Agenda item

To consider a report by the Director for Sustainability and Resources copy attached as item 10

The Committee had a report before it attached as item 10, which had been circulated to all Members and is attached to a signed copy of these minutes.

A Member asked, “At paragraph 5.4 of the report, it says that due to resource constraints, no scope 3 analysis has been conducted. What is the timeline on this analysis taking place and how can the council effectively plan for the 2045 target without this information?”

Members were informed that the focus since 2019 had been on scope 1 and scope 2 emissions over which the Council had greater control.  They wanted to lead by example and deliver tangible reductions in carbon emissions. They now had plans to address the vast majority of these emissions through the worthing heat network, the fleet strategy and the Hycrem project which was a significant achievement.

There was no definitive timetable to analyse scope 3 emissions, as this was funding dependent in light of the current financial situation. They had been extremely successful in securing funding for the delivery of the carbon reduction work, and would continue to look for opportunities in the year ahead.

In the absence of that detailed data they were able to make a meaningful start on the approach to the 2045 target, which was a long term piece of work.  Whilst they did not have granular detail, they knew from previous high level analysis what the main sources of emissions were - those from residences, transport and businesses. 

The first stages were to develop the partnership with stakeholders, and co-create an action plan. The partnership itself may identify further opportunities to help deliver the research and analysis work that would be required over the next 20 years.

A Member asked, “This summer will see the report of developing a fleet strategy that will tackle a large proportion of our emissions. The publication of the Carbon Neutral Plan was in 2019. Considering this is one of the key areas of the plan, what has taken the report five years to be produced, was it always intended to take this time and what barriers were faced during this?”

Members were informed the 2019 Carbon Neutral Plan noted that ultra-low emission HGVs were not expected to become widely commercially available in the next decade and that the councils would need to “undertake a review when the existing fleet is due for renewal”. Fortunately, technology was developed more rapidly than anticipated and there were a number of low carbon options to consider. 

Given the refuse fleet accounted for 75% of the councils' total emissions from its fleet, the councils had been focused on the delivery of smaller low carbon vehicles in the intervening period, with a number of electric vans already in use across the fleet with more on order. As that low carbon technology existed for heavy vehicles and the councils were beginning to think about the forthcoming replacement of the refuse fleet, it was an appropriate time to develop a full low carbon fleet strategy. 

Resolved: 

The Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee noted the progress which the Councils were making in climate change delivery and the new Carbon Management Plan