Agenda item

            The Monitoring, Learning and Reporting Officer presented the following report to the Committee:

“1.0      Purpose of Report or Summary of Main Issues

1.1       To inform Members of the requirements for the Council’s Climate Adaptation Report that must be submitted to DAERA by 31st March 2026.

2.0       Recommendations

2.1       The Committee is asked to note:

i.       that the Council is required to submit an adaptation report 31st March 2026 covering a 4 year period from 1st Jan 2026;

ii.      that the contents of the report must outline the current and predicted climate change impacts in relation to the Council’s functions i.e. a climate change impact assessment along with the Council’s adaptation targets and priority actions;

iii.    that the priority actions must based on the Northern Ireland Climate Change Adaptation Programmes 2 and 3, the Council’s Climate Action Plan (CAP) and any additional adaptation work taking place across Council;

iv.    the three CAP actions to be included in the report:

·        update the BCC Climate Risk Assessment in line with the new mandatory Public Body Reporting requirements (under the Climate Change Act);

·        apply SUDs policy and guidance (SUDS Manual C753) as standard practice in the Capital Programme;

·        start to deliver the Tree Establishment Strategy and continue the One Million Trees Programme;

v.      the adaptation report submitted to DAERA will be brought back to a future Committee.

3.0       Main report

3.1       In June 2024, Members were informed of the Public Body Reporting Requirements under the NI Climate Act 2022. Section 42 of the Climate Change Act (Northern Ireland) 2022 requires DAERA to make new Regulations, which will place climate change reporting duties on specified public bodies. The regulations came into operation in early May 2024, 21 days after they are laid in the Assembly. The first report required under the regulations, is the mitigation report which was submitted to DAERA in October 2025. The Council must now produce and submit an adaptation report for submission by 31st March 2026.

            What will be required?

3.2       The first adaptation report must relate to the period of 4 years beginning with 1st January 2026 and include:

·        an assessment of the current and predicted impact of climate change in relation to the organisation’s functions; and

·        the proposals and policies for adapting to climate change in the exercise of its functions, along with implementation timescales.

3.3       The second and subsequent reports are required every 5 years and will include an assessment of the progress the body has made towards implementing the proposals and policies set out in any previous climate change adaptation reports.

3.4       The adaptation report includes information under six headings.

§  Part 1: Profile – information about the organisation.

§  Part 2: Governance – what governance structures exist in Council to manage adaptation, strategies and plans that integrate adaptation planning and what objectives relate to it.

§  Part 3 – Impacts: the Council’s climate risk assessment including the methodology and findings.

§  Part 4 – Actions: the Council’s adaptation targets and priority actions and how this relates to the NICCAP.

§  Part 5 – Case Studies: inclusion of up to 5 case studies that illustrate best practice being undertaken by Council.

§  Part 6 – Validation and Authorisation: validated findings (i.e. through peer review or external experts) and authorisation of the plan with the relevant decision makers within the organisation.

3.5       The Impacts section will set out the various climate risks and opportunities work completed by the Council to date including work with Climate Northern Ireland in 2020 and the Council’s Climate Risk Assessment in 2023.

3.6       The Actions will be drawn from the Northern Ireland Climate Change Adaptation Programmes 2 and 3, the Councils Climate Action Plan (outlined below) adopted in April 2025 and any additional adaptation work which is taking place across Council and is currently being mapped through the Talx2 work.

3.7       Four CAP adaptation actions will be included in the report:

1.      Update the BCC Climate Risk Assessment in line with the new mandatory Public Body Reporting requirements (under the Climate Change Act) (2.2)

2.      Apply SUDs policy and guidance (SUDS Manual C753) as standard practice in the Capital Programme (2.3)

3.      Start to deliver the Tree Establishment Strategy and continue the One Million Trees Programme (2.19)

4.      Develop a sustainable food policy for the Council that addresses waste, sourcing, packaging, emissions measurement and an events protocol (1.14).

3.8       In addition, selected actions from NICCAP 2 and NICCAP 3 (which has not yet been finalised) will be included in the report to DAERA. The final version of the report, as submitted to DAERA, will be presented at a future meeting of this committee.

4.0       Financial and Resource Implications

4.1       There are no financial and resource implications.

5.0       Equality or Good Relations Implications/

            Rural Needs Implications

5.1       Any good relations or equality implications will be identified as part of the Council’s screening process.”

            The Committee noted the information provided.