the Scottish Climate Intelligence Service (SCIS). The aim of this Scottish Government funded initiative is to create a capacity-building programme with both a national digital platform and a support service co-designed with stakeholders. The platform will collate area-wide emissions data to build a baseline of emissions and calculate the emission reductions of the actions and projects local authorities undertake in order to deliver the area-wide emissions reduction strategies. 2.10 In addition to the ongoing works to reduce area-wide emissions, officers are participants in the Ayrshire Climate Hub Community Forum, where we aim to utilise the expertise within the group to support the implementation of Community Climate Action Plans for each locality. 2.11 Furthermore, with the proposed Climate Change (Emissions Reduction) (Scotland) Bill being laid before Parliament, it is anticipated that carbon budgeting will be the new focus for reporting in future years. A Scottish carbon budget will be a number of tCO2e prescribed for a given period, and the target will be to not exceed the given budget. Progress through Parliament will be closely monitored by officers to better understand the implications to the Council. Scope 3 emissions 2.12 As noted previously, the Council does report on several scope 3 emissions, both internally and through the mandatory annual reporting to Scottish Government in the PBCCD report. For this year’s report (considering 2023/24 emissions) to be submitted in November 2024, public bodies have been requested to ensure any “all emissions” targets be clear on what is included and excluded in terms of scope emissions. If the public body has a net zero by 2030 target, an explanation must now be included as to which scopes are included or not. 2.13 Public bodies have also been encouraged, to set and manage scope 3 targets more effectively by splitting them into category or source e.g. waste, business travel, procurement etc, rather than being grouped together as one target. Presently, the Council report on overall carbon emissions and do not have separate targets for scope 1, 2 or 3 emissions. This will be actioned for the upcoming report. 2.14 Commuting, home working and procurement are noted to be currently under-reported by the majority of public bodies. This is due to difficulties in capturing and accessing accurate data which would provide meaningful information. However, we aim to include Scope 3 emissions on homeworking sources within the 2023/24 report. 2.15 Corporate Procurement use the Flexible Framework Tool on an annual basis, which is a self-assessment process that allows the Council to measure and monitor their progress on sustainable procurement. Progress updates are provided in the annual reporting, to evidence the Council’s consideration of scope 3 emissions. 3. Proposals 3.1 It is proposed that the committee note the progress and ongoing action to reduce carbon emissions in North Ayrshire and expand on emissions sources reported both internally and externally.
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4. Implications/Socio-economic Duty Financial 4.1 Delivery of the Sustainable North Ayrshire Strategy is not fully funded and consideration will be required at future budget setting Council meetings regarding the prioritisation of spend. Exploration of external funding opportunities and innovative partnership models will also be critical in order to maximise investment and meet our objectives. The financial implications for decarbonising the non-domestic estate are anticipated to be positive as making buildings more energy efficient reduces the financial burden on utility spend for the Council. Investment Funding will be utilised to implement the recommendations from the recent decarbonisation study. Resource has been committed to the fleet decarbonisation route map. Human Resources 4.2 Previously vacant posts within the Sustainability service have been filled following a robust recruitment exercise, and external funding is being maximised to support temporary posts to deliver strategic projects, such as the Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategy. Legal 4.3 Under the Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2019, all public bodies in Scotland have a duty to contribute to the delivery of the net zero emissions target. The recently proposed Climate Change (Emissions Reduction) (Scotland) Bill will introduce carbon budgeting instead of an emissions reduction target. Equality/Socio-economic 4.4 The ambition to decarbonise heating systems and improve energy efficiency in all buildings contributes to our socio-economic duty by ensuring our homes and buildings are well insulated and energy efficient, making them cheaper to heat and reducing their emissions. Climate Change and Carbon 4.5 This update provides progress on the Council’s net zero ambition and aspiration to tackle the issue of ‘heat and fleet’ whilst also addressing area-wide emissions and future scope 3 reporting. Key Priorities 4.6 The works undertaken are in keeping with the aim ‘To achieve net-zero by 2030’ within the Council Plan 2023-28.
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Community Wealth Building 4.7 Community Wealth Building is at the heart of the Climate Change Steering Group, key stakeholders in the development and delivery of the SNA, with opportunities to work collaboratively are sought out and implemented. 5. Consultation 5.1 Progress updates have been provided from across various services for this report. RUSSELL McCUTCHEON Executive Director (Place) For further information please contact Laurence Cree, Head of Sustainability, Transport and Corporate Property, on (01294) 324514. Background Papers 0