Following Enfield Council’s declaration of a climate emergency and committing to Net Zero by 2030, Greengage have worked collaboratively with them to develop their Climate Action Plan (CAP).
This involved calculating a carbon baseline and establishing a road map to carbon neutrality by 2030. The plan is an overarching framework, with supporting actions and targets that the council has committed to working towards to achieve their bold ambition. This includes areas such as the council’s own operations, travel, buildings, waste, energy consumption, natural environment and how they can influence others including their supply chain.
In working with Enfield Council, the following areas have become paramount in order to get the carbon baseline and Climate Action Plan objectives in place. Each of these has its own set of challenges.
Data quality
Establishing the carbon baseline was the comprehensive carbon footprinting exercise undertaken by Enfield’s operations. In delivering this piece of work, data gaps have been identified with estimations and calculations being used to help establish a baseline.
Enfield recognise the issues around data quality and are actively working to improve segregation of energy used across schools, office buildings and council housing. In addition, investigating ways to improve visibility of waste volumes and accuracy.
By identifying these gaps now, Enfield is on track to improve their carbon accounting and reporting in the early years of their plan to ensure consistency and accuracy as they advance on the carbon reduction journey. This includes setting a trajectory that reflects opportunities and priorities through the life of the plan.
Technical Skills
A number of workshops were carried out in the development of the CAP in order to improve awareness as well as engage different teams on the net zero carbon challenge. This helped to establish the targets and objectives set by the council.
Greengage are working with the council to identify climate related skills gaps and technical requirements in order to capacity build the council’s teams to be able to confidently act and address challenges.
Leadership
Through working with Enfield on developing their CAP, the leadership demonstrated by the council officer team and Cabinet members has been key to implementation and maintaining momentum. Engagement and ownership will be key to delivering on their targets and recognising where to focus has been paramount to the progress made so far.
Capacity
Identifying where responsibility and ownership for the various elements of the council’s climate impact sits will help to ensure there is capacity to support delivery. COVID has certainly made 2020 challenging. However, engagement and communication with support from Greengage has enabled workflows to continue and the council to start moving into full delivery.
As we approach 2021, maintaining a focus on key areas, including establishing governance and structures, will take the council into the next year of the net zero journey. Continuing to demonstrate a commitment to delivering against its targets, even with so many competing priorities, will instil confidence in the council’s vision to be Net Zero by 2030.
