Content

RESOLVED: that
Cabinet:
a)   
Approved the Estate Climate Strategy, as set out at
Appendix A.
b)   
Approved the Construction & Maintenance Climate
Strategy, as set out at Appendix B.
 
REASONS RESOLVED:
·        
To enable the Council to deliver on its policy of
achieving net zero carbon by 2030, in respect of the operation of
its estate and construction and maintenance activities.
·        
To provide clear direction for the Council’s
staff and supply chain.
·        
To maximise benefits, including financial benefits,
and minimise costs.
 
ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS:
The Council could choose to
adopt the strategies, or one of them, or neither of them. It could
also pursue different approaches to various aspects; for example,
it could focus on technological solutions for carbon
removal.
 
Each strategy has been designed
to maximise the benefits, including financial benefits, and
minimise costs. They are therefore suggested to be pragmatic ways
of meeting the Council’s policy goals.
 
Other options, such as the
Council investing in technological solutions for carbon removal
from the atmosphere, appear unlikely to be viable at scale by 2030,
and in any event to be costly and offer little in the way of
collateral benefits.
 
Alternatively, the Council
could focus on buying ‘carbon credits’ from suitable
sources. However, whilst these do exist the supply is finite and,
as with technological solutions, represents a pure cost rather than
an opportunity for collateral benefits.
 
It is therefore recommended
that the two strategies are adopted.