Easington Climate Change Strategy
Easington Climate Change Strategy
Developing a strategy to help Easington District Council cut its CO2
The purpose of this project was to help Easington District Council reduce the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions attributable to activities undertaken in the area.
CSE's role was to help the council to draw up a Climate Change Strategy to underpin efforts to cut energy use in the district by local people, businesses, and by the council itself.
Step one was to estimate a baseline for the total annual CO2 emissions, and step two was to draw up an action plan to cut these emissions.
CSE applied the 'Local and Regional Carbon Management Matrix', an assessment tool developed by CSE and partners. The Matrix identifies a wide range of areas where councils have existing powers and influence which they could use to stimulate carbon emission reductions. Against each of these levers the Matrix codifies the behaviour which could be classed as 'weak', 'fair', 'good' and 'excellent'.
By drawing up a Climate Change Action Plan, Easington Council was pre-empting the tougher line laid down in the UK Climate Change Programme
This approaches enables a council to assess its current performance on carbon emission reduction whilst also identifying the steps to improvement (eg from 'fair' to 'good') - an ideal starting point for an action plan.
In drawing up a Climate Change Action Plan, Easington Council has pre-empted the tougher line laid down in the new UK Climate Change Programme. The Government has committed to start assessing the performance of local authorities and expects to 'see a significant increase in the level of engagement by local government in climate change issues'.
What happened next?
To read more about CSE's work with Easington District Council, click here.