Director, Best Foot Forward

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Making a difference Creating an evidence base for
an effective climate change strategy

• Director, Best Foot Forward
• www.bestfootforward.com

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Project brief

• Calculate Carbon and ecological footprints of
• Luton residents
• Luton Borough Council operations
• Review climate-friendliness of existing
  strategies
• Recommendations for delivering greenhouse gas
  reductions in all areas
• Produce customised online carbon calculator for
  public engagement
• Deliver a Climate Change Strategy which will
  Make a Difference

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Results and Recommendations

• Luton Borough Councils organisational footprint
• 2. Footprint of Lutons resident population

Climate Change Strategy
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What is a footprint?

• Carbon footprint A measure of the mass of
  climate-damaging greenhouse gas emissions emitted
  as a result of human activity (Units tonnes of
  carbon dioxide equivalents - tCO2e)

• Ecological footprint A broader measure of human
  demand on the Earth's ecosystems and natural
  resources. It compares human consumption of
  natural resources with planet Earth's ecological
  capacity to regenerate them (Units global
  hectares gha)

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UK emissions of greenhouse gases
2008-2012 Kyoto target
2010 target
2018-2022CC Bill target
2050CC Bill target (60)
Released 27th March 2008
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Everything has a footprint
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Tackling Climate Change is HARD!
There is no magic bullet
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Luton already taking first steps

• Lots of sustainability policies
• Nottingham Declaration
• Regional Cities East
• East of England Plan/Integrated Regional
  Strategy for East of England
• Luton Community Plan Luton Forum LSP
• Luton Local Plan
• However, there are few precise targets
• Sustainability aspects of Local Plan criticised
  for not being very prescriptive or precise as to
  how progress would be monitored or reviewed
• Transport implementation plans also criticised

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Results and Recommendations

• Luton Borough Councils organisational footprint
• 2. Footprint of Lutons resident population

Climate Change Strategy
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Key drivers

• Carbon Reduction Commitment Carbon trading
  scheme which will penalise large organisations
  (including LBC) which fail to reduce emissions.
• National Indicators NI 185 (CO2 reductions from
  local authority operations) and NI 188 (Planning
  to Adapt to Climate Change)
• Rising energy costs
• Need for Leadership Public sector uniquely
  placed to demonstrate by example high
  expectations

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What is accounted for?

• All direct and indirect GHG emissions under the
  financial control of Luton Borough Council

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Which includes emissions from

• Utilities
• Travel (business commuter)
• Procurement (including food)
• Waste management
• Land use

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As a result of the operations of
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Luton Borough Council

• Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
• 56,000 tonnes of GHGs
• 52,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide
• Ecological footprint
• 20,000 global hectares
• Results given to nearest 1000

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Luton Borough Council

• Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
• 56,000 tonnes of GHGs
• 52,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide
• Ecological footprint
• 20,000 global hectares
• Results given to nearest 1000

Equivalent to 10,000 new hot air balloons
appearing in the skies over Luton each year
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Luton Airport
More than 100,500 tonnes of carbon dioxide were
emitted during the taxiing, take-off, initial
climb-out and landing of aeroplanes from the ten
largest operators at London Luton Airport1.
This is nearly twice the total footprint of
Luton Borough Council as calculated in this study
and almost six times LBCs transport footprint.
1Based on LLA Annual Monitoring Report 2006 and
fuel consumption data
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GHG emissions
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GHG emissions
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Nuclear energy carbon
The utilities footprint would be higher were it
not for the use of British Energy for powering
Lutons street lights
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Can go low carbon zero nuclear

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You still need to reduce demand
Carbon Reduction Commitment emissions
calculations are based on average grid carbon
intensities per kWh
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LBC fairly average on most measures
Example showing commuting of LBC staff by mode
compared with UK average.
LUTON
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Good news There is room for improvement
If the willing adults1 who currently drive to
work at LBC were to cycle instead, this could
reduce commuting CO2 emissions by almost 4,500
tonnes of CO2 per year, or 32. 1DfT cycle
survey 2007
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Recommendations

• 41 point Action Plan for improving LBCs response
  to climate change covering
• Building capacity within Council
• Improving data collection monitoring systems
• Identification of funding streams
• Target-setting and benchmarking
• Suggested improvements to policy and management
  strategies

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Example Recommendations Business travel (4 out
of 8)

• Develop a Transport Environmental Policy ? Will
  establish framework and targets for future
  footprint reductions.
• Require business mile claimants to provide
  vehicle type, age and fuel consumption figures ?
  Needed to comply with NI 188 and important for
  planning future footprint reductions
• Phase in a cap on per km CO2 emissions of grey
  fleet vehicles ? Will lead to measurable
  reductions in business emissions. Eco-friendly
  pool cars to be made available as alternative
• Set carbon standards for procurement of Transport
  Services ? c. 4m spent annually on external
  services. Exercising purchasing power could have
  significant wider benefits.

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Example Recommendations Procurement Waste (4
out of 10)

• No evidence of measuring carbon impact of
  produced products/services ? Adopt final PAS 2050
  standard for all procured products and services.
  Will measure and drive down CO2 emissions.
• No good data on waste produced by Council ?
  Conduct waste audit. Will identify and facilitate
  opportunities for reuse/recycling
• No commercial recycling services offered by LBC ?
  Introduce service for local businesses will
  benefit wider community and generate revenue.
• Paper and card use responsible for 15 of
  procurement and waste emissions ? Review office
  practices on paper procurement, use and recycling.

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Results and Recommendations

• Luton Borough Councils organisational footprint
• 2. Footprint of Lutons resident population

Climate Change Strategy
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Key drivers

• National Indicators NI 186 (Per capita
  reduction in CO2 emissions)
• Fuel poverty rising fuel costs
• Desire for change growing public concern over
  climate change

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What is accounted for?

• All direct and indirect GHG emissions resulting
  from the activities of Luton residents

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Which includes emissions from

• Domestic energy
• Travel (anywhere in world)
• Food consumption
• Goods and services consumed
• Waste management
• Land use

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Luton Borough residents

• Carbon emissions
• 2.20Mt CO2 in total, or
• 11,790kg CO2 per capita
• 0.6 lower than UK average
• Ecological footprint
• 1,057,721 gha in total, or
• 5.66 gha per capita

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Carbon emissions (per capita)
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Carbon emissions(Compared to UK average)
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Results and Recommendations

• Luton Borough Councils organisational footprint
• 2. Footprint of Lutons resident population

Climate Change Strategy
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Shaping a Climate Change Strategy

• Climate Change and Luton
• Review of current strategies and plans
• Mitigation and adaptation by policy area
• Current targets and their implications
• 37 priorities for action

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Consultees
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Questions posed by policy area

• Will existing climate-related LBC policies be
  effective at cutting emissions?
• What do organisations on the ground consider
  Lutons strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and
  threats as regards climate change?
• What examples of climate-related good practice
  are happening in Luton?
• How are other local authorities meeting the same
  challenges?
• What sorts of adaptation measures will be
  required?
• Finally, what are the key recommendations for
  future actions and targets?

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Example Transport

• Will existing climate-related LBC policies be
  effective at cutting emissions?
• No. Current policies will most likely lead to
  emission increases.
• Residents travel more per year and do so less
  efficiently, resulting in carbon emissions being
  c. 12 above the national average
• Existing Local Transport Plan targets will
  deliver an increase in related emissions of c.
  5

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SWOTanalysistransport
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Example Transport

• What examples of climate-related good practice
  are happening in Luton? Greenlink but use patchy

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Example Transport

• How are other local authorities meeting the same
  challenges? Peterborough (Travel Choice),
  Nottingham (Clear Zones) and Stockport (staff
  electric mopeds)

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Example Transport

• Finally, what are the key recommendations for
  future actions and targets?

• Include a specific LTP indicator which measures
  CO2 emissions from road transport.
• Quantify the emissions implications of major
  Local Transport Plan policies and projects.
• Set much more challenging transport goals for the
  next LTP round, which will be required to
  deliver emissions reductions, such as
• Halt growth in car carbon dioxide emissions
• Ensure public transport use by air passengers
  keeps track with Luton airport growth (not
  including taxis)

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Summary

• Luton must change!
• Current strategies, plans and targets
  insufficient
• Transport is 1 issue
• Tackling climate change will require leadership
  and capacity building
• New investment is needed
• Joint working essential.

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Making a difference Creating an evidence base for
an effective climate change strategy

• THANK YOU