Council to go Carbon Neutral by July 2012

The Council has a long history of trying to reduce the amount of energy it uses from fossil fuels, such as petrol, mineral diesel, gas, oil and coal. For example, it has had an electricity contract for its Civic Offices from renewable energy sources since October 2001, one of the first Councils in the Country to do so.

The Council has also had a Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan since 2003. That strategy recognises that we must all not only reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that are significantly contributing to Climate Change but also that we must prepare to adapt to the impacts of unavoidable climate change. More information on this can be found on our Climate Change page.

However, we want to go further than other Councils and encourage others to do the same. We have therefore set ourselves a target of being Carbon Neutral by the time the 2012 Olympic Games begins in London. It will be a tough target to meet but we will do this by

• Carefully measuring and monitoring the carbon dioxide that we emit from our key business activities. This is sometimes known as a Carbon Footprint.
• Reducing those emissions as much as we can by 2012

For those carbon dioxide emissions that we really can’t avoid, we will invest in local energy saving projects that will benefit the wider local community. These projects will save at least the same amount of carbon dioxide that we, as a Council, cannot avoid emitting. In this way we will compensate for the carbon dioxide we emit (known as carbon compensation or carbon offsetting), thereby becoming carbon neutral. We are avoiding the term zero carbon because we feel that it is misleading.

Our unique carbon dioxide offsetting/compensation fund is called CarbonFREE and will be operated in an open, honest and transparent way, in keeping with our corporate values because we want to ensure the public has confidence that we are doing what we say.

This local carbon compensation fund means that local people, community organisations and businesses can follow our lead, confident that they will know exactly where and how their investment into such a fund will reduce carbon dioxide emissions locally. Our CarbonFREE page gives you more information.

This sounds very simple in principle but in fact the process is the subject of ongoing discussions, monitoring and planning at a high level. The Cabinet agreed that a Climate Change Programme Board, chaired by the Leader of the Council, would plan the Going Carbon Neutral by 2012 campaign and oversee the way the Council tackles and plans to meet ongoing issues related to Climate Change. A Carbon Compensation Policy Paper  ( pdf)  was agreed at the December 2007 Cabinet Meeting. At the same meeting, the updated Council’s Climate Change Strategy 2007 to 2012 was agreed.

Doing your bit. Do you want to become Carbon Neutral?

First calculate your own carbon footprint. You can do this by using the government’s Carbon Calculator which will give you the amount of carbon dioxide emissions you are producing per year. Not only that, you also get an action plan to help and guide you as to what areas of your lifestyle are creating the most carbon dioxide emissions and advice on what to do next. For example, if you fly to your holiday destination, you will find that your carbon dioxide emissions will be particularly high. Try different answers to see what effect various changes in your lifestyle would have on your carbon dioxide emissions. Every little change does help so don’t be disheartened and there is plenty of information here to help you.

Although the Government carbon calculator is one of the better ones available, it does not include all carbon dioxide emitting activities. For example, it does not ask you about how much waste you send to landfill, how much water you use or what sort of food you eat or from where you buy it. All these can have significant carbon dioxide emissions.

Once you’ve genuinely reduced your carbon dioxide emissions as much as your can, you can then invest in schemes that create genuine carbon dioxide (energy) savings. However, be very careful where you invest as many carbon compensation or offsetting schemes have been heavily criticised. This is one of the reasons that the Council has set up a local Carbon Dioxide Compensation Fund (CarbonFREE)  in which local people and businesses can use with confidence.

Good luck with making your lifestyle “carbon neutral”