Agenda item

            The Committee considered the undernoted report and associated appendices:

 

“1.0      Purpose of Report/Summary of Main Issues

 

1.1       To highlight the new regulations that will place new climate change reporting duties on public bodies, including Belfast City Council.

 

2.0       Recommendation

 

2.1

                                               I.        Note the attached correspondence from DAERA.

                                              II.        Note that the regulations come into place early May 2024 and an update will be brought back to update Committee in due course.

 

3.0       Main Report

 

3.1       Background

 

            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 will come into operation in early May 2024, 21 days after they are laid in the Assembly. However, the first reports by public bodies required under the regulations, will not be due to be submitted until October 2025.

 

3.2       What will be required?

 

            There are two types of reports which we will be required to provide under the reporting duties set by the Regulations: 1) ‘climate change mitigation’ reports; and 2) ‘climate change adaptation’ reports.

 

3.3       Climate change mitigation reports must include:

 

1.      a statement, in respect of each of the three preceding financial years, of the amounts and the sources of the council’s greenhouse gas emissions;

2.      a statement of the council’s proposals and policies for reducing those amounts and otherwise for mitigating the effects of climate change in the exercise of its functions;

3.      a statement of the time-scales for implementing those proposals and policies; and

4.      an assessment of the progress made towards implementing the proposals and policies set out in any previous climate change mitigation report.

 

3.4       Climate change adaptation reports must include:

 

5.      an assessment of the current and predicted impact of climate change in relation to its functions;

6.      a statement of council’s proposals and policies for adapting to climate change in the exercise of its functions;

7.      a statement of the timescales for implementing those proposals and policies; and

8.      an assessment of the progress made towards implementing the proposals and policies set out in any previous climate change adaptation report.

 

3.5       The Regulations state that we must also have regard to the most recent 5 yearly UK Climate Change Risk Assessment and that we must publish the report on the council website and DAERA will also publish it on theirs.

 

            There is an opportunity for cooperation between two or more reporting bodies to submit a joint report.

 

3.6       What support will be provided by DAERA

 

            DAERA will provide:

 

1.      technical, co-designed guidance on how to complete climate change reports;

2.      a reporting template containing a list of climate change questions;

3.      an online climate change reporting portal to enter data; and

4.      training to complete the reports.

 

3.7       Timescales for reporting

 

            The frequencies and timings are set to align with the development of the 5-yearly UK Climate Change Risk Assessments which are required under the UK Climate Change Act 2008 – these risk Assessments include detail on the current and projected climate change risks and impacts to Northern Ireland.

 

3.8       The regulations require the Council to submit the first of its 3- yearly reports on mitigation by 31 October 2025. The second and third ‘mitigation report’ must be submitted to DAERA by 31st October 2028 and 31st October 2031 respectively, and so on for subsequent reports every 3 years.

 

3.9       The first ‘adaptation report’ must be submitted to DAERA by 31st March 2026 (the first report will cover a 4 year period beginning from 1st January 2026). The second and third report will be submitted by 31st January 2030 and 31st January 2035 respectively, and every 5 years from then on.

 

3.10      How have we prepared for this reporting?

            Mitigation

 

            A greenhouse gas emissions baseline report was completed for the Councils operations for the period 2019/20. This report included:

 

·        Scope 1 emissions (direct emissions from combustion in Council owned or controlled boilers, furnaces and vehicles); and

·        Scope 2 emissions (emissions are associated with purchased electricity, heat, steam and cooling).

 

3.11      The report included only a small portion of Scope 3 emissions (these occur upstream and downstream of the Council’s operations from sources not controlled by the Council) as it did not include the emissions from the Council‘s supply chain. The report estimated the Council’s emissions to be 18,783 tonnes CO₂e with the majority of these from gas (46%), electricity (23%) and fleet (15%). The most significant cost centres in terms of emissions are Capital, Residual waste and GLL.

 

3.12      The Council’s supply chain emissions have since been calculated separately (for 2019/20, 2020/21, 2021/22 and 2022/23) and the team worked closely with Procurement to develop a capacity to track these emissions annually going forward. Scope 3 supply chain currently makes up the bulk of the council's emissions at 84% (71,714 tonnes CO₂e in 2022/23) with 18% of supply chain emissions coming from River Ridge Recycling (Portadown) Ltd and Arc 21 Joint Committee.

 

3.13      Going forward, an annual emission report will be provided to Committee by June each year thereafter. There are some gaps in the data around internal waste that need to be captured to get the clearest picture of Council emissions, however the climate team are working on a proposal through the climate fund that will help make the estimates more accurate.

 

            The Council is therefore well positioned to provide the required statement of the amounts and the sources of the council’s greenhouse gas emissions (1 above) by 31 October 2025.

 

3.14      A Climate Data Platform is currently being developed by Digital Services to store this information and track progress on delivery. This will enable a snapshot progress report at any time and the climate team will be able to provide an assessment of the progress made towards implementing the proposals and policies (4 above).

 

3.15      Adaptation

 

            A Climate Risk Assessment (CRA) undertaken by KPMG in 2023 includes an assessment of the current and predicted impact of climate change on Council functions (5 above).  In terms of providing a statement of council’s proposals and policies for adapting to climate change and the timescales for implementation (6-7 above), these are all captured in the Council’s Climate Action Plan and have been included in the draft Corporate Plan. Again, it will be important going forward that the relevant Departments include these climate actions in their annual business plans and budgets to demonstrate progress on adapting to current and future climate risks in adaptation reporting (8 above).

 

3.16      The Council is therefore well positioned to deliver it’s first ‘adaptation report’ to DAERA by 31st March 2026 (covering the 4 year period beginning from 1st January 2026). As above, the Climate Data Platform will enable regular tracking and reporting of progress.

 

3.17      Next steps

 

1.      The Climate Team will be briefing DMTs as required to ensure staff are aware of reporting requirements.

2.      Updates will be brought back to Committee in due course.

 

3.18      Financial and Resource Implications

 

            There is no known extra funding available, however DAERA have stated that they will be providing all the necessary practical support with public bodies, training and an online portal for public bodies to use. There may be additional costs associated with data exploration and development options identified through the working group. CMT will be kept informed of the progress.

 

            Resourcing needs are not fully understood at this point, however we will review the progress and report back to Committee in due course.

 

3.19      Equality or Good Relations Implications/

            Rural Needs Assessment

 

            None Identified.”

 

            The Committee noted the contents of the report.