Issue - meetings

City of York Council has set a target to reduce carbon emissions from corporate activity to net zero by 2030. An Annual Carbon Emissions Report is produced every year to monitor progress against this target and identify areas of improvement.

Resolved: That the Corporate Emissions Report be approved for publication.

Reason: To monitor progress against the ambition for the council to be net zero by 2030.

The Executive Member considered a report on York’s carbon emissions  from corporate activity in 2022/23, which monitored progress towards the city’s 2030 net zero goal and identified areas of improvements.

The Head of Carbon Reduction provided an overview noting that:

·        this year’s reporting incorporated emissions associated with energy used in maintained schools, as well as indirect emissions from building maintenance materials, staff commuting, and homeworking. This improved the accuracy of reporting, although it made like-for-like comparisons with previous years more challenging.

·        corporate emissions for the financial year 2022/23 had been calculated as 5490tCO2e; with the additional data sources removed, this represented a 10% reduction from 2021/22. The majority of corporate emissions came from two sources: gas used for heating and hot water in council buildings, and fuel used by the council fleet.

·        heat decarbonisation plans had been completed for 33 of the council’s highest energy consuming sites, and funding was being sought through the Decarbonisation Scheme and the York and North Yorkshire Net Zero Fund to undertake capital works to deliver improvements.

·         the Solar for Schools programme had continued to expand with two maintained schools receiving free solar panels and two more were due to complete this year.

·        further light-emitting diode (LED) streetlighting work was scheduled with support from the Net Zero Fund.

·        the fleet electrification programme had reduced emissions from council vehicles and once completed was expected to save a total of 800tCO2e.

·        the inclusion of staff commuting and homeworking had shown areas where improvements could be made, and the Council Travel Plan was being updated with suggestions for reducing these emissions.

The Executive Member thanked the officer for the work on this issue, and in answer to her questions regarding the scope for further reductions, staff travel, and homeworking the Head of Carbon Reduction confirmed that:

·        the majority of the emissions reductions was associated with the fleet electrification programme, which covered all council vehicles under 3.5 tons, and decarbonising council heavy goods vehicles could lead to significant improvements in emissions.

·        the heat decarbonisation plans for the 33 sites identified would deliver a 65% reduction in emissions across those sites, but capital funding was needed to support this initiative. 

·        there was scope within the staff travel plan to provide advice to staff on reducing energy consumption when commuting and working from home.

Resolved:  That the Corporate Emissions Report be approved for publication.

Reason:     To monitor progress against the ambition for the council to be net zero by 2030.