Issue - meetings

City of York Council (the Council) has set a target to reduce carbon emissions from corporate activity to net zero by 2030. An Annual Carbon Emissions Report is produced to monitor progress against this target and identify areas of improvement. This report relates to the Council’s operations throughout financial year 2024/25. To be considered by Cllr Kent (Executive Member for Environment and Climate Emergency).

Resolved:

                         i.         Approved the Annual Emissions Report for publication.

Reason:     To monitor progress against the Council’s ambition to be net zero by 2030.

The Head of Carbon Reduction introduced the report which provided the Corporate Emissions data for 2024-25. He noted that additional data capturing had resulted in a small increase in emissions but noted that overall use of fossil fuels were down. He confirmed that the Council’s largest source of emissions continued to be gas heating. He also highlighted work undertaken in 2024-25 which included the continued roll out of heat pumps and fleet electrification which, was expected to be at 90% for vehicles under 3.5 tons in 2026.

The Executive Member for Environment and Climate Emergency welcomed the report and highlighted the dual benefits that had been achieved in both reducing emissions and reducing costs, such as, the roll out of ELD street lighting that was saving £365,000 per year. She also highlighted the roll out of heat pumps at Council properties like Alex Lyon House had reduced Council tenants’ energy bills.

The Executive Member enquired about the Council’s work on Scope 3 emissions. The Head of Carbon Reduction confirmed that monitoring Scope 3 could be challenging but that the Council was working on ways to monitor and reduce scope 3 emissions, such as, working with the Council’s procurement team with the aim for the new Social Value policy to put an emphasis on carbon emissions.

Resolved:

                         i.         Approved the Annual Emissions Report for publication.

Reason:     To monitor progress against the Council’s ambition to be net zero by 2030.