Initial Climate Change Impact Assessment (Form created August 2021)

The intention of this document is to help the council to gain an initial understanding of the impact of a project or decision on the environment. This document should be completed in consultation with the supporting guidance. Dependent on this initial assessment you may need to go on to complete a full Climate Change Impact Assessment. The final document will be published as part of the decision-making process.

If you have any additional queries, which are not covered by the guidance please email climatechange@northyorks.gov.uk

Title of proposal	E-cigarette procurement – 2026 to 2029
Brief description of proposal	We are currently in the second of five planned years of additional investment of £70million for local stop smoking services across England to support people to stop smoking in an effort to achieve a 5% national prevalence by 2030. Utilising the funding to meet the target in North Yorkshire, significant expansion, and enhancement of the Living Well Smokefree (LWSF) service is being implemented. To support the work of the service, it is vital to have a range of effective options of pharmacotherapy available to support smokers accessing the service to quit. Nicotine vapes are effective cessation aids and are recommended as a first choice stop smoking aid with an evidence rating of A and a quit rate boost of x2.  While vaping is not risk-free, the latest review of evidence concludes that vaping, in the short and medium term, is significantly less harmful than smoking cigarettes and poses a small fraction of the risks of smoking. E-cigarettes are not recommended or should not be sold to people who are younger than 18 years old and they should also not be used by non-smokers.  If you don’t smoke, don’t vape. The purpose of this proposal is to seek approval for a procurement process to ensure continuity of the provision of e-vouchers for e-cigarettes and associated products to help people in North Yorkshire to quit smoking through the Living Well Smokefree service.  The selected company will provide access to e-cigarettes and associated products via a voucher scheme for smokers who choose to adopt this method of quitting. The ambition is that the continued access to e-cigarettes for people aiming to quit smoking with Living Well Smokefree will contribute to the desired outcome locally, which includes a reduction in overall smoking prevalence in North Yorkshire, especially within priority population groups identified in order to narrow inequalities. This is a continuation of the current provision and therefore it is anticipated that the impact in terms of climate change will be neutral/minimal due to an e-cigarette offer already being in place in Living Well Smokefree. Since the last procurement for provision of e-cigarettes was undertaken, the Government has introduced a ban on the sale and supply of single-use (disposable) vapes, effective from 1 June 2025, under The Environmental Protection (Single-use Vapes) (England) Regulations 2024. However, this does not change the impact for the e-cigarette offer accessed through Living Well Smokefree, as only reusable, rechargeable and refillable devices will be provided and this is also the case with the current provision.
Directorate	Health and Adult Services
Service area	Public Health
Lead officer	Scott Chapman – Service Manager: Living Well Smokefree
Names and roles of other people involved in carrying out the impact assessment	Mark O’Brien – Living Well Smokefree Team Manager Naomi Smith – Head of Health Improvement Dr Victoria Turner – Public Health Consultant (Health Protection) – review

The chart below contains the main environmental factors to consider in your initial assessment – choose the appropriate option from the drop-down list for each one.

Remember to think about the following;

· Travel

· Construction

· Data storage

· Use of buildings

· Change of land use

· Opportunities for recycling and reuse

Environmental factor to consider	For the council	For the county	Overall
Greenhouse gas emissions	No effect on emissions	Increases emissions	Increases emissions
Waste	No effect on waste	No effect on waste	No effect on waste
Water use	No effect on water usage	No effect on water usage	No effect on water usage
Pollution (air, land, water, noise, light)	No effect on pollution	No effect on pollution	No effect on pollution
Resilience to adverse weather/climate events (flooding, drought etc)	No effect on resilience	No effect on resilience	No effect on resilience
Ecological effects (biodiversity, loss of habitat etc)	No effect on ecology	No effect on ecology	No effect on ecology
Heritage and landscape	No effect on heritage and landscape	No effect on heritage and landscape	No effect on heritage and landscape

If any of these factors are likely to result in a negative or positive environmental impact then a full climate change impact assessment will be required. It is important that we capture information about both positive and negative impacts to aid the council in calculating its carbon footprint and environmental impact.

Decision (Please tick one option)	Full CCIA not relevant or proportionate:	x	Continue to full CCIA:
Reason for decision	Greenhouse gases – e-cigarettes do not involve combustion in the way that smoking cigarettes does, and therefore use of e-cigarettes directly has a negligible impact on production of greenhouse gases, and switching from a conventional cigarette to an e-cigarette should have a positive impact. However through this proposal to re-procure e-cigarettes and as a result of scaling up delivery of Living Well Smokefree in line with Smokefree Generation targets to reach more people, it is anticipated that there will be an increase in the number of people accessing e-cigarettes, resulting in a small increase in emissions from postal delivery of these products to clients and production of the devices. As part of the tender process for procuring an e-cigarette provider, potential suppliers will be asked to detail how they will ensure (where possible) that products are recyclable and/or sustainable to support the Council’s commitment to Net Zero. Waste - only reusable, rechargeable and refillable devices will be provided. See above regarding legislation change. LWSF are in discussion with colleagues from the Environment Directorate at NYC regarding the production and distribution of information about the safe disposal of e-cigarettes. Review by and advice from Dr Vic Turner, Consultant in Public Health (Health Protection including Climate Change) – comments factored into overall screening assessment and guidance that a full CCIA is not proportionate in this case.
Signed (Assistant Director or equivalent)	Louise Wallace (DPH)
Date	23/02/2026