Climate Emergency Seminar - Key Points

On Friday 12 July 2019 APSE hosted a seminar called ‘Climate Emergency: How is your council responding?’ The event took place in Liverpool and focused on local authority climate emergency declarations. The theme of the seminar was to highlight the importance of climate change action and putting policy into practice for frontline services. All of the slides from the seminar can be accessed here.

We will be sending out an APSE Energy member’s briefing, which summaries the presentations at the event and provides APSE Energy insight into the key themes that were discussed and next steps for taking the climate emergency agenda forward locally. This view provides a brief overview and key points to take away.

The day began with a keynote address by APSE Chief Executive, Paul O’Brien. Paul outlined the APSE position, that local authority climate emergency declarations need to take an organisation wide approach. They cannot be addressed effectively by a small team or individual within the authority but need to be everyone’s responsibility. Climate change shouldn’t be looked at in isolation but needs to be built into local government finance and services. Local authorities have encountered a huge drop in finance and resources but face increasing challenges. Climate change needs to be factored into the financial strategy of the Council with short, medium- and long-term planning. Paul’s presentation concluded with the following key points;

• Time for action (Local government action, Government action)
• Time for civic leadership – political and managerial
• Time for creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship
• Time to forge a new municipalism
• Time for a more sustainable future

Patrick Allcorn, Head of Local Energy at the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) outlined the importance of thinking about what we want our localities to look like in the future and that the net-zero ambition is one of many aspirations. Patrick highlighted the importance of setting a net-zero target in order to have any chance of meeting the 1.5C global warming limit.

Energy is an important factor when it comes to climate change and will become even more significant as the average temperate warms and demand for fans and air conditioning increases. Housing stock across the UK varies greatly, therefore it is necessary to look locally. Also, across the UK different areas will have a varying capacity for certain forms of renewable energy such as geothermal, therefore the national and local picture may not always align.

This agenda is not just about energy but also the economic opportunity and the wider value in investing projects such as energy from waste. It is also about the social benefits and health benefits from achieving net-zero. A climate emergency plan needs to be about technology and solutions and a plan to educate and communicate. The achieve net-zero it is vital that local authorities work together with each other, national Government and the private sector.

APSE Energy

Has your council declared a climate emergency? Do you have a plan to address it? Do you have the staff, capacity and expertise to put your plan into action?

APSE Energy can provide consultancy support for local authorities when declaring a climate emergency. We are currently working with a number of Councils to assist them with settling targets and designing action plans.

APSE Energy was established to help inform and support local authorities in exactly this kind of situation. We can call on the experience and expertise from the 90 councils who are members of APSE Energy, our staff, associates, partners and from the wider local government family. This can come in the form of advisory groups and other meetings and events we hold, briefing notes on technologies and policy matters, research publications or consultancy work. Whatever the nature of the support, our approach means we look to pass on our knowledge, take a whole council view and promote the local authority’s work in this sector.

Our recent ‘Local Authority Climate Emergency Declarations’ publication provides strategic and practical considerations for climate emergency declarations targets and action plans. This publication is free for APSE Energy members and is available to purchase for non-members, and can be accessed here.