Agenda item

This report presents the sixth annual update to Cabinet on progress towards commitments made in the BCP Council Climate and Ecological Emergency Declaration, made on the 16 of July 2019.

In the 2024-2025 year, progress against the main commitments is:

·       Make BCP Council and its operations carbon neutral by 2030 - scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions reduced by 20.9% from the 2019 baseline

·       Work with the wider community to make the region carbon neutral before 2045 – according to data released in 2025, total area-wide emissions for 2024 had reduced by 17.7% from the 2019 baseline.

Overall, both the Council and the wider BCP area have made progress since 2019, supported by clearer roadmaps, better data, strengthened governance and growing collaboration across sectors.

Continued acceleration, investment and partnership working will be essential to stay on track for the 2030 and 2045 targets.

The Cabinet Member for Climate Response, Environment and Energy presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'A' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

This report presents the sixth annual update to Cabinet on progress towards commitments made in the BCP Council Climate and Ecological Emergency Declaration, made on the 16 of July 2019.

In the 2024-2025 year, progress against the main commitments were:

·       Make BCP Council and its operations carbon neutral by 2030 - scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions reduced by 20.9% from the 2019 baseline

·       Work with the wider community to make the region carbon neutral before 2045 – according to data released in 2025, total area-wide emissions for 2024 had reduced by 17.7% from the 2019 baseline.

It was reported that good progress had been made with a 21% reduction in the council’s footprint and 18% reduction in the area.

It was reported that the information was from the year before due to date being received.

Some of the challenges reported were:

·       Flooding at Iford and in the winter had been particularly difficult where a caravan site was evacuated and the frequency of the events were increasing.  The report included information from the Met Office from their assessment which highlighted the growing challenges in terms of wetter winters, heat waves and heath fires. That trend was increasing due to not the Council not acting quickly enough. The government are thinking seriously about how much the changing climate was going to impact life in the UK in ways that people might not have thought about.

·       It was highlighted that the BCP council housing stock in both Bournemouth and Poole were the biggest part of the footprint.  It was reported that on the council’s leased buildings there was a 16.2% decrease in the use of carbon which was particularly in the Bournemouth area which had seen a significant decrease. Poole had also dropped reasonably well.

·       Another area highlighted was the use the use of gas an electricity. It was reported that there had been a modest increase in natural gas which was up on last year which was something that still needed to be worked on.  There was a significant in fuel which was due to the price dropping and the council managed to purchase fuel at a lower price.  The electric vehicle fleet has also increased which had also made a difference. The Council have not moved away from gas as much as expected.

·       There had been quite a lot of work done with key partners area wide both private and public sector organisations which involved sharing and listening as well as telling them where we were upto. There were a number of successful events which aimed to happen quarterly with more organisations attending each time.

·       It was reported that the number of properties both household and commercial using battery storage devices has risen since 2023.

·       The number of electric and hybrid vehicles registered and owned since 2025 has now overtaken the petrol and diesel vehicles.

There was a question asked around targeting the reduction of total emissions and EPC ratings and why the council have targeted total emissions rather than the industry standard ratings? The committee were informed that the council had set targets for their own properties which they have control over but it was down to tenants how they used their property. The target was set for the fabric of the properties, there were some older properties that the council owned that were not at that level. The challenge with the area wide targets was that the council did not control everything, it was about how to engage with people and advise, support and guide them to increased EPC ratings in homes.

BCP homes were looking to try and reduce emissions the first part of the plan was the HRA budget and 30 year business plan that enabled a lot of investment to bring the EPCC of council house up by 2030.  There would then be 70millon pounds over 20 years to 2050 which would improve carbon emissions. Windows in BCP houses were having windows replaced with triple glazing to improve energy efficiency.

Regarding replacing gas boiler at which were at the end of their life it was going to be on a case by case basis which was part of the decarbonisation strategy. Heat source pumps were not always the solution and no commitment was made to put heat pumps in every home.  It was up to people who they have their homes, efficiencies can be made but if people like their homes hot the council have no control over that.

Solar panels on new developments were mentioned as part of the local plan, there was a target to have a small amount of solar on roofs around 10 or 20% but would have liked it to be more, some local authorities had done that and there was a conversation to have with planning colleagues. Sustainability needs to be at the heart of planning for future buildings, they would be high quality and energy efficient.

The climate dashboard was still available where figures could be drilled done and interrogate all the finer details.

RESOLVED that Cabinet notes the Climate Progress Report 2024-25

Voting: Unanimous