COSLA
EXCELLENCE
AWARDS
2010
2010 APPLICATION FORM
Please refer to the ‘2010 Guidance for Applicants’ before completing this application
form.
The deadline for submission of entries is 5pm on 2 October 2009. Submission
arrangements are detailed at the end of this application form.
The application form is split over five sections to reflect the assessment criteria, and to
facilitate the leeting process. It is up to you to decide the content and length of each
section, but your application must not exceed three pages in total (excluding the
cover pages).
CATEGORY TITLE Promoting Sustainability
Project Name Revised Carbon Management Plan Implementation
Lead Organisation The Highland Council
Department/ Team Chief Executive’s Service
Participant or Partner
Names
Award coordinator
Contact details
1. Ailsa Villegas
2. Eddie Boyd
3. Alf Leslie
4. Malina MacDonald
5. Andy Hume
6. Willie MacPherson
7. Andrew Matheson
8. Noel McAllister
9.
10.
Catherine Christie
(01463) 703064
Can we publish an anonymised version of this application form on our website?
YES / NO
EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
In one short paragraph please describe this project and what it has achieved.
We will use this in any future publicity material.
To date, the Highland Council have reduced carbon emissions from buildings by 14.2% since
2005, avoiding £1.4 million in energy costs. The revised Carbon Management Plan sets out
projects and actions to reduce carbon emissions by a further 12% by 2012, and will ensure that
carbon management is embedded across all Service operations and decision making
processes. More importantly, it will act as a catalyst to promote further action to reduce
emissions and associated costs, and influence external parties in Highland to do the same.
PLANNING
· a clear rationale, defined processes and focus on stakeholder needs
· contributes to organisation’s goals, community plan and SOA, and national policy context
The Highland Council Programme contains within it the commitment to “Produce and
implement a climate change strategy for the Highlands which will reduce our impact on the
environment and adapt our services to cope with the impact of climate change.”
In addition, Local Outcome 14.1 of the Highland Single Outcome Agreement commits the
Council to “Reduce greenhouse gas emissions from regional public sector operations”
In October 2008, the Highland Council was the first Local Authority in the UK to participate in
Carbon Management Plus (CM+). With funding from the Carbon Trust the programme reviewed
the scope, actions and timescale of the Council’s Carbon Management Plan (CMP), setting
targets in line with the new Climate Change (Scotland) Act and encouraging joint service
delivery and partnership engagement across Highland. The outcomes expected of the Revised
Carbon Management Plan project were to:
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Meet the commitments outlined in the Council’s programme and SOA
Meet the legislative requirement of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act and forthcoming
Carbon Reduction Commitment.
Save 12% in Carbon Emissions by 2012
Avoid costs of up to £400 000 per annum in energy and fuel purchase.
Embed carbon management process across all Council Services and activities to
ensure that emissions reductions actions are put in place and monitored.
Influence and encourage staff behavioural change and emission reduction activity in
the Council;
Promote action and influence partners, stakeholders and communities within Highland.
Demonstrate leadership towards climate change action.
DELIVERING
· implemented in all relevant areas and across all the required stakeholders
· carried out in a structured and logical way , using robust and sustainable methods
A literature review was carried out, as part of CM+, seeking partner and peer experiences of
organisational carbon management. Obtaining and maintaining senior/top level support
regarding management and governance was cited as an obstacle to overcome in the
successful implementation of a Carbon Management Plan. Therefore recommendations were
submitted to the Council’s Senior Management Team and Administration Business Meetings and
the Council’s Climate Change Working Group. It was then agreed that Carbon Management
reporting become a standing item on the Climate Change Working Group’s agenda to oversee
progress. Due to the significant potential for financial savings through improved efficiency and
monitoring procedures relevant matters will be passed up from Working Group level to the
Council’s Resources Committee and meetings of the Full Council for consideration.
A cross service CMP Officer Working Group with representatives from Housing & Property,
Transport, Environmental and Community Services and Chief Executives Service, oversees
progress towards Carbon Management implementation in the six target areas of Energy from
COSLA EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2010
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buildings; Staff Travel; Fleet; Street Lighting; Internal waste and water management. The CMP
officers group liaise further with the Finance Service over issues relating to procurement and
capital funding of projects; work closely with the Planning & Development Service over
partnership engagement and assist in the delivery of the Councils Corporate Improvement
Programme. A particular Mobile and Flexible Working Project of the Corporate Improvement
Programme is co-operating with the CMP officers to reduce costs associated with travel, energy
and waste, by creating a flexible workforce able to deliver services though increased use of
mobile, home and flexible working.
A communication plan has been developed to provide timely and accurate communication of
messages to specific individuals and groups through appropriate and effective channels, and
will enable Highland Council to address Climate Change. It is a key component in the design,
introduction and implementation of a successful carbon management programme. The
communication Strategy has been developed to ensure that emissions savings are achieved
and that such savings are sustained over time.
Recognising the important role all staff can play towards internal emission reductions a ‘Green
Ambassador’ staff volunteer campaign was also created. The purpose of the campaign was to
form a network of staff members to disseminate important messages in relation to energy, waste
and travel and influence behaviour of colleagues within teams, sections or buildings.
A substantial degree of data gathering and analysis across services, including identification of
areas where data had not being effectively captured or monitored, was required to establish
new baselines and set relevant targets and associated actions. In addition to the CMP Officer
Working group, officers from personnel, procurement, ICT and Planning and Development were
also involved in meetings and ongoing discussions regarding data collection and proposed
projects for emissions reduction.
IMPROVING +
EVALUATING
· evidence of leading practice and innovation being achieved
· appropriate measurement and learning, and how this has led to continuous improvement
As stated above the Highland Council was the first Local Authority in the UK to participate in
Carbon Management Plus (CM+) which reviewed and re-invigorated the Council’s Carbon
Management Plan, setting new targets and actions to 2012. The programme also introduced
partnership working through exploration of a methodology for area-wide emissions. Highland
Council has now created a second generation Carbon Management Plan to follow on from the
original developed in 2005.
The communication plan has been designed to be accessible to all including a diverse range
of communication materials of relevance to both internal and external audiences such as
posters and leaflets, surveys, stickers, information on the Council inter and intranet, the creation
of discussion forums, library resources and events throughout Highland.
In April 2009 Highland Council won first prize in the European Display® ‘Towards Class A’ award
ceremony held in Brussels as part of an Energie-Cités and Climate Alliance conference.
Energie-Cités is the association of European local authorities whose role is to promote the
importance of local authorities’ actions across the whole of Europe in sustainable development.
Highland was awarded first prize based on communication work including the carbon
management communication strategy and communication channel audit which initiates a
long-term communication campaign with clear goals in relation to emission reduction relating
to both internal communications and external promotional activities.
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To further encourage sharing of best practice and a partnership approach towards tackling
climate change the Highland Council invited representatives from the private, public and
voluntary sectors to a Climate Change Conference entitled ‘Climate Change and the
Highlands: Think Global, Act Local’ in June 2008 to explore opportunities for co-ordinated
working. The event involved more than 80 representatives from the public, private and
voluntary sectors and included speakers from Scottish and local Government, the private sector
and voluntary groups and workshop sessions exploring a co-ordinated approach.
Building on the success of the event, a mapping exercise of Highland climate change related
initiatives amongst Highland organisations was carried out. The results were collated and
presented at a subsequent stakeholder workshop to identify further actions. This in turn is
feeding into joint action through a partner led Highland Environmental Forum.
RESULTS +
IMPACT
· a convincing mix of customer perception and internal performance measures
· clear line of sight to the delivery of the Single Outcome Agreement
· a full range of relevant results showing improvement over time
In January 2009, Highland Council successfully achieved the “Carbon Trust Standard”. The
standard is a formal accreditation scheme for organisations that are measuring, managing and
reducing CO2 emissions and can be formally used to demonstrate ‘early action’ towards the
Carbon Reduction Commitment to which the Council will be enrolled. In 2010 the Highland
Council will participate in phase two of the accreditation programme and will need to show
continued emissions reduction, including those from business travel.
As part of Carbon Management Plus, a high level area-wide analysis of carbon emissions was
carried out, providing information on the key emitters in Highland and which sectors to engage
with. Through the Highland Environment Forum, including partners from across the sectors, joint
actions are being taken to tackle the issues of Climate Change in Highland including;
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Development of a joint declaration on climate change for the region
Options for an award system for best practice
A showcasing event to be hosted by Highland Council.
To date, the Highland Council have reduced carbon emissions from buildings by 14.2% since
2005, avoiding £1.4 million in energy costs. The revised Carbon Management Plan sets out
projects and actions to reduce carbon emissions by a further 12% by 2012 and will ensure that
carbon management is embedded across all Service operations and decision making
processes. More importantly, it will act as a catalyst to promote further action to reduce
emissions and associated costs, and influence external parties in Highland to do the same. In
relation to behavioural change measures the Council has now over 100 staff volunteers across
all Services and Corporate areas participating in the Green Ambassador campaign.
Cross Service working has been an important element in gathering of data. For example, work
with the Finance Service has enabled data to be monitored on staff business travel by car. This
data has been analysed annually and is now reported quarterly in order to monitor progress.
COSLA EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2010
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THE COSLA CHAIR’S AWARD
This category is awarded at the discretion of the Chair and is open to submissions under any of the
seven categories. It is awarded to those submissions of exceptional standards or merit demonstrating
achievements above the limits stipulated in the assessment/judging criteria for the relevant category.
Alternatively, submissions can be considered which can demonstrate being conducted in exceptional
circumstances.
Do you wish your submission to be considered for the Chair’s Award?
YES/NO
In about 300 words, please highlight the reasons why this submission should be considered for the Chair’s Award:
The submission demonstrates good practice in developing and implementing systems and procedures for carbon
reduction towards local, national and partner commitments, meeting criteria stipulated within the ‘Promoting
Sustainability’ category. However the initiatives and activities associated with this submission goes beyond the limits
stipulated within that category to also evidence positive achievements in the fields of cross-service activity, Service
improvement and advancing community and partner engagement.
Cross Service working, both through the operation of the cross-service Carbon Management Plan Officers Group
and work with operational staff, has been an essential element in gathering of emission associated data. This
approach has also successfully identified areas where data had not been effectively captured or monitored, and
enabled increased buy in to new baselines and relevant targets and associated actions set.
Through tight communication planning and a diverse and varied range of activities the Council has been able to
initiate a long-term communication campaign with clear goals in relation to emission reduction relating to both
internal communications and external promotional activities that allows for the involvement of a wide variety of
groups.
As important as the project has been in addressing the essential need for reduced internal carbon emissions and
costs and ensuring that carbon management is embedded across all Service operations and decision making
processes, perhaps more importantly, it will act as a catalyst to promote further initiatives and innovation, and
influence external parties in Highland to do the same.
Next steps
 Have you answered the assessment criteria set out in the guidance?
 Is your application form 3 pages or less? (anything more, including
appendices, will be automatically rejected)
 Has your application form been authorised by an appropriate person?
 Have you indicated whether you wish the application form to be
published?
Submitting your application
Please email your application by 2 October to:
Category 1 submissions
exawards2010-1@cosla.gov.uk
Category 2 submissions
exawards2010-2@cosla.gov.uk
Category 3 submissions
exawards2010-3@cosla.gov.uk
Category 4 submissions
exawards2010-4@cosla.gov.uk
Category 5 submissions
exawards2010-5@cosla.gov.uk
Category 6 submissions
exawards2010-6@cosla.gov.uk
Category 7 submissions
exawards2010-7@cosla.gov.uk
Queries surrounding the submission of applications can be made to:
Adam Stewart (adam.stewart@cosla.gov.uk / 0131 474 9275)