Agenda item

Considered -

A report by Jos Holmes, Climate Policy Officer, Strategy and Performance Team, North Yorkshire County Council regarding the progress being made with implementation of the Council’s Carbon Reduction Plan.

Some of the key points highlighted in the report by Jos Holmes are as summarised below:

·         The Council committed to an aspiration to achieve net carbon neutrality by, or as close to, 2030 in July 2019 and its Carbon Reduction Plan was agreed in July 2021

·         An officer group, the Beyond Carbon Board, meets regularly to review the Plan

·         The Council is working with partners to deliver the ambition for York and North Yorkshire to be the UK’s first carbon negative region

·         From April 2022 the Carbon Reduction Plan will be integrated into the Council Plan

·         Work is underway to upgrade the Council estate and so help to decarbonise heat and buildings

·         There will be greater use of electric vehilces by the Council, as part of an overall fleet management approach

·         A York and North Yorkshire Sustainable Procurement Toolkit has been completed to help commissioners and procurement officers utilise low carbon and circular economy procurement techniques

·         Support is being developed and put in place to help ensure that all members of society are able to participate and benefit from activities to reduce carbon

·         Carbon sequestration (locking away greenhouse gases in trees and soils) is promoted through work with the White Rose Forest and the Yorkshire Peat Partnerships.

There followed a discussion, with key points as summarised below:

·         There is a need to consider the full-life carbon footprint of petrol and diesel vehicles when replacing them with electric vehicles

·         Electric vehicles are part of the solution, as is active travel and greater use of public transport

·         Charging electric vehicles at home is not always possible as lots of people have to park on the street and do not have a dedicated space, outside of their house that they can use

·         There remain concerns that the electricity supply is in need of a significant upgrade to enable it to cope with the increased demands upon it as cars and domestic heating systems move to electric

·         There is a need to better understand how small scale electricity generation in communities can contribute to the work around decarbonisation

·         Local Government Review creates opportunities to better co-ordinate work underway in the county and to amplify and deliver good projects

·         There is a need to balance food security with tree planting and to ensure that good quality and productive land is not unnecessarily taken out of food production

·         The retrofitting of existing housing stock will become more important over time and new legislation is expected in 2025

·         There is a need to ensure that we develop and retain the skilled workforce locally and will enable the county to benefit from the work on decarbonisation.

County Councillor Mike Chambers MBE thanked Jos Holmes for attending and answering the questions of the committee.

Resolved –

a)    That the report be noted and that a further update be brought back to the March 2023 committee meeting.