Climate Change Best Practice Project
Background
DEFRA and CLG announced this national programme in March 2008.
The national programme's aims are to develop a set of support programmes to drive local government performance improvements relating to climate change. RIEPs are now tasked with taking forward the national programme activity.
The North East RIEP has been allocated £205,936 of DEFRA/CLG funding between 2008-11. The funding is to be managed through our Waste & Environment Programmme, and a Project Board has been set up. To complement the Board, a Regional Practitioners group is to be established.
Programme Aims
The primary focus of the programme is to help local authorities to respond the the challenge of climate change. We intend to identify and 'mainstream' proven forms of climate change adaptation and mitigation activity into local government policies and practice.
Local Government's Response to Climate Change
In August 2007 the Local Government Association (LGA) launched the Climate Change Commission which was asked to:
- Review and critically evaluate local government's track record on climate change
- Make recommendations as to how local government's response could be improved
- Raise the profile of climate change as an issue for local government
The Commission presented its findings in a 2007 report. It included the statement that 'local government is uniquely placed to tackle climate change' - a number of examplar authorities were identified. However it concluded that 'the majority of authorities are failing to take a systematic approach to dealing with climate change'. A number of other reports have since been published illustrating how local authorities can use their powers to tackle climate change issues.
The North East's Response
The Association of North East Councils (ANEC) recently produced the following two reports:
Climate Change: key findings and recommendations of the Climate Change Task & Finish group.
Together, the reports contain a number of recommendations and pledges on how North East local authorities can tackle climate change. Some of these will be taken forward by the North East Improvement & Efficiency partnership and are detailed below under Projects.
We are also working with the North East Climate Change Partnership which is looking at the threats and opportunities predsented by the impacts of climate change in the North East. The partnership's focus in the recent months has been to develop a robust evidence base to support policy development and facilitate action on climate change.
Links to other RIEP Programmes
The Climate Change project links to the following RIEP Programmes:
Construction & Asset Management: Construction is a major spend area for local authorities and a major source of greenhouse gas. The energy efficiency/sustainability of construction materials is a key issue to be examined. Carbon Management Planning is also an issue being tackled under this Programme.
Collaborative Procurement: Embedding sustainable procurement practices and products are part of the Programme's aims. Relevant projects include sustainable timber procurement and the procurement of seasonal food (for example in school canteens).
Projects
There are five planned work packages/project areas that will be managed by RIEP staff:
- Baselining & Performance Management
- Carbon Management Planning
- Regional Best Practice Group
- Skills and Awareness Training
- Innovation and Technology transfer
For further information please download the Project Initiation Document (PID) or see contacts below.
Project Contacts
Bill Kirkup, Project Manager Tel 07766 500 054
Email: bill.kirkup@northeastcouncils.gov.uk