Committee for the Environment - Inquiry into Climate Change Submissions

Northern Ireland Local Government Association (NILGA) - Response to the NI Assembly Inquiry into Climate Change

INTRODUCTION

NILGA, the Northern Ireland Local Government Association, is the representative body for district councils in Northern Ireland. NILGA represents and promotes the interests of local authorities and is supported by all the main political parties. Climate change is a key issue for local government due to the huge impact it can have on local communities, the economy and sustainability. NILGA is pleased to be able to have an opportunity to comment on the Assembly Environment Committee Inquiry into Climate Change and we trust that our comments will be taken into account when developing an assembly position on the matter. For further information regarding this response, please contact Karen Smyth, Head of Policy at NILGA on (028) 9079 8972 or at k.smyth@nilga.org

SUMMARY

Local government work on issues relating to climate change is ongoing. From our experiences and the work that has already taken place, particularly on a local government declaration on climate change, we would summarise our views as follows:

• The proposed Declaration on Climate Change to be signed by Councils has not proceeded, due to a lack of support from government, and due to a lack of resources to implement such a document within local government.
• There is an urgent need for a ministerial champion to be appointed to take the climate change issue forward working within either a climate change interdepartmental working group or a sustainable development working group.
• In the current economic crisis savings could be made throughout the population and in particular by those suffering fuel poverty, if there was a clear and coherent strategy to address this issue.
• A budget should be set aside to develop a communication strategy on climate change and sustainable development to ensure that the general public understands the issues and the necessity to take action.

BACKGROUND AND TARGETS

NILGA is aware that in January 2007, as part of an integrated climate change and energy policy, the European Commission set out proposals and options for an ambitious global agreement in its Communication "Limiting Global Climate Change to 2 degrees Celsius: The way ahead for 2020 and beyond". EU leaders endorsed this vision in March 2007. They committed the EU to cutting its greenhouse gas emissions by 30% of 1990 levels by 2020 provided other developed countries commit to making comparable reductions under a global agreement. To start transforming Europe into a highly energy-efficient, low-carbon economy, they committed to cutting emissions by at least 20% independently of what other countries decide to do.

The 30% carbon dioxide reduction target is mirrored by the UK Climate Change Bill which aims to introduce UK targets to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by at least 60 per cent by 2050 and 26-32 per cent by 2020, against a 1990 baseline. The Republic of Ireland Climate Change Strategy 2007-2012 states that under the Kyoto Protocol, the Republic of Ireland must limit the growth in emissions to 13% above the 1990 levels in the 2008- 2012 period. The strategy recognises, however, that the EU has adopted a much more challenging reduction target for 2020 and while Ireland’s precise contribution within this new framework has yet to be agreed, it will require a reduction to below its 1990 emission levels.

It is the NILGA view that the targets for Northern Ireland should be proportional and appropriately related to the EU targets.

NILGA WORK ON CLIMATE CHANGE

NILGA has been at the forefront of local government work on climate change, both at a national and regional level. We ensured that councils in Northern Ireland communicated with the Local Government Climate Change Commission, whose work culminated in the production of the report “A Climate of Change” available at http://www.lga.gov.uk/lga/aio/20631.

NILGA has also been a key player in the Northern Ireland Climate Change Impacts Partnership, chaired by Douglas McIldoon, from whom you will have received a separate response. As part of our work within NICCIP, NILGA has drafted a local government declaration on climate change (attached – Appendix A) which is similar to the Nottingham, Scottish and Welsh declarations, giving suggested aims, objectives and targets for local government up to 2025. This declaration is designed to be signed jointly by the Minister for Environment and the Mayors/Chairs of the 26 district councils.

NILGA Project: Achieving Sustainable Councils

Whilst developing a climate change declaration for Northern Ireland, similar to the Nottingham declaration it became apparent that the local authorities in Northern Ireland lack the capacity, technical expertise and funding to deliver adequately on the key elements such a declaration would contain. To ensure appropriate delivery of the declaration, it was identified that a comprehensive support structure would be required, providing:

• Additional capacity
• Access to technical support
• A logical sequence of steps to enable delivery
• Resourcing to stimulate action and investment in new technologies
• Networking opportunities to enable sharing of best practice
• Mechanisms for community involvement, to stimulate change at individual level.

Representatives of the subgroup widened this discussion and contacted government and council representatives in the Republic of Ireland, who identified similar issues and needs. Given that climate change is an issue ‘blind’ to borders, and that many of the difficulties that are likely to be experienced in the future will be similar, North and South of the border, it was agreed that a strategic local government project on climate change should be pursued on a cross-border basis, to enable greater public sector collaboration in developing a more sustainable future for the island of Ireland.

The key need identified was to improve the resource use efficiency of local government and local community groups and in doing so, reduce the carbon footprint of local councils and the communities they serve.

It was established that no resource would be forthcoming from the Republic of Ireland, UK or Northern Ireland Assembly governments to fund this work. It was also established that some work was being done on behalf of Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government in the Republic of Ireland that could be built upon to enable local government, North and South to work towards meeting this key need.

In addition to the pure environmental issues, during the next three years, councils in Northern Ireland will be grouping together as set out in the NI Review of Public Administration policies. Each group of councils will be required to begin to work together to develop unified policy, strategy and practice, and to take on new functions such as Planning. The vital preparation time between 2009 and 2011 allowing councils to modernise, build capacity and improve service delivery for the benefit of the citizen, was viewed by the declarations sub-group as a strategic opportunity to build sustainable development principles and working into the corporate policy and practice of the new councils. The ASC project will enable the development of a collaborative approach on climate change and sustainable development issues whilst the new Northern councils are being developed, and it will also give the eligible county councils an opportunity to forge sustainable working relationships with the new structures in the North, which will be vitally important for ongoing cross-border working.

NILGA has been unsuccessful in obtaining funding via INTERREG for this work, but the project identified provides a viable methodology for taking climate change and carbon reduction work forward within councils and communities in Northern Ireland. Our suggested project was estimated to cost almost £4m over 3 years. A summary of the proposed project is attached (Appendix B).

OTHER EXAMPLES OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT BEST PRACTICE

Two examples of how local government can be effective in tackling issues such as climate change and sustainability at a local level are:

• The STEM Project – This project involved 9 councils and the Southern Group Environmental Health Committee working together to identify and address environmental issues, both within the councils and in businesses in each of the council areas. Each council and 284 businesses implemented an Environmental Management system, and over 10,000 employees were trained on environmental issues during the course of the project. The project was included in the Sustainable Development Strategy for Northern Ireland as an example of Best Practice and has won many awards in recognition of its success.

• The Community Eco-Challenge Project - By helping community organisations measure and take action to reduce their ecological footprint, this project brought the issue of sustainability to the home. Having identified the benefits of this approach the Assembly Environment Committee have arranged a visit on the 12 th March to see how it is operating on the ground.

MITIGATION AND ADAPTATION

NILGA is of the view that although it is completely necessary to mitigate against climate change, and has proposed the ASC project to assist in doing so; for local government and other public service delivery organisations, the main challenges will be seen to involve adaptation. NILGA would therefore particularly endorse the NICCIP comments to the Environment Committee on adaptation. Government needs to plan for change and to ensure that the citizens of Northern Ireland are adequately protected in the face of the challenges we face as a result of climate change. NILGA would recommend that the Environment Committee examine the valuable work of the UK Climate Impacts Programme in this area, and make recommendations to the Assembly to take this work into account when planning any future development.

It is vital that adaptation measures are also built into the programme for government, and that adequate resources are provided for this work. At present NILGA is of the view that emergency management, and particularly that done by local government, is under-resourced. The emergency management role of local government will grow after the reform of local government and it will be key to protecting public safety to resource this role properly.

A CLIMATE CHANGE STRATEGY FOR NORTHERN IRELAND

The Assembly departments will need to ensure that any future development can withstand the challenges climate change will bring, and will need to protect existing development. This will impact on each and every government department and it will be necessary to develop and implement a strategy to ensure that all policy brought forward by government is ‘proofed’ for climate change, mitigation and adaptation.

It has been the experience of local government that the Sustainable Development Strategy has not delivered. There has been little implementation, with sustainable development issues frequently put in the ‘too hard’ box. Local government is still waiting on adequate and appropriate guidance as to how it should implement the statutory duty introduced within that strategy. There is no point introducing a strategy that will not be implemented, and it will be critical to the success of any NI Climate Change Strategy to ensure that all stakeholders are aware of their responsibilities and enabled to perform these.

A review of all existing government strategies needs to take place to ensure that climate change is taken into account. For example, there is no mention of climate change in the existing waste management strategy, even though the targets expressed within it are a direct result of EU climate change policy, and the raison d’etre of landfill diversion is the reduction of greenhouse gases.

WORKING ACROSS DEPARTMENTS

It is the experience of NILGA that government finds working on cross-cutting strategies particularly challenging. This has been amply demonstrated by the waste strategy and the sustainable development strategy. To ensure the success of such strategies, it is vital to have cross-governmental ministerial oversight. There must be ministerial pressure to perform, and an appropriate level of buy-in from officers.

We have witnessed the resolution of particularly difficult issues (such as PPS14) through joined-up Ministerial working and although this is encouraging, for issues on which there is less pressure from the electorate in an environment where constitutional politics usually takes precedence, it has been the case that implementation of particularly complex issues (such as sustainable development) have fallen by the wayside.

It will be extremely difficult to take any work on climate change forward without a ministerial ‘champion’.

FUNDING

As evidenced by the work NILGA has done on preparing the ASC project, local government is seeking innovative ways of obtaining funding for work on climate change. It is our experience that those councils who have started along the road of monitoring energy use and reducing their carbon footprint have quickly saved large amounts of money, enabling them to pay for the officers they have employed (e.g. Ballymena Borough Council).

It is likely that with a regional governmental approach to climate change, after the quick wins that will initially be experienced, a resource will need to be made available, that is strategically targeted to those areas we need to do most work on.

Adequate and appropriate research must be done on how NI can reduce its carbon footprint and what needs to be done to implement any climate change strategy. There is a need to prioritise work, and to support our universities to develop new technologies. There is a huge economic development opportunity linked to work on renewable and sustainable technology, and no reason why NI cannot become a world leader in this area.

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

The following sources of information were used when researching the ASC project and the Committee may find them useful.

EU Climate Change Policy

In January 2007, as part of an integrated climate change and energy policy, the European Commission set out proposals and options for an ambitious global agreement in its Communication "Limiting Global Climate Change to 2 degrees Celsius: The way ahead for 2020 and beyond".

EU leaders endorsed this vision in March 2007. They committed the EU to cutting its greenhouse gas emissions by 30% of 1990 levels by 2020 provided other developed countries commit to making comparable reductions under a global agreement. And to start transforming Europe into a highly energy-efficient, low-carbon economy, they committed to cutting emissions by at least 20% independently of what other countries decide to do.

In line with the Strategic EU Energy Review, the EU will ensure a significant reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the EU by 2020 by:

1. Improving the EU’s energy efficiency by 20 % by 2020.
2. Increasing the share of renewable energy to 20 % by 2020.

The need to improve resource use efficiency in all sectors of society is identified by the EC Thematic Strategy on the Sustainable Use of Natural Resources.

(available at http://ec.europa.eu/environment/natres/) which sets as its key objective ‘to reduce the negative environmental impacts generated by the use of naturalresources in a growing economy’.

Scotland and Northern Ireland Forum for Environmental Research

“Review of Climate Change Mitigation Tools for Local Authorities”, available at: http://www.sniffer.org.uk/

The report highlighted a number of ways in which policy makers and local authorities could strengthen the development of tools to address climate change. In particular there is a need for:

1. Tools which clearly explain how they can help local authorities deliver specific climate change commitments;
2. Consistent standards and verification of local authorities used to inform local emissions’ baselines;
3. Strengthened tools and support for local authorities’ ‘climate change-proofing’ of strategies, plans and programmes;
4. More ‘hand-holding’ support for local authorities who are embarking on developing climate change strategies and action plans; and using tools to do so;
5. Opportunities and mechanisms for local authorities to share their experience in developing responses to climate change and using tools.

Sustainable Development Commission

“I will if you will - Towards sustainable consumption”, available at: http://www.sd-commission.org.uk/publications.php

The report stresses the need for collective action across all sectors if society is to move towards a more sustainable future. The NILGA ASC project will not focus solely on one group or collection of organisations. Through working with local councils to reduce the carbon footprint of the councils and with community groups, greater reductions in climate change impacts in the participating areas will be delivered compared to if a single area or sector was targeted.

The report stresses that ‘ four areas of our lives generate four-fifths of our overall impact on the environment around us: how we run our homes; the food we eat; how we get around; and how we travel on our holidays’ (page 2). The carbon footprinting exercise involving local community groups will discover the areas of activity that contribute most significantly to the carbon footprints of local people in the participating areas and participants will be provided with the skills to affect behavioural changes in their own lifestyles in accordance with the outcome of the carbon footprinting.

“An Independent Review of Sustainable Development in the English Regions ”, available at: http://www.sd-commission.org.uk/pages/localgovt.html

This study emphasised that the English regions have a crucial part to play in advancing sustainable development in England as important policies are developed, decisions taken, and resources deployed in the regions. The document asserts regions should have an important role in helping to deliver the four shared priorities for UK Sustainable Development strategy:

• Sustainable Consumption and Production
• Climate Change and Energy
• Natural Resource Protection and Environmental Enhancement
• Sustainable Communities.

The study found the lack of consistent leadership at the regional level to be a major obstacle to the delivery of sustainable development in the English regions. In most regions no single body is acting as the lead advocate for delivering sustainable development principles and priorities. The ASC project will help overcome this obstacle in Northern Ireland and the 6 Republic of Ireland border councils, enabling NILGA to work as lead partner, providing leadership and facilitating the delivery of sustainable development principles throughout local councils and local community groups.

“Inspiring a Sustainable Local Future”, available at: http://www.sd-commission.org.uk/publications.php?id=364

This report highlights a number of common barriers to effectively implementing sustainable development at a local government level. The barriers identified in the report are shown below, along with the ways in which the NILGA ASC project will overcome these barriers.

World Wildlife Fund

“The Right Climate for Change ”, available at: http://www.wwflearning.org.uk/localmatters/resources/climate-for-change,1348,AR.html

The report highlights that transition towards a low-carbon economy requires a fundamental change in the way climate change is tackled at a local level. This change not only requires local government to minimise the impact of their service delivery on climate change but also to encourage behavioural change amongst local communities. The report highlights that the average UK local authority produces at least 30,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, whilst the average council area has a carbon footprint of over 1.5 million tonnes. The ASC project will offer local councils the opportunity to fulfil their responsibility to ‘get their own house in order’ by providing support, training and resources to reduce the size of the council carbon footprint. The project will also undertake work with local communities to affect behaviour change and reduce the carbon footprints of communities living within the council area.

HM Treasury

“Stern Review on the economics of climate change” , available at:
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/independent_reviews/stern_review_economics_climate_change/stern_review_Report.cfm

The 2006 Stern Report highlights the economic consequences of failing to reduce the climate change impacts of our current behaviour. The review estimates the costs of climate change will be equivalent to losing 5% of global GDP each year, now and forever. If a wider range of risks and impacts is taken into account, the estimates of damage could rise to 20% of GDP or more. The worst impacts of climate change can be substantially reduced if annual emissions of greenhouse gases can be brought down to more than 80% below current levels. The ASC project will develop an evidence base of the climate change impacts of local government resource consumption, indicating where improvements in resource consumption can be made whilst maintaining optimum service delivery to all citizens.

NI Office of the First and Deputy First Minister

“First Steps Towards Sustainability; A Sustainable Development Strategy for Northern Ireland”, available at: 
http://www.ofmdfmni.gov.uk/sustain-develop.pdf

In aiming to improve the efficiency of resource consumption in Northern Ireland and progress towards an environmentally sustainable future, the Northern Ireland Sustainable Development strategy sets the following objectives:

• Northern Ireland to become 85% resource efficient by 2025:
• Stabilise the Northern Ireland Ecological Footprint by 2015 and reduce it thereafter
• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25% below 1990 levels by 2025
• From 2007 reduce consumption of electricity in Northern Ireland by 1% annually until 2012
• Beyond 2025, 40 % of all electricity consumed in Northern Ireland to come from indigenous renewable sources – 25% non wind.

Delivery of the ASC project’s objectives will contribute to meeting each of these targets for Northern Ireland.

ROI Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government

“National climate change strategy 2007-2012”, available at: http://www.environ.ie/en/publicationsdocuments/filedownload,1861,en.pdf

Ireland, as a member state of the EU, is committed to the Kyoto Protocol and must therefore limit the growth in missions to 13% above the 1990 levels in the 2008-2012 period. Whilst Ireland’s precise contribution within this new framework has yet to be agreed, it is likely to require a reduction to below the 1990 levels.

The purpose of this Strategy is twofold:

1. To show clearly the measures by which Ireland will meet its 2008-2012 commitment; and
2. To show how these measures position Ireland for the post-2012 period, and to identify the areas in which further measures are being researched and developed to enable them to meet the 2020 commitment.

The Strategy shows, sector by sector, that the range of existing and additional measures which have already been developed, will reduce Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions by over 17 million tonnes (Mt) of CO2 equivalent in the period 2008-2012.

Sectors identified and explored in detail in this report are as follows:

1. Energy Supply
2. Transport
3. Residential
4. Industry, Commercial and Services
5. Agriculture, Land-use and Forestry
6. Waste
7. Public Sector

Local authorities are specifically mentioned in this Strategy as they can have a significant influence over emissions in their local areas, both directly through reducing emissions from their own energy use and procurement activities, in raising awareness and stimulating action in local communities, and indirectly through the exercise of their housing planning and other statutory functions.

LGA Commission on Climate Change report

A Climate of Change: Final report of the LGA Climate Change Commission

http://www.lga.gov.uk/lga/publications/publication-display.do?id=20630

Two key recommendations made in the LGA report which have impacted upon the structure of the ASC Project are as follows:

1. By December 2008, all councils should have signed the Nottingham Declaration and published a climate change strategy and action plan. These plans should include measurable and quantifiable milestones at 2010, 2015 and 2020.
2. All councils must undertake a climate change impact assessment of all major policy, planning and investment decisions, screening decisions to ensure that they are systematically lowering carbon emissions and ensuring that all decisions are resilient to climate change.

The ASC project requirements for councils to sign the Climate Change Declaration and develop a carbon reduction action plan are guide by these recommendations.

Welsh, Scottish and Nottingham Declarations

The Welsh Declaration on Climate Change and Energy Efficiency recognises that local authorities need to play their full part at local level, leading and delivering the Welsh response to climate change within the UK Climate Change Programme.

The declaration welcomes the opportunity for local authorities to lead the response at local level by helping encourage local residents and businesses to reduce their energy costs, reduce transport congestion, and improve the local environment and to deal with fuel poverty within communities.

Additionally, the declaration allows local authorities to make a public declaration, in line with agreed targets, to:

• Deliver a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions;
• Improve energy efficiency in greenhouse gas emissions; and
• Increase the use of ‘green’ energy from renewable sources.

The Welsh Climate Change Declaration is available at http://www.wlga.gov.uk/english/meeting-documents/a-welsh-declaration-on-climate-change/

Scotland’s Climate Change Declaration is similar to the Welsh Declaration on Climate Change and is signed by each Council Leader and Chief Executive, committing to actions such as encouraging and working with others in the local community to take action to adapt to the impact of climate change, to reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions and make public their commitment to action.

The Scottish Climate Change Declaration is available at http://www.sustainable-scotland.net/climatechange/

The Nottingham Declaration also recognises the crucial role local authorities have to meet national targets for reducing emissions and adapting to climate change. By signing this Declaration, councils can show their commitment to this important issue by pledging to actively tackle climate change. So far, over 200 local authorities have signed the Declaration.

The Nottingham Climate Change Declaration is available at http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/housingbuildings/localauthorities/NottinghamDeclaration

Fuel Poverty

The UK Warm Homes and Energy Conservation Act 2000 placed a statutory duty on the Westminster Government to eradicate fuel poverty by 2016. This Act was adopted by the NI Assembly and Eradicating Fuel Poverty: A Strategy for Northern Ireland was produced in 2004. This strategy proposes to eliminate fuel poverty for vulnerable households by 2010 and for all households by 2016. Northern Ireland has a very high rate of fuel poverty compared with the rest of the UK and the ASC project aim of improving resource use within local community groups in Northern Ireland will contribute to lowering rates of fuel poverty in Northern Ireland.

In the Republic of Ireland, no government department adopts specific lead responsibility for coordinating actions to tackle fuel poverty. Despite the absence of an over-riding fuel poverty strategy or dedicated government unit, the fuel poverty issue is considered within a number of government documents:

• The Energy Policy Framework 2007-2010 commits to ‘systematically address fuel poverty in an era of increased fuel prices’. The National Action Plan for Social Inclusion 2007-2016 is named the main instrument of delivery.

• The National Action Plan for Social Inclusion 2007-2016 emphasises proposed developments by the Department of Social and Family Affairs in respect of social welfare payments and increases in budget allocation to local authorities to improve heating in rented dwellings. Funding for the Warmer Homes Scheme and to support fuel poverty research through the work of Sustainable Energy is also proposed.