Sheffield Carbon Reduction Framework
1. Outcome and Sustainability
1.1
We want Sheffield to be a city that future generations can enjoy in the same
way that we enjoy living here now. To do this we need to take steps to
reduce the impact of climate change on Sheffield - one of our most important
goals is to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emitted in Sheffield. This
framework clearly sets out how we are going to do it. It describes some of
the opportunities for delivering a low carbon economy that support the city’s
economic ambitions without compromising our commitment to tackling
climate change. The Council is encouraging and inviting everyone in the City
to commit to this challenge and playing their part by changing their
behaviours and making green practices the norm. In return, the Council will
ensure it makes it easier for everyone to reduce their carbon emissions in the
home, at work and how they travel.
1.2
Reducing the amount of carbon used in the city will not be achieved
overnight. But by working together as residents, businesses and the council,
by supporting and encouraging each other, and by spreading the word about
how easy it is to reduce carbon emissions, we can make a huge difference
both to people living in Sheffield today and for generations to come. If we
come together as a city we can make a genuine difference to our collective
future and help to make this a successful city for generations to come. There
are lots of simple steps that people and businesses can take to help tackle
climate change – individually they will not make a big difference, but added
together across the city and over time they will fundamentally shift Sheffield’s
carbon emissions. For example, we know that the people of Sheffield are
committed and enthusiastic to taking personal action. We have seen
households across the City increase the amount of waste they recycle from
4% to 28% in the last few years and we are committed to making it even
easier for households to recycle even more and reduce waste still further.
This framework sets out these simple steps and proposes some more radical
long term aspirations for the city.
1.3
Our vision is that: “by 2020 we want Sheffield to be renowned as a
thriving, low carbon city where residents and businesses can and will
take actions to reduce their own carbon emissions and are involved in
combating harmful climate change in the city and beyond”.
1.4
The Sheffield Carbon Reduction Framework will help everyone in the city –
residents, businesses and public sector organisations, including the Council
– to take action to reduce their carbon emissions. The actions in this
framework will make it easy, straightforward and fun for Sheffield’s residents
and businesses to play their part. As a Council we will play our part, leading
by example and working with partners to strongly encourage residents and
business to take part in the activities set out in the framework. The
framework also sets out our longer term aspirations in the city, which will
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allow us to make big reductions in our carbon emissions over the next ten to
fifteen years.
1.5
This framework asks everybody in the city to do their bit:
 The Council will provide strong leadership, setting an example by its
own action, and it will put in place the changes needed to allow
everybody to play their part in reducing carbon emissions
 Partners – including from other parts of the public sector and voluntary
and community sector organisations - will be expected to commit to
taking far-reaching action to improve their own carbon emissions.
They will also be expected to contribute to the city-wide initiatives set
out in this framework as appropriate
 Businesses – as the biggest source of carbon emissions in the city will be expected to take advantage of the help and advice on offer to
them to dramatically improve the amount of carbon they are
responsible for.
 Residents will be advised on the changes that they can make to their
lifestyles to reduce carbon emissions and helped to make those
changes.
 However, we will not deliver our aspirations for carbon reduction
unless everybody in the city commits to make these changes and
do their bit.
1.6
We will help everyone in the city to reduce their carbon footprint by rolling out
a City-wide, locally focused communication campaign that will be engaging,
fun and innovative. It will also publicise and raise awareness of the
opportunities available for carbon reduction that will help people make
informed choices and decisions and enable them to make reductions in their
carbon footprint.
1.7
This framework will improve the lives of everyone living in the city both now
and for generations to come by:




Improving people’s health
Reducing the harmful effects to the environment,
Identifying how the prosperity of all Sheffield’s residents can be improved by
creating new jobs in the new environmental economy
Making sure that everyone in the city can play their part in reducing carbon
emissions.
This will help to reduce both the likelihood and scale of harmful climate
change in Sheffield and around the world.
We believe this framework and action plan sets out an achievable plan for
meeting our 2020 carbon reduction target (see section 4 for more details)
provided there is the full backing of the City’s partners and Government.
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1.8
We recognise we will need to identify new ways of delivering carbon
reduction in the future. This will mean doing things differently. It will mean
collaboration between the public, private and voluntary sectors to find
innovative and efficient ways of delivering this framework. To that end, we
have worked with, and consulted, the Sheffield First Environment Partnership
in the development of this framework and engaged specifically with both The
University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University.
1.9
Leading experts on carbon reduction have contributed to this report by
analysing the potential carbon reductions this framework might achieve. The
Carbon Trust and independent consultants have done work for us to help us
to prioritise a range of new ideas and initiatives that will deliver against our
targets.
1.10
This framework directly contributes to the City Strategy and to the ambition in
‘A City of Opportunity’ (the Council’s corporate plan) ‘to protect and enhance
the environment through reducing the city’s carbon footprint’. It also fulfils
the Council’s commitment to”take the lead in developing a [carbon reduction]
strategy for the city as a whole, leading by example” and to “develop an
action plan focusing on the areas where we can make a difference and set
tough targets for carbon reduction”. It will help us to deliver our
commitments to reduce carbon emissions by 10% per capita by 2011 as set
out in the Sheffield First Agreement.
1.11
It will also contribute significantly to a number of other corporate plan
priorities, including Invest in Sheffield’s Housing; Increase Recycling;
Improve Parks and Open Spaces; Reduce Congestion; Public Transport
that is easier for people to use; Promote Sustainable Development;
Increase Participation in Sport and Physical Activity; and Children’s
Health. However, if we are to achieve our carbon reduction targets, every
priority area in the corporate plan will have a contribution to make to this
framework.
1.12
A City of Opportunity also sets out a number of principles for how the Council
will work. This framework will form the basis of our approach to one of these
(environmental sustainability), providing strong leadership and engaging
local people, businesses and other partners. It will also help us to achieve a
fair deal for all communities by helping to make sure that everyone can
enjoy a good quality of life no matter where they live or who they are, and
social justice, investing on the basis of need and ensuring that we have a
city fit for generations to come.
2. Why do we need to reduce Sheffield’s carbon emissions?
2.1
The primary cause of recent climate change is the burning of carbon-based
fossil fuels and the emission of other greenhouse gases, such as methane.
Carbon emissions occur from almost everything we do in our daily lives, from
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heating and lighting our homes, to what we buy, how we move about, what
we eat and how we dispose of our waste.
2.2
Modelling suggests that ‘business as usual’ without specific carbon reduction
measures will lead to Sheffield’s CO2 emissions rising rather than falling. We
need to reduce the city’s carbon emissions for two main reasons.
1)
The effects on the environment of carbon emissions include rising
global temperatures, which are likely to have a serious impact on the
planet both in the relatively short term and for future generations.
Sheffield is committed to reducing its emissions of greenhouse gases,
notably carbon dioxide.
2)
As a net importer of coal and gas the UK is vulnerable to the volatility
and politics of those countries supplying those fuels. Over time, oil
and gas reserves in politically stable countries will diminish.
However, demand for energy in homes and businesses is increasing
and market prices for fossil fuels are increasingly unpredictable and
volatile with prices likely to rise further. This will make affordable
power, warmth (and cooling) more difficult to achieve without the
adoption of renewable and low/zero carbon energy. Committing to a
low carbon economy with greater emphasis on cleaner, low /zero
carbon, renewable forms of energy will ensure Sheffield is well placed
in the short, medium and longer term.
2.3
From surveys, we also know that about three quarters of Sheffield residents
are committed to taking action to reduce carbon emissions, but are unsure
how to go about making changes or what changes to make – our role is to
help people understand the simple things that they can do, particularly where
it will help save them money, where it will benefit their neighbourhood and
city, and where it can be fun and engaging.
2.4
For all of these reasons, we need to consider, as a city, how we can reduce
our dependence on fossil fuels. The Council is committed to helping the City
to generate low /zero carbon energy by setting out supportive planning
policies and by showing leadership in its own building programmes and
activities. We willcontinue to work proactively with developers of energy
technologies across the City to help enable this. We need to take tough
action both across the world, and here in Sheffield, if we are to reduce the
threat of climate change.
3. Our ambitions for Sheffield
3.1
Our long term ambition is to generate more of Sheffield’s energy locally
(decentralised energy generation) to ensure security of cost-effective, low
and zero carbon energy that will meet the needs of the people and
businesses of Sheffield. Indeed, the city-wide and neighbourhood district
heating systems that are already in place go some way to achieving this. We
need to do more however, and this framework sets out our approach.
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3.2
In the shorter term, there are a wide variety of things we can do as a city, as
residents and businesses, both individually and by working together, to
reduce the carbon emissions we are responsible for. Therefore, this strategic
framework is a framework for the city as a whole, where all partners,
residents and businesses need to play their part to help meet these targets
over the next decade to 2020. In the long term we also want Sheffield to take
advantage of the opportunities that a low carbon economy will bring for
business.
3.3
The City Council is taking a lead role on this issue, but we need everyone in
the city to play a part in helping meet the city’s ambitions. In particular, key
organisations, such as The University of Sheffield, NHS Sheffield and
Sheffield Hallam University, have set targets for carbon reduction and are
working with the Council to reduce the City’s carbon emissions.
3.4
The Council’s role is to begin and enable a step change in moving towards a
low carbon city, including putting in place the things – such as excellent
public transport infrastructure - that we need to allow people to make positive
choices about reducing their carbon emissions. We will make this possible by
actively encouraging and providing incentives for people in Sheffield to make
changes in behaviour through our policies.
4. How are we doing now?
4.1
In 2006 Sheffield’s total carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions were 3,693,005
tonnes. With a resident population of 525,800, this equates to 7.02 tonnes of
carbon per person in Sheffield.
4.2
This estimate also indicates that our carbon emissions have increased by
around 100,000 tonnes between 2005 and 2006. The 2006 baseline is made
up of:



4.3
50% (or about 1.8 million tonnes) from industry and commerce; mainly
from industrial and commercial gas and electricity.
30% (or about 1.1 million tonnes) from domestic use; mainly from
domestic electricity and gas.
20% (or about 0.7 million tonnes) from roads and transport mainly from
petrol and diesel emissions.
The City has challenging targets to reduce the amount of carbon emitted by
the city. These targets are set out in both the local area agreement and in the
City Strategy. These are:





2% reduction on 2005 levels by 2009
5% reduction on 2005 levels by 2010
10% reduction on 2005 levels by 2011
30% reduction on 2005 levels by 2020
60% reduction on 2005 levels by 2050
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LAA Targets
City Strategy Targets
4.4
It is important to remember that we have a track record of reducing carbon
emissions in Sheffield – since 1990 CO2 emissions have fallen. Total
emissions at that time have been estimated as 4,180,419 tonnes, or 7.88
tonnes per capita. Over the period 1990 to 2006, the city’s emissions fell by
487,414 tonnes, an 11.7% reduction.
4.5
However, the scale of this challenge should not be underestimated:


4.6
A 10% reduction on our carbon emissions by 2011 is equivalent to a
reduction of 360,000 tonnes of carbon, or the equivalent of 1.4 billion
miles in a standard family car.
The 30% reduction by 2020 is the equivalent of over 1 million tonnes of
carbon dioxide, far greater than the total emissions of places such as
Preston, Blackpool and Carlisle.
The 60% reduction by 2050 is equivalent to over 2 million tonnes of carbon,
or nearly three times the emissions currently created in Sheffield through the
use of domestic gas.
5. Reducing Sheffield’s Carbon Emissions
5.1
Our key principle in deciding where to take action to reduce carbon
emissions is to act where we will have the biggest impact.
5.2
Broadly speaking, Sheffield’s carbon emissions come from three main
sources – homes, transport and businesses. Under each of these broad
headings, the strategic framework sets out where action needs to be
concentrated. These areas are where we believe we can have the biggest
impact on the city’s carbon reduction ambitions. We have modelled a
number of policy choices or schemes to calculate how we can reduce carbon
emissions and whether our emissions reduction targets can be reached.
Some of these models look at measures that partners in Sheffield would lead
on; others look at changes that would be outside the influence of the city and
rely on national and international legislation.
5.3
For example, we know that improvements to housing stock through the full
roll-out of Sheffield’s Affordable Warmth Programme will deliver reductions of
between 15,000 and 20,000 tonnes of CO2 by 2020. We have also modelled
how we might achieve carbon reduction in transport and we now understand
how challenging this will be. We know that doubling car occupancy rates
from 1.25 to 2.5 persons per vehicle will achieve 26.6% of the reductions
required and if we can help reduce vehicle mileage by a quarter and also
increase the use of public transport by a quarter we can achieve a further
20% of the reductions required. However, these are big changes and will
require action from both local people to make changes to their lifestyles, and
from public bodies to put in place the conditions to allow people to choose to
make those changes.
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Therefore, for each of the core areas – homes, transport and business - a
number of actions are set out, grouped into three key types:
5.4
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
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5.5
Short and medium term and immediate actions that are already
underway, where funding has already been committed for 2009/10, or
where no additional funding is required and can be put in place in
2009/10
Action where no additional funding is required, or that are already funded
and that can be put in place for 2010/11
Longer term ambitions for the period beyond 2011 – which we will need
to investigate more fully and identify how these can be delivered.
The actions are summarised below and set out in more detail in Appendix B.
For each heading, an estimate of the amount of carbon that could be saved
by 2020 is given. These estimates are based on the work commissioned by
us and that of the Government’s Climate Change Panel. It is important to
note that they are estimates and are based on a number of assumptions
about changes at a national and international level. However, we believe
that if everything within this framework is put into action, the target of a
30% reduction on 2005 levels by 2020 (equivalent to 1,200,000 tonnes of
carbon) is achievable.
The diagram at Appendix A sets out all of the actions in summary form.
This makes it easier to see how different ambitions contribute to the different
headings, and also clearly sets out the parts that communications and
engagement (see Section x) and national action (see Section y) will need to
play.
Homes
30% of the City’s carbon emissions are from energy consumed in the home,
so this is a key area for us – not least because the Council and its partners
have significant responsibilities in this area. Under the homes heading,
action will be concentrated around five priority areas:
5.6

Heating homes more efficiently - potential carbon saving 20,000t by 2020 –
equivalent to the emissions from travelling 78 million miles in an average
family car
Key actions include promoting grants and discounts for boiler replacements,
and making sure that we extend eligibility to as many people as possible.
This will reduce the energy that is wasted through inefficient gas boilers.

Improving insulation and heat retention in homes – potential carbon saving
40,000t by 2020: equivalent to the emissions from travelling 156 million miles
in an average family car
Key actions include rolling out Sheffield’s Affordable Warmth programme
across the city; and providing free insulation and energy advice to 64,000
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homes; advising people about solid wall insulation, which is the most
effective way of insulating some of Sheffield’s older housing stock.

Helping everyone to reduce energy consumption in their homes and
communities – potential carbon saving 40,000t by 2020 - equivalent to the
emissions from travelling 156 million miles in an average family car
Key actions include running a city-wide, shared communications campaign to
explain to Sheffield residents the steps that they can take to reduce their
carbon emissions through simple changes to their lifestyles. This includes
the Smart Meter scheme where people can borrow a smart meter from their
local library or First Point to help them better monitor and understand their
energy consumption in the home. The Council is also committed to rolling
out a City-wide Climate Change Fund through the Community Assemblies to
facilitate and fund carbon reduction projects in communities across the City.

Helping everyone to reduce waste and recycle more – potential carbon
saving 6,000 tonnes
Key actions include the introduction of new kerbside recycling collection
services from households, support for businesses to divert waste from
landfill, communication campaigns to encourage more recycling and positive
action, such as ‘Buy it Naked’ to encourage everyone to do their bit and
reduce household waste by 2% each year from 2009 to 2015.

Low carbon homes through higher standards of design and planning
requirements – potential carbon saving 40,000t by 2020 - equivalent to the
emissions from travelling 156 million miles in an average family car
Key actions include enforcing our tough new planning policies which require
new developments to reduce carbon emissions 20% below Government
targets, and working with developers to encourage them to go even further
(such as encouraging them to build new homes to zero carbon standards
where possible)

Increasing the generation and supply of locally-generated low carbon and
renewable energy – potential carbon saving 100,000t by 2020: equivalent to
the emissions from travelling 389 million miles in an average family car
(including low carbon energy generated for business)
Key actions include investigating the possibility of establishing an Energy
Services Company in the city, and putting in place the conditions to allow the
development of a new large-scale anaerobic digester facility in Sheffield that
will use waste organic materials, like food, to generate low carbon energy.
We know to achieve this we need to make it easier for people, businesses
and organisations to afford the costs of new installation of renewable energy
technologies, such as solar panels or small scale wind turbines. The Carbon
Trust recognise ‘… that substantial support funding [will] be required to
generate the uptake of solar thermal heating on a large scale’. We are
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committed to making this easier and are actively investigating ways in which
we can do this.
The development of combined heat and power systems supplying
community and district heating schemes are recognised as key to reducing
carbon emissions in the short-medium term and the Council is committed to
further developing new and existing networks in the City.
Transport
5.7
Under the transport heading, action will be concentrated around two key
areas:

Increasing vehicle and highways network efficiency and making it easier to
use cleaner, low carbon vehicle fuels – potential carbon saving 300,000t by
2020- equivalent to the emissions from travelling 1.2 billion miles in an
average family car
Key actions include introducing incentives for people to move to more
efficient vehicles, reducing congestion in the city to improve the flow of traffic
and reduce the carbon emissions associated with idling engines, and taking
the first steps towards a low carbon refuelling infrastructure in the city,
including investigating the potential to bid for the recently announced
Government grant for electric vehicles. This will see an increase in the
number of electric and gas vehicle refuelling facilities for fleet and private
vehicles across the City. We will also continue to actively promote car clubs
across the city.

Encouraging and enabling people to make sustainable travel choices –
potential carbon saving 300,000t by 2020 - equivalent to the emissions from
travelling 1.2 billion miles in an average family car
We know that growth in public awareness about climate change has not yet
led to a step change in people’s behaviour or a big shift to greener lifestyle
choices. Key actions include promoting walking and cycling and encouraging
people to make more use of public transport. We will also work to improve
bus services across the City and improve other public transport
infrastructure, including more sites for Park and Ride, and take positive
action to reduce the carbon impact of the school run through effective school
travel plans that promote walking, cycling and public transport use.
Business
5.8
Businesses contribute the greatest proportion of Sheffield’s carbon
emissions – they therefore have a key contribution to make. Some large
businesses will already be subject to carbon trading and the forthcoming
Carbon Reduction Commitment scheme led by Government. But we
recognise we need to do much more to help all businesses, particularly small
and medium sized enterprises. Under the business heading, action will be
concentrated around three key areas:
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
Helping businesses to become more energy efficient – potential carbon saving
200,000t - equivalent to the emissions from travelling 780 million miles in an
average family car
We will support Sheffield’s businesses to adopt good carbon management
practices and sustain engagement with local businesses. The business
community need to recognise that carbon management is a long term
commitment with long term outcomes. We know that in the longer term all
businesses and organisations will be subject to legislation that requires
carbon management to be a key component of activity. Therefore, and in line
with the advice given to us by the Carbon Trust, we are committed to
supporting the Sheffield Eco-Business programme to provide expert advice
to businesses about the steps they can take to reduce their energy
consumption, and introducing a Sheffield pledge and carbon reduction
competition that will inspire innovation in carbon reduction projects for
businesses and other partners to sign up to. We also plan to launch public
and private sector carbon reduction clubs that will enable businesses to work
together on joint projects and share good practice and knowledge about
carbon reduction.

Encouraging businesses to use low carbon and renewable forms of energy –
potential carbon saving 100,000t - equivalent to the emissions from travelling
389 million miles in an average family car (including low-carbon energy
generated for homes)
Key actions include encouraging and advising businesses about moving
towards renewable energy generation (and over the longer term, expecting
them to do this). We also aspire to increasing the number of businesses and
other properties connected to the existing district and community heating
networks.

Reducing business waste and using raw materials more efficiently - potential
carbon saving 60,000t by 2020 - equivalent to the emissions from travelling 233
million miles in an average family car
Key actions include using the Eco-Business programme to promote local
supply chains and to increase the availability and take up of business waste
recycling.
6. Moving Towards A Low Carbon Economy
6.1
The challenge of climate change also presents opportunities for the City, in
that there will need to be rapid technological development in order to both
reduce carbon emissions and to adapt to the consequences of climate
change which does take place. A New Green Economy for Sheffield sets out
how the City’s economy can be developed through: investment in energy
efficiency measures; upgraded physical infrastructure; clean technology
products and services; and demonstrating leadership with flagship projects.
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This is a key ambition that the Council will support and lead on, along with its
partners.
6.2
Sheffield is well-placed to take advantage of these opportunities with its
unique manufacturing and innovation background. Therefore, we will make
sure that we put in place the conditions for environmental technology and
services businesses to invest and grow in Sheffield, and we will also work
with local, regional and national agencies to make sure that we have the
skills we need in Sheffield to take advantage of this new economy. This will
help ensure the long term sustainability of the City’s economy and ensure we
can work towards a prosperous, low carbon economy.
7. Prioritising our actions
7.1
We have undertaken research to help identify which actions will be most
effective and what scale of carbon reduction they are likely to achieve. This
informs the framework and helps the City make decisions about the most
important areas for investment to reduce the city’s carbon emissions.
7.2
We know that there is already an enormous amount happening in the City
and we are not attempting to capture everything that is happening at the
moment. What it does is give a clear sense of the contribution that
everyone can make to the City’s carbon reduction targets.
8. Communications and Engagement
8.1
We want to make reducing Sheffield’s carbon emissions everyone’s business
– and we know that individuals, groups, organisations and businesses want
to reduce their carbon emissions. We recognise that communications and
engagement with residents and businesses is essential if we are to reduce
the City’s carbon emissions. The Carbon Trust recommends the City
prioritises communication and engagement with the public.
8.2
We will launch a City-wide climate change campaign that is fun, innovative
and engaging – with a strong human face in all we do. To ensure success
we will connect with audiences on an emotional as well as a rational level.
We will use social marketing approaches as the basis for our campaign and
use tried and tested methods of engagement, such as websites, we will also
use new tools such as multimedia, social networking websites like Facebook,
flickr and Twitter. We will use high profile events to support and engage
people across the City and work proactively with the local media to build up a
profile across the City. We will launch this campaign in summer 2009.
8.3
Reducing social inequality is a key priority for the council and must be
tackled in every aspect of our service and in everything we do. Changing
attitudes towards reducing carbon emissions, and enabling people to make
lower carbon lifestyle choices must involve everyone in the city. To achieve
this, our communication and engagement with local people will be backed up
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by positive changes in our services to make it easier for people to change
their behaviour.
8.4
From surveys, we know that about three quarters of Sheffield residents are
committed to taking action to reduce carbon emissions. However, many are
unsure how to go about making changes or what changes to make. The
Council will help people understand the simple things that they can do,
particularly where it will help save them money, where it will benefit their
neighbourhood and city, and where it can be fun and engaging.
.
8.5
Working in partnership, we need to make sure that we have a consistent and
co-ordinated message for residents and businesses – to aid recognition and
the overall success of an integrated communications approach it is
recommended that this activity should take place under one brand. We will
therefore run a consistent and co-ordinated engagement, marketing and
communications campaign to make sure that businesses and residents know
how they can play their part in reducing the city’s carbon emissions.
9. Challenging Government to Support Sheffield’s Low Carbon Ambitions
9.1
Beyond the action that the city itself can put in place, we know that there are
some things that need national or international action if we are to achieve our
carbon reduction targets. We will take a positive approach to working with
Government to ensure the right policies, funding and infrastructure are
available to ensure the benefits are felt in Sheffield.
9.2
We are asking Government:
 To provide additional ways of accessing funding for insulation in hard to
treat homes (such as Victorian terraces, which comprise a significant
proportion of Sheffield’s housing stock)
 To provide funding to allow carbon reduction schemes such as renewable
energy generation to be implemented at a local level.
 To take action to reduce packaging waste associated with food and other
consumer goods
 To ensure that the timetable for introducing zero carbon homes by 2020
is kept on schedule
 To make sure the Carbon Reduction Commitment for large organisations
is introduced in 2010
 To work with us to ensure that we have the skills we need in Sheffield to
take advantage of the low carbon economy
 To legislate for higher energy efficiency standards in new vehicles and
lowering emissions limits for new vehicles
 To promote the introduction of new, less polluting fuels, such as gas,
hydrogen and electric, and the associated infrastructure
 To pursue bus re-regulation to enable greater control over local bus
services to encourage more people to use public transport
 To provide funding for new public transport infrastructure to reduce
growth in vehicle mileage
 To support the development of a strong new global treaty on climate
change in 2009 at Copenhagen.
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10. Reducing the Emissions Directly Attributable to Sheffield City Council and
Partners
10.1
Finally, the Council is committed to demonstrating leadership to the city on
carbon reduction. We have set ourselves a target of reducing our carbon
emissions by 30% by 2012. We are making good progress against this
target. Therefore, the framework also sets out Council’s commitment to
reducing the carbon emissions which it is directly responsible for, including
improving the energy efficiency of its buildings, and reducing the carbon
emissions associated with its staff commuting into work and travelling round
the city on business through our ‘workstyle’ programme. Again, these are
set out in more detail in the appendices.
10.2
Other key partners, including NHS Sheffield, South Yorkshire Police, South
Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service and the universities are committed to this
framework and a joint commitment will be signed through the Sheffield First
Partnership. Eventually, we would like all partners in the city – including
those from the voluntary, community and faith sectors - to consider what they
can do reduce their own internal carbon emissions.
11. Delivering Our Ambitions
11.1
Working together, the City’s key strategic partners will individually and
collectively reduce the City’s carbon emissions. The Council will set up
carbon reduction clubs that bring together the key organisations to work
together on carbon reduction projects across the City.
11.2
Reducing carbon emissions and our dependency on fossil fuels will require
us to do things differently. To help the City develop effective policies we will
set up a working group to work proactively with both the City’s universities to
focus on low carbon technologies including building design (such as green
roofs and low carbon buildings), low carbon and renewable energy
generation, and new and emerging vehicle technologies such as the work
already underway on electric cars. We will look at ways in which the
universities can use their knowledge transfer programmes to help
businesses in the City to benefit from new technologies and innovation that
will reduce carbon emissions, boost efficiency and develop new products and
services. Importantly, we will work with leading experts in social sciences,
such as psychology to ensure we understand what motivates people to make
positive choices to reduce carbon at home and at work.
11.3
This framework will be endorsed by Sheffield First Partnership following
Cabinet to ensure that it has the backing of all partners in the city. However,
the Council will have lead responsibility for ensuring the delivery of the
actions in the framework.
11.4
To ensure that the Council is able to ensure delivery of the actions for which
it is responsible, and those actions where it contributes to the framework
more widely, projects will be monitored and governed through the
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appropriate Council programme management boards and aligned with the
Council’s project management practices. This will lead on programme and
performance management of the identified actions, ensure that they are
actively monitored and delivering the carbon reduction outcomes expected.
11.5
This programme board will be led by the Development, Environment and
Leisure directorate, will involve senior officers from across the authority, and
will be closely aligned to Sheffield First Partnership monitoring and reporting
arrangements. The Programme Management Board will ensure that projects
managed by other Boards include quantifiable carbon reduction as a key
principle.
11.6
Key performance questions have been developed for each of the priorities in
the framework. These will allow the development of a performance
management framework to monitor performance against both the overall
targets for carbon reduction, and the contribution being made by the projects
and activities under each of the priorities for action. The Programme Board
will be responsible for monitoring performance and ensuring that any new
actions or projects contribute to the overall targets for carbon reduction.
12. Financial Implications
Commitments in 2009/10 and 2010/11
12.1
Many of the short-term actions set out in the framework (i.e. those for
2009/10 and 2010/11) are either already funded (for example, through the
Area Based Grant process) or can be funded from within existing resources.
12.2
In broad terms the funding already allocated for carbon reduction projects in
2009/10 and 2010/11 is as follows:
2009/10
2010/11
Homes
Affordable Warmth Programme1
Affordable Warmth Programme2
Affordable Warmth Programme3
Affordable Warmth Programme4
Affordable Warmth Programme5
Eco-Schools Programme1
Smart Energy Meter Loan Scheme1
£300k
£300k
£3.26m to 2011
£1.5m to 2011
£3.5m to 2011
£750k
£750k
£50k
£150k
£50k
-
Business
Eco-Business Programme1
£27k
1
Area Based Grant Funded
Energy supplier obligation: Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) funded
3 Housing Market Renewal funding (SCC)
4 Government Funded Warm Front Grant
5 Capital funding from SCC
2
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£18k
Beacon Council – Low Emissions Strategy6
Care4Air7
Creative Sheffield Utilities Infrastructure Study8
£10k
£40k
£200k
£40k
-
£33k
£100k
£300k
£97k
£97k
Environment Strategy Team10
£490k
£tbc
Community Assembly Climate Change Fund
£350k
-
Other projects
£68k
£58k
Transport
Sustainable Travel to Schools7
Low Carbon Refuelling Infrastructure9
Communications
Climate change communications1
Internal
12.3
There are a number of other projects the Council and its partners are
currently involved in that will make an important contribution to the carbon
reduction agenda. It is not possible to separate out the contribution of these
projects and programmes to carbon reduction at this point (including the
Highways Private Finance Initiative programme and Local Transport Plan),
but it is known to be significant.
12.4
There are therefore no additional, unbudgeted financial implications from the
actions for 2009/10 and 2010/11. Further action to deliver the framework will
be developed and costed in the next 6 months and financial implications will
be modelled into budget planning as part of the medium term financial
planning process.
Longer term aspirations
12.5
This framework makes a clear commitment to a long term approach to
carbon reduction within the city. To deliver this will require investment in the
City’s infrastructure and shared commitment from all agencies to investing to
achieve this.
12.6
Our ambition is to have the lowest carbon footprint per capita amongst the
Core Cities by 2020 by reducing the carbon emissions of all homes and
6
DCLG funded programme under Beacon Authorities
Local Transport Plan
8 Yorkshire Forward funded via Sheffield Economic Feasibility Fund
9 £50k from Area Based Grant Funding in 09/10 for a demonstration project with a further £50k from LTP
funding for scoping and feasibility work in 09/10. £300k identified from LTP funding in 2010/11. Note the LTP
elements are South Yorkshire wide.
10 Base budget costs for Council Environmental Strategy Team
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across our transport systems. To achieve this we will adopt new approaches
to financing investment, working across both the public and private sector to
deliver low carbon services and infrastructure.
12.7
One of the key tasks over the lifetime of this framework will therefore be to
bring forward new ideas, technologies and innovation which set out the
business case for these projects. We recognise that significant funding will
be needed if we are to deliver our ambitions. We will develop fully costed
business cases for prioritised longer term actions that will be included within
the medium term financial strategy.
12.8
There are significant financial savings to be gained from reducing carbon
emissions (for example, lower energy costs) and we will use existing
mechanisms to improve the Council’s own carbon performance including our
own invest to save funds.
12.9
There are, therefore, likely to be significant financial implications associated
with the aspirations set out in this framework. However, any action proposed
as a result of these longer term aspirations would be subject to further
reports to Cabinet before any spend was committed.
13. Legal Implications
13.1
There are no significant legal implications associated with this report.
14. Human Resources
14.1
There are no significant human resources implications to be noted.
15. Environmental and Sustainability Implications
15.1
There are significant environmental and sustainability implications arising
from this report. The report sets out the Council and City’s approach to
reducing carbon emissions in Sheffield, which will have a major impact on
the environmental sustainability of the city over decades to come.
15.2
In particular, the report proposes and reaffirms commitments to reducing the
carbon emissions associated with domestic housing, transport, and with
businesses. By doing this, it will contribute to the Sheffield First Agreement,
and the targets set out in the City Strategy to reduce carbon emissions by
30% by 2020. Achieving these targets will have a significant positive
environmental benefit for Sheffield’s residents.
15.3
There are also significant environmental implications for the Council itself –
the report proposes a number of areas for action to reduce the carbon
emissions for which the council is directly responsible. If taken forward,
these actions will improve the environmental sustainability of the authority
and reduce our impact on the environment.
16. Economic Implications
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16.1
If this framework is to succeed, we need to change the assumption that
economic growth will automatically result in increased carbon emissions.
Therefore this report recommends encouraging the growth of a thriving
environmental technology sector to take advantage of some of the business
opportunities associated with carbon reduction and Sheffield’s unique
manufacturing base.
16.2
The growing requirements of Government – for example, the Carbon
Reduction Commitment –, and the continuing rise in energy costs may
threaten some businesses in Sheffield. This report therefore sets out the
steps that the Council is taking to provide advice and support to businesses
in becoming more energy efficient and moving towards more sustainable
renewable forms of energy are set out in the report.
17. Equalities Implications
17.1
The equalities implications have been considered in detail. Please see the
attached Equalities Impact Assessment for more information.
18. Recommendations
18.1
That Cabinet approve the Sheffield carbon reduction framework as set out in
this report and accompanying appendices
18.2
That Cabinet note or approve the short term actions for 2009/10 and 2010/11
18.3
That Cabinet approve the longer term aspirations set out in the framework
18.4
That Cabinet note that there are no financial implications associated with the
short term actions, but that if taken forward the longer term aspirations could
have significant financial implications, and it is up to all parties to endorse
this approach.
18.5
That Cabinet notes that this framework will be presented to the Sheffield First
Partnership Board for endorsement at their meeting of 10 June 2009.
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