Islington organisations pledge to cut carbon by 15%
Islington organisations pledge to cut carbon by 15%
The launch of the London borough's Climate Change Partnership builds on CSE study and evaluation matrix
1 April 2007
Private, public and voluntary sector organisations across the London borough of Islington have joined forces to cut carbon emissions. They have formed the Islington Climate Change Partnership and, building on a unique Carbon Baseline Study, set themselves an ambitious target to reduce their own carbon emissions by 15 per cent by 2010.
A wide range of organisations that play an important role locally are involved, including the council itself, the large Royal Mail facility in the borough and City University. If every organisation meets its pledge, overall carbon emissions should be reduced by around five per cent by 2010, compared to 2005.
CSE has been working closely with the Islington Strategic Partnership to develop a carbon emissions baseline upon which the targets are based and achievements will be measured. More than 20 local organisations contributed to a Carbon Baseline Study - which gathered information on the Partnership's collective carbon emissions and bench-marked current practice. The baseline underpinned the development of the carbon reduction target and a step-by-step improvement strategy for the emerging Climate Change Partnership. Islington Council also used CSE's Local and Regional Carbon Management Matrix to evaluate its current practice and identify opportunities for improvement right across the Council.
CSE Head of Research Joshua Thumim, who led the project, explains how Islington's strategy currently stands out as unique. "We were really keen to avoid the increasingly common approach of setting impressive sounding but unachievable local carbon reduction targets accompanied by vague aspirations of ‘adopting best practice'. Instead we have focused on the particular influences of the local council and its partners on local carbon emissions. And we've identified targets based on incremental improvements which start from current performance. That way the Partnership knows what difference it can make and the next steps each member needs to take, based on where they are starting from."
The launch comes alongside a similarly bold step by Islington Council; it announced in March plans for a £3million Climate Change Fund for capital projects. The fund will help pay for real, effective measures to reduce carbon emissions — through energy efficiency measures, producing renewable energy or green transport.
CSE's work with Islington Borough continues with a new project to identify an appropriate emissions reduction trajectory and scenario for the borough to achieve an 80% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 2050, relative to 1990.