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CHE S162 Adoption of Climate Action Plan

Decision:

RESOLVED:

 

1.  To approve the final Climate Action Plan attached as Appendix 1 for adoption;

 

2.  To delegate authority to the Group Director for Climate, Homes and Economy to make amendments to the Climate Action Plan as necessary.

 

REASONS FOR DECISION

 

The climate and ecological crisis is having a significant negative impact in Hackney and across the world, through increased extreme weather events, such as flooding and extreme heat, that put communities, ecosystems, and natural resources at risk. Without drastic reductions in emissions, and adaptation to higher rainfall and warmer temperatures, the impacts of climate change will continue to worsen – affecting our lives and those of future generations. In response, the Council declared a climate emergency in 2019, supported by an ambitious vision to rebuild a greener Hackney in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

 

Hackney has made progress in reducing emissions over the last decade. Nevertheless, without faster action, driven by ambitious policies and targets, we won’t be able to protect communities and ecosystems from the effects of climate change. 

 

Many aspects of the transition are inherently uncertain, hence it is likely that progress may be faster in some sectors than others. Even in the near term there is high uncertainty whether projected emissions savings will advance as anticipated, we therefore need to keep options open while assessing if sufficient groundwork has been put in place to achieve overall borough-wide emissions targets.

 

Hackney Climate Action Plan

The Hackney Climate Action Plan (CAP) is the first holistic borough-wide plan to address the climate and ecological crisis, bringing together the various strands into one overall document and as such, is a key marker in consolidating the journey to net zero.

 

The CAP sets out an integrated approach for tackling the climate and ecological crisis. It provides a framework for everyone to take action to reduce emissions and adapt to the climate change that is already occurring, driven by an ambitious vision for a fairer and greener Hackney in 2030. This CAP is designed to set us in the right direction, but it will continue to need to be developed to keep pace with shifts across society, technology and wider policy, including the changing needs of communities, groups and organisations in Hackney.

 

Throughout the CAP, there are four key principles that guide our approach.

a)  Change is possible: Achieving the ambitions of the Paris Agreement, the international treaty that aims to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, will require collective action at a rapid pace and large scale. There is still a path to avoid the worst impacts of the climate emergency and still an opportunity to effectively prepare

b)  Collaboration is key: We can only address the climate emergency by working together to tackle emissions and adapt our Borough to the changes already occurring. There are many opportunities to work collectively to reduce emissions and make our neighbourhoods more resilient.

c)  Fairness must be at its heart: We must ensure that those who are most vulnerable and affected by the climate emergency get the support they need. Although there are many benefits to taking action on the climate emergency, the risks are not distributed equally. To be effective, climate actions must be designed with attention to who might be most negatively affected, and how.

d)  Climate leadership is essential: There will be a need for leadership throughout our communities, including from businesses, big institutions such as our hospitals, the voluntary and community sector and residents themselves. Notwithstanding this, the Council can provide the civic leadership for the collective effort needed to tackle the climate emergency in the Borough, helping to bring together different organisations and communities.

 

The CAP sets out the themes, goals and objectives to address the climate emergency across the Borough and aims to:

·  Outline what a greener Hackney could look like by 2030 based on a fair and just transition to net zero;

·  Build a shared understanding of the problem we face as a Borough – and how we can work together to reduce emissions and adapt to climate change;

·  Help residents, businesses and other organisations to see their place in a shared response to climate change;

·  Identify the key actions the Council proposes for the period of the next three years to maintain momentum with its own climate response - detailed in an implementation plan;

·  Identify areas where local partners can collaborate on key strategic challenges such as financing and policy change;

·  Confirm proposals for monitoring and Council governance arrangements, as well as steps to support future stakeholder engagement requirements and establish external governance; and

·  Use this adopted plan to shape agreements on how to work together to achieve shared goals.

 

Revising the draft CAP

Following the decision by Cabinet on 24 October 2022, a public consultation was carried out to gather feedback on the draft CAP. The revised CAP that has now been produced takes account of the comments and feedback received during this process, noting that a broad range of insight has been gained from the public consultation exercise, much of which will help shape and inform the delivery of the CAP over the next three years.

 

Key insight pointers from the public consultation:

·  SMARTen goals and objectives (see monitoring and reporting section) and provide clarity on the targets/outputs from the Council’s 3 year Implementation Plan (IP), noting the latter was not included in the public version of the draft IP;

·  Social justice remains central to a fair and just climate response and we must ensure vulnerable and disadvantaged groups are a key focus as their views continue to be under-represented, although they often experience the greatest impacts;

·  More engagement, including using diverse approaches and including deliberative methods (where appropriate) in respect of specific topic areas and audiences;

·  Ongoing challenge of engaging Hackney’s wide-ranging business sector meaningfully, both generally and specifically, in the borough’s climate response. Responses to the cross cutting theme of the green economy were also low;

·  A desire for urgent action by respondents in respect of the climate emergency, coupled with an anxiety about the current speed of action globally;

·  General comments that acknowledged the existing constraints on the Council in the borough-wide journey to net zero, due to the significant role of other players to enable action and accelerate progress, not least central government in respect of funding, policy and regulation; and

·  More detail needed on how net zero will be funded and/or financed, and how progress with the journey to net zero will be monitored and tracked.

 

Highlights of comments on specifc themes etc

·  There was significant agreement with the goals and objectives of the draft CAP: Adaptation (77%), Buildings (77%), Transport (72%), Consumption (76%) and Environmental Quality (78%). The majority of respondents across all the themes stated that they would have a positive impact. Further insight for individual themes below:

·  Adaptation theme: there is a need for greater recognition of adaptation actions alongside net zero, noting for many people this appears an immediate concern. In particular the impacts of extreme weather - flooding, heat waves and fires and the role of better resilience;

·  Buildings theme: there are concerns about high financial cost of retrofitting especially for older buildings with significant technical constraints, alongside the demand to adapt existing buildings to extreme weather;

·  Transport theme: there is strong support to further encourage walking and cycling, including the need for more cycling infrastructure and pedestrianised areas, better access to public transport and reduction in bus journey times through reduced congestion and support for continued improvements in air quality. There were a number of negative concerns noted that included impacts on businesses and income, costs associated with cars, traffic and journey times;

·  Consumption theme: there is support for improvements to recycling facilities, as well as making it easier to recycle and repair, plus a need for more emphasis in the role of behavioural change in reducing consumption emissions; and

·  Environmental quality theme: there is support to improve air quality, provide more green space and trees, actions to improve biodiversity, enable better protection of water bodies, as well as the positive role of environmental community groups as a volunteer resource.

 

A draft consultation report was produced in early February 2023 and a revised CAP was produced, based on a detailed analysis of the consultation responses that included feedback from the public, businesses, community organisations, focus groups with residents on specific issues and pre-engagement with the environmental community of interest. The analysis and actions encompassed:

·  A review of all consultation responses by external consultants and internal officers with key updates incorporated into the revised CAP;

·  A review of goals (to make them smarter where possible) and the objectives (rewording to make more specific);

·  Inclusion of a new section per theme of Council specific targets/outputs for the next three years generally drawn from the draft Implementation Plan to make the Council’s own commitments more explicit in the revised CAP;

·  Updating the social justice sections of the revised CAP based on the Equality Impact Assessment (see Appendix 2);

·  Updating some of the finance sections with more information about the Council approach to addressing the funding needed to reach net zero amongst others; and

·  including a more developed section in the revised CAP on monitoring and reporting commitments.

 

Internal review of the revised CAP identified a need for further assessment of the CAP borough-wide goals and objectives. It also included a review of the Council deliverables for the next three years (generally taken from the draft IP). Key changes are:

·  Minor amendments to specific thematic goals;

·  Inclusion of new objectives to reflect gaps;

·  Making existing objectives more outward facing, so they are more clearly collective and less about the Council, unless it has sole responsibility;

·  Better reflecting the fact that the IP should cover the detail of Council activities in the next three years, not the CAP;

·  Reducing duplication, ambiguity or any unwarranted overlap of  objectives, deleting some in the process;

·  Further prioritising based on impact and influence, ensuring three year objectives are the key ones, and taking a more strategic rather than catch all approach that could dilute focus and reduce impact; and

·  Ensuring Council 3 yr deliverables contained in the CAP are sufficiently robust and clear.

 

There are a number of cross-cutting issues, and in particular, the CAP considers two specific aspects which impact on all the themes. These are the green economy and social justice.

 

Green economy

The transition to net zero in Hackney is creating economic opportunities. A growing green economy means opportunities for businesses already delivering green products and services, and opportunities for new green businesses to emerge. This growth and transition will create job roles in London, mainly in skilled craft work and in managerial and professional jobs but also in the evolving circular economy which is well represented in Hackney.

 

There is a clear need to specifically support individuals whose livelihoods may be affected by the transition because their economic activity is dependent on businesses and services that contribute to climate change. Retraining programmes and new opportunities for jobs, skills and business should be widely available to Hackney’s residents - the green economy as a whole should be diverse and inclusive.

 

The Council’s regeneration programmes and procurement should be used to provide green economic opportunities for residents and business. Together, the Council, businesses and institutions need to address existing skills gaps in the construction industry and with science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) degrees. By working with partners in London’s skills system we can better prepare our residents for the possibilities a growing green economy has to offer, and further, address the lack of diversity among potential entrants into green jobs and the green economy.

 

Social justice

Climate action in Hackney can reduce inequalities and create benefits such as improved air quality, mental health, and biodiversity enhancement. By ensuring inclusive decision-making, prioritising accessible and affordable solutions, and tackling systemic issues a fairer, more equitable, and inclusive environment will be enabled. Encouraging community engagement, raising awareness, promoting financial viability of sustainable options, and regularly monitoring progress will help ensure climate policies and initiatives remain effective and inclusive for all community members. Key aspects based on responses received during the public consultation are further elaborated on below and apply to all key stakeholders.

·  Ensure inclusive decision-making: Involve diverse communities, including vulnerable and underrepresented groups, in the planning and implementation of climate policies and actions;

·  Prioritise accessible and affordable solutions: Develop climate initiatives that cater to the needs of low-income, minority, and vulnerable populations, focusing on affordable housing, public transport, and access to green spaces;

·  Tackle systemic issues: Address the root causes of climate change and social inequalities, such as poverty, racial and class disparities, and hold polluters accountable;

·  Offer targeted support: Provide resources and assistance to vulnerable groups for climate adaptation, resilience, and mental health support to cope with climate-related stress and anxiety;

·  Raise awareness and educate: Conduct outreach and educational programmes on climate change, its impacts, and sustainable options for diverse audiences, emphasising the importance of inclusivity;

·  Foster community engagement: Encourage active participation from various social, economic, and cultural backgrounds in climate initiatives and sustainable practices;

 

Themes, goals and objectives of the Hackney Climate Action Plan

Themes: The Hackney Climate Action Plan sets out the ambitious, science-based changes that we can work towards achieving a reduction in carbon emissions by 2030. All of these changes are organised into five themes: Adaptation, Buildings, Transport, Consumption and Environmental Quality. Within each theme, are a set of ambitious 2030 goals.

 

The themes define the broad areas of focus within the CAP, reflecting the need to reduce emissions, protect the natural environment and build resilience to climate change, alongside wider benefits to responding to climate change, such as the potential to improve public health.

 

Climate action is a complex and systems-wide challenge. To be effective, climate actions must be designed collaboratively, and with attention to who might be affected, and how. Proposals related to the green economy and social justice are part of all areas of climate action. Each theme identifies some of the key issues that need to be addressed to help ensure that climate action in Hackney is just and equitable. The five themes are set out below:

·  Adaptation - ensuring that we are prepared for and resilient to the impacts of the climate emergency, protecting our most vulnerable residents;

·  Buildings - removing gas boilers, adding solar panels and decreasing energy use in our buildings, reducing fuel poverty;

·  Transport - reducing emissions from the transport network, improving air quality and helping residents live active and healthy lifestyles;

·  Consumption - changing what and how we buy, use and sell, creating a new green economy in Hackney; and

·  Environmental Quality - maximising the potential for biodiversity in our green spaces, reducing pollution and helping local ecosystems thrive.

 

Goals: Across the five themes in this document, there are 21 goals which set out the ambitious changes that we collectively need to make by 2030. This will require significant changes in all of our behaviour, infrastructure, business models, and co-operation. These goals are ambitious, borough-wide and aligned, where relevant, with the Paris Agreement. Reaching these goals at a local level doesn’t rely on action by a single organisation, they are for everyone: residents, community groups and organisations, businesses and institutions.

 

The borough-wide modelled pathway in Figure 1, illustrates the territorial emissions savings that could be achieved if the 2030 goals of the CAP are delivered, and then continue to remove fossil fuels beyond that date. In this case, there would be a 94% reduction in the Borough’s territorial greenhouse gas emissions in 2040, compared to 2010, and a 77% reduction by 2030. This ambitious pace of change is closely aligned with the pace of decarbonisation that the borough needs to achieve to contribute to limiting global warming by 1.5oC, based on current greenhouse gas emissions and Tyndall Centre modelling.

 

Objectives: Each goal has a number of key objectives. Objectives are the activities that we will need to work on together to progress towards realising the 2030 goals. They are made up of objectives for all Hackney stakeholders, as well as some specific Council objectives where it would have the lead responsibility. Together, it is intended that the themes, goals and objectives provide a framework that shapes future action planning and decision making for all Hackney stakeholders.

 

Council Implementation Plan

Sitting alongside the CAP is a Council Implementation Plan (IP), which provides a detailed set of proposed key actions for the Council to undertake (by theme) initially over the next three years and that contribute to delivering the goals and objectives, considering where the Council has direct control and most influence to maintain momentum with its own climate response.

 

The Council’s own ability to make carbon reductions is based on what it can control or influence. It is directly responsible for about 5% of local area territorial emissions. However, it has many levers that can be used to deliver wider local action to reduce emissions and prepare local areas for a changing climate particularly through leadership and placemaking.

 

There are a further 25% of territorial emissions that it has strong influence over. For example, from a built environment perspective the Council would be considered to have high influence over new housing and social housing activities. There is also good influence in respect of transport and waste.

 

Much of the remaining non-territorial emissions associated with consumption are where the Council’s leverage may be more variable. Many decisions lie with individuals and require behavioural change; consumption emissions are also from a diverse range of sources. Notwithstanding, the Council has prioritised areas where it has strong levers to effect change such as waste, food, procurement, the circular economy, the Council's pension fund, as well as the embodied carbon within its own future developments amongst others.

 

An initial period of three years was selected for the implementation plan to:

·  provide a sharper focus on the key actions needed now to maintain momentum;

·  help focus on actions that would enable the Council to scale activities for the period post the initial three year plan robustly; and

·  recognise that the technology and costs associated with net zero actions are changing rapidly and hence deliverability may change markedly over time potentially creating shifting focuses for action in the future.

 

A draft of the implementation plan was included in the appendices for the October 22 Cabinet approval for public consultation. Although this wasn’t a formal part of the consultation, a number of detailed comments and suggestions were received, generally from those with a specialist knowledge of the climate and ecological agenda. These have been assessed as part of the consultation responses.

 

Original plans were that the IP should form part of the additional documents for this Cabinet report. There are however a number of more significant revisions needed to the IP, including a further prioritisation of the detailed actions already included for impact, both from a carbon perspective, but also those with significant co-benefits. As a result the IP will form part of the annual report to Full Council in July 23.

 

Monitoring and reporting framework

A commitment was made in the October 2022 Cabinet report to develop a monitoring and reporting framework and include it as part of the adoption of the CAP. This has been progressed, assessing both Council and borough-wide monitoring and reporting needs. Where there is certainty regarding future monitoring and reporting, this has been included in the revised CAP.

 

Monitoring and reporting is an important tool to assess progress towards net zero, informing decisions that may be needed to update the scale or pace of interventions accordingly. It is widely agreed to be key to credible, long term climate action by:

·  Maintaining transparency and accountability: Monitoring climate action gives councils and other stakeholders the ability to demonstrate progress and quantify the benefits of climate action. This can aid future decision making by indicating where climate action has been most successful, and most challenging and when carbon offsetting has been used for emissions that can’t be reduced;

·  Providing key review points: testing whether what we are doing collectively is having the desired impact on progress, whilst enabling opportunities to revise actions;

·  Communicating with stakeholders on progress with targets: The Council alone cannot deliver the actions needed to reach net zero and therefore must work in partnership with other organisations and individuals and enable stakeholders to make change happen; and

·  Building a case to improve delivery and/or secure further funding: Monitoring can help identify where further resources, investment or investigation is needed, and build the evidence base for this – ultimately informing further action planning.

 

The development of a monitoring framework will therefore support the need to measure the reduction in carbon emissions amongst other climate related actions, and track progress towards the 2030 goals of Hackney’s borough-wide CAP, alongside an agreed reporting and review mechanism. For the Council's own obligations, a key principle of the approach is to acknowledge its existing reporting systems for subsidiary plans and strategies, so that the monitoring framework can build upon and complement these, rather than duplicating them.

 

Monitoring

Monitoring will be completed through a variety of interrelated mechanisms. Further detail can be found in the revised CAP (Appendix 1).

·  Council territorial emissions initially aligning with the UK100 membership scope but expanding over time, using the Local Partnerships GHG accounting tool;

·  Borough-wide emissions principally initially via The London Energy and Greenhouse Gas Inventory (LEGGI) and Consumption-Based Emissions Accounting Framework (CBEA);

·  Monitor an agreed set of key performance indicators to track Council and borough-wide progress; and

·  The Council’s Implementation Plan for its own actions, to support delivery of  goals and objectives which reflect its control and influence, supported by:

o  More granular monitoring through other established Council plans and strategies;

o  Key performance indicators to track Council progress where required.

 

Reviewing

The impact on achieving Hackney’s borough-wide emissions targets will be recorded by changes in the borough-wide emissions footprint. This will provide an indication of the overall direction of progress across the Borough and by sector. Reviewing progress with meeting borough-wide and Council targets using a suite of key performance indicators will provide a more detailed assessment helping us to take more timely and evidence-based decisions to:

·  Understand Hackney’s progress towards its net zero target based on current and proposed actions;

·  Understand progress towards its 21 goals and assess where greater action or alternative tactics are require;

·  Track delivery of actions annually towards Hackney’s borough-wide CAP with SMARTer measures;

·  Help measure (where possible), the differential impact on different groups in Hackney;

·  Better understand the success of climate action in delivering wider environmental, social, and economic co-benefits; and

·  Enable shared learning and information sharing across organisations.

 

Reporting

The Council has made annual reports on its progress with its decarbonisation commitments (for each 12 month period) for the last three years to Full Council in July each year. The next one is scheduled for July 2023. Whilst this has covered key progress at a project level and informed the development of the draft Climate Action Plan, a new format more accessible annual report on the Council’s progress towards its own territorial emissions reduction targets - supported by key performance indicators, will be put in place for July 2024.

 

There are however a number of work streams that will have to be undertaken in the 12 months post CAP adoption in May 2023 to inform some of the above requirements and are set out below.

 

Council

·  Confirm headline performance indicators and targets to track progress on territorial emissions within the Council's direct control;

·  Incorporate these headline key performance indicators focused on Council controlled carbon emissions reduction as part of the Council's update of its corporate dashboard so as to provide high level corporate progress monitoring, reflecting the priority given to addressing the climate emergency in the Council's recently updated strategic plan;

·  Explore ways to reduce the Council’s Scope 3 emissions;

·  Review and embed earlier Net Zero Energy Strategy monitoring and reporting requirements into CAP monitoring and reporting requirements; and

·  Identify next steps as to the role for the Scrutiny Panel and Commissions in governance.

 

Borough-wide

·  Update the current borough-wide baseline assessment using latest data from 2022 to establish an updated baseline and inform targets with which to track progress against, whilst testing the existing modelled pathway for conformity with net zero ambitions;

·  Review other data sources for borough-wide emissions including the Office For National Statistics (ONS) on carbon dioxide emissions for local authorities and whether/how to integrate;

·  Develop options with key partners to establish the headline key performance indicators for tracking progress on carbon reduction associated with the overall CAP, focusing on the relevant borough-wide goals in the CAP. This will be developed collaboratively with external partners to enable a response that is proportionate and where possible relies on existing accessible data sets, noting key partners may have their own performance monitoring mechanisms for their organisations and the intention is not to duplicate that;

·  Review themes and goals with others, where carbon reduction is not the focus to develop headline key performance indicators;

·  Consider future options to assess wider social and economic co-benefits of climate actions such as health to inform considerations of social justice and inequalities; and

·  Assess options with key partners for public reporting of progress on the borough-wide CAP. 

UK100 membership network and net zero target for selected Council territorial emissions

 

The Council’s existing target for its own greenhouse emissions requires a 45% reduction by 2030 based on a 2010 baseline and ‘net zero’ by 2040. However, it has also been clear that where it can move faster it will endeavour to do so, regardless of the stated ‘net zero’ targets.

 

In January 2022, the Mayor and Lead Member made a statement to Full Council outlining their ambition to rejoin the UK100 network. This followed earlier work to review ‘net zero’ targets set out within the original Climate Emergency declaration and to bring the Council in closer alignment with key stakeholders across London. This has now been progressed such that the Council now has a revised ‘net zero target’ of 2030 for territorial emissions that fall within the defined scope of UK100 membership requirements. The full detail of the initial territorial emissions scope to be applied in pursuance of the Council’s revised 2030 ‘net zero’ target is to be brought to Full Council in July 2023 as part of the annual decarbonisation report.

 

The Council was previously a member of the UK100 membership network, albeit based on earlier membership requirements which required the Council to sign up to a commitment to ‘use 100% clean energy across the full range of functions by 2050’. UK100 have modified their membership criteria and now require the adoption of a net zero target for Council territorial emissions (within the current UK100 emission scope) by 2030 and boroughwide by 2045 (some five years later than the current Council net zero commitment). In respect of the latter, committing to a boroughwide ‘net zero’ target wider than the Council activities will require further dialogue with stakeholders post adoption.

Minutes:

11.1  The Mayor thanked Officers for their work and highlighted that the Climate Action Plan (CAP) represented the ambition the Council had in relation to the Climate Emergency and the Green New Deal for Hackney, but also reflected that its ambitions wouldn’t be delivered without contributions from our communities and Hackney’s civic society.

 

11.2   Cllr Garbett welcomed the report and asked Cabinet how they saw the CAP changing decision making in the Council; whether accepting the Climate Emergency declaration had changed any decisions; and about plans regarding Pension investments. 

 

11.3    In response the Mayor confirmed that the Climate Emergency declaration had pushed the Council to go beyond the targets that existed in 2018 and highlighted the work of the Council on bike and EV infrastructure, community energy, and the introduction of the fortnightly collection of residual waste. The Cabinet Member for Finance, Insourcing and Customer Service confirmed the Pension Fund had a target of reducing its exposure to fossil fuel reserves by 50%, but it had reduced its exposure by over 90%.  The new policy was to be carbon free and to seek positive investment into renewable and biodiverse opportunities. 

 

RESOLVED:

 

1.  To approve the final Climate Action Plan attached as Appendix 1 for adoption;

 

2.  To delegate authority to the Group Director for Climate, Homes and Economy to make amendments to the Climate Action Plan as necessary.

 

REASONS FOR DECISION

 

The reasons for the decision were included in the printed decisions, published on the 23 May 2023, which can be found here.

Supporting documents: