Devon Climate Task Force- 18th September 2024

Attendees:

Claire Pearce (Chair), University of Plymouth
Ian Bailey, University of Plymouth
Ian Hutchcroft, Energiesprong UK
Hannah Lawrie, Ricardo and the Chartered Institute of Wastes Management’s South West Centre Council
Paula Hewitt, South West Infrastructure Partnership
Ashish Ghadiali, Radical Ecology/ University of Exeter
Tim Jones, South West Business Council
George Middlemiss, Regen
Peter Nickol, Exeter and District Bus User Group
Gill Westcott, Transition Exeter and New Prosperity Devon
Lisseth Ring, University of Plymouth
Ethan Feaver, University of Exeter
Laura Cardenas, Rothamsted
Ray Rubia-Rankin, University of Exeter
Andrew Rowson, University of Exeter

Secretariat:

Emily Reed, Devon Climate Emergency
Doug Eltham, Devon County Council
Betty Tsang, Devon Climate Emergency

Apologies:

Kalkidan Legesse, Owni
James Shorten, Terra Perma Geo
Nik Bowyer, The Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation (CIHT) South West
Richard Betts, Met Office/ University of Exeter
Rod Birtles, Devon Communities Together
Harriet Bell, Riverford Organics
Patrick Devine-Wright, University of Exeter
Lyndis Cole, Ecologist and Landscape Planner

1. Minutes of the Previous Meeting

Emily ran through the actions from the previous meeting. These were accepted as a true record.

Matters arising and actions carried over:

Retrofit Strategy/Summit

Doug advised that the Energy Saving Devon partnership is continuing to look for funding to develop a retrofit strategy.

Action on Active Travel

Emily responded to a recommendation from the task force to the response group about reallocating road capacity to sustainable modes, following the discontinuation of the Exeter Active Streets trial. Emily shared that the full list of schemes is in the draft local transport plan, which is about to go out for consultation. The transport plan includes proposals for school streets, green lanes, bus priority at key points, lower traffic streets in Barnstable Town centre, and public realm enhancements. Emily could facilitate a consultation response from the Task Force as part of the formal consultation. Gill supported this suggestion.

Gill mentioned feedback from Transition Exeter indicating that there were misconceptions about the Active Streets trial, which contributed to its resistance by the public. They also noted the general discontent spread through social media about perceived loss of civil liberties.

Peter noted that the bus lane proposal on Cowick Street also received resistance. But there have also been improvements that have been successful, such as the consultation about the improvements in the east end of the city.

Role of County Farm Estate

Emily mentioned that Devon County Council’s business support and innovation team is working with Southwest Norse to commission research on improving the economic and environmental resilience of the county farm estate. This research will explore regenerative and innovative practices, considering the carbon plan and climate adaptation strategy.

Tim inquired if the consideration of Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) credits is included in the research, to which Emily confirmed it likely would, mentioning that the research might consider natural capital markets and the potential for council schemes to acquire BNG credits on county-owned land.

Electrical Capacity for Domestic EV Charging

Tim had previously raised an issue with house builders being mandated to install electric vehicle (EV) chargers but facing significant delays from the National Grid for the connections, with some delays extending as late as 2027.

Doug confirmed that the feedback regarding EV charging delays has been included in Devon County Council’s NPPF consultation response and mentioned plans for a local area energy plan to improve capacity for EV charging. He also noted the national developments around regional energy strategic plans and the government’s request to the National Grid energy system operator for the preparation of pathways for a net-zero carbon electricity system by 2030.

Tim pointed out the increasing consumer demand for fast charging and the implications for power supply, indicating that the situation regarding connection dates for strategic new urban extensions is worsening.

Planning and Net-Zero

Gill and Doug discussed the planning system’s ambition for greenhouse gas reduction, focusing on the challenges and potential improvements:

Gill highlighted the difficulty in spatial planning for net zero, mentioning that planning committees often face challenges in making decisions that align with net zero goals due to the lack of defensible material considerations at appeal. She suggested that the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) should include more concrete requirements for sustainable development to guide decision-making.

Doug mentioned an apparent disparity between the challenge of planning inspectors not implementing existing policies that already call for “radical reductions in greenhouse gas emissions”, indicating a gap between policy and practice.

ACTION: Doug to add this issue to Devon CC’s response to the NPPF consultation.

2. Devon’s Carbon Footprint

Ray Rubia Rankin from the University of Exeter gave a presentation focused on Devon, Plymouth and Torbay’s territorial greenhouse gas footprint for 2022, highlighting key points:

The total footprint was approximately 7.2 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent emissions, a 4% decrease from 2021. Agriculture and transport were the main contributors, accounting for over half of the emissions.
There has been a steady reduction in emissions since 2008, primarily due to the power sector’s decarbonization, which has decreased by about 70% since 2008.
The sectors of transport, buildings, and agriculture have seen little change in emissions since 2008. The slight decrease in building emissions in 2022 was attributed to higher energy prices and warmer temperatures, reducing fuel demand.
Despite some progress, achieving future carbon budgets and the net-zero target by 2050 will require significant efforts beyond the current trends, especially in sectors other than power.
Ray emphasized the importance of addressing emissions across all sectors, including waste, buildings, transport, and agriculture, to meet net-zero target effectively.

Ray clarified for Gill that the footprint is territorial and does not include overseas emissions. Doug noted that overseas consumption emissions are published by government and Emily will update these separately.

ACTION: Emily to arrange for an update to overseas consumption emissions footprint.

Hannah asked for an update to aviation and marine emissions, which are not included in the territorial footprint due to the poor quality of the data. Andrew Rowson said this is possible and something the University did for the Partnership previously.

ACTION: Emily to arrange for an update to the marine and aviation emissions.

Ian Hutchcroft expressed concerns about the specificity of the Devon Carbon Plan’s actions in relation to the direct sources of emissions, such as gas boilers, vehicles, and livestock. He questioned whether the plan’s actions directly address the core issues of replacing specific technologies and practices that contribute to emissions. Ian Bailey echoed similar thoughts, pondering the plan’s effectiveness in bending the emissions curve and whether it adequately targets point sources of emissions.

Gill also concurred and said that building capacity in supply chains could be an area of focus, especially for heat pumps. Gill further highlighted the need for community collaboration and buy-in for actions like Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) and airport expansion, suggesting that clear communication and providing good reasons can lead to behaviour change.

3. Development of Monitoring Indicators

Ethan Feaver’s presentation focused on developing monitoring indicators for the Devon Carbon Plan milestones. Here’s a summary of key points:

Confident Indicators: About half of the milestones have reliable indicators, mainly derived from bottom-up estimates or national datasets. However, the availability of these datasets might change based on government priorities.
Qualitative Milestones: Some milestones are more qualitative and were approached by defining criteria for achievement, such as establishing an ethical regional bank or using hybrid electric aircraft, monitored through news sites or planning portals.
Challenges with Indicators: Three milestones lacked reliable indicators due to the absence of national datasets or the difficulty in accurately apportioning data to Devon.
Adequate but Caveated Indicators: A quarter of the milestones have indicators that are adequate but come with significant caveats, such as assumptions made for calculating carbon sequestration or the limitations of the EPC register for built environment milestones.
Weak Indicators: Some indicators required heavy assumptions, especially in the food, land, and sea section, making them less reliable. This includes calculating carbon sequestration in natural environments and monitoring Environmental Land Management Scheme agreements for soil carbon conservation.

Ethan’s presentation underscored the complexity of developing robust monitoring indicators for the Devon Carbon Plan’s milestones, highlighting the need for careful consideration of data sources, assumptions, and the specificity of milestones.

Ethan highlighted areas for discussion, such as the choice between different data sets for transport milestones, the adequacy of monitoring ELMs agreements, and the potential for using traffic lights to show progress towards milestones

Regarding milestones for carbon sequestration in the natural environment, Doug explained that the original focus on carbon sequestration was based on tree planting as per the Climate Change Committee’s further ambition scenario. However, the task force and partnership advocated for including carbon sequestration from other natural environments like peatland and marine environments as well. Therefore they worked on numbers to match the same amount of carbon sequestered in the natural environment as was proposed for trees by the CCC, but with the flexibility of that carbon being sequestered by other habitats.

Gill suggested that the second method for monitoring car transport, which measures miles driven per person, is a more meaningful indicator for transport than the other measure discussed. Gill also recommended using the second method for assessing the coverage of ELMS, as it provides a more understandable and usable indicator by showing the amount of hectares under the agreements.

Emily discussed the idea of assigning a RAG (Red, Amber, Green) rating to the milestones. She mentioned starting a subjective exercise using the RAG rating system similar to what the Climate Change Committee uses in its progress reports to government. Emily’s approach involves putting a colour behind each milestone to indicate whether it feels on track, slightly off track, significantly off track, or if it’s too early to say due to insufficient data or no benchmark data. She emphasized understanding the limitations and nuances in the data while making a subjective decision on the progress in Devon based on the best available indicators. Paula supported this approach to make it easier to see where performance needs addressing.

Tim mentioned two points:

He suggested that car utilisation rates could be assessed through the use of park and ride and city centre car parks, providing insights into vehicle usage trends. For example Mary Arches Street car park in Exeter for sale, and the Plymouth Derriford park and ride is always full, but which users are making use of it? I.e. is it staff at the hospital?
He also highlighted the work of the smart biosphere team, which is conducting trials related to carbon sequestration and soil health, suggesting that their findings could be beneficial for the meeting’s discussions.

Peter highlighted the partnership between Devon and bus operators, sharing information and ideas to help improve public transport, including passenger numbers which could be used as a monitoring indicator.

Hannah discussed the topic of biodegradable waste, emphasizing the importance of capturing commercial biodegradable waste data, which may still be going to landfills. She mentioned the upcoming digital waste tracking service as a solution for better data on commercial waste disposal.

Doug revisited the issue raised by Ian Hutchcroft about the importance of focusing on priority actions and highlighted the task force’s role in guiding the response group towards significant impact areas. He suggested working together to identify key priorities and areas that are not effectively addressed, emphasizing the need for targeted efforts to make a difference.

Ian Bailey discussed the adaptability of the carbon action plan, emphasizing the importance of being open to revising the plan based on new insights and the changing context. He also highlighted the significance of focusing on areas where local governance can exert influence, especially in advocating for more support and enablement from higher governance levels to effectively address climate change challenges.

ACTION: Emily to consider how the Task Force could identify priority areas for activity by the climate partnership.

4. Overview Progress Report

Emily highlighted several key points regarding the progress report:

Comms Followers: There was a dip in engagement earlier in the summer, but it’s on the rise again. Betty, the new climate emergency support officer, is exploring fresh communication strategies to boost engagement. Emily encouraged sharing stories or suggestions for comms with Betty.
Devolution Deal: The devolution deal’s finalisation is pending, awaiting further clarity, especially with the recent change in government. This deal is crucial for defining the powers available to deliver on the carbon plan and climate adaptation strategy.

5. Review of Energy Supply and Cross Cutting Theme Actions

Doug discussed the Devon Energy Planning Group’s efforts, highlighting the following points:

The group, including district councils, National Grid, Wales and West, and the University of Exeter, has been working on mapping the current energy system which will subsequently be used to develop net zero pathways.
They’ve agreed to use the Energy Systems Catapult methodology for creating a local area energy plan.
A partnership with Dorset, Gloucestershire, and the South West Net Zero hub has been formed to pool resources for the initial stages of the energy plan.
The plan will be iterative, with updates every few years to identify no-regrets measures common to all pathways towards net zero.

George highlighted the opportunity for small scale generation to utilise pockets of capacity that don’t face the same grid constraints as larger scale projects, suggesting this could be an avenue for community and other small scale projects to explore. More info on this here.

Ian discussed the importance of community energy and mentioned a visit by deputy directors from the Department for Energy Security and Net-Zero responsible for GB Energy to Regen next month, specifically focusing on local energy and community-owned energy. He highlighted the potential for community energy groups in Devon to influence government actions to make it easier for communities across the country to develop locally owned energy sites. Ian emphasized the broader benefits of community energy beyond just generating renewable electricity, such as funding ancillary activities and potentially selling locally generated electricity to local people in a cost-effective manner.

ACTION: George will feed back to the Task Force the outcomes of the meeting.

6. Recommendations to the Response Group

The meeting discussed the importance of the Partnership focussing its efforts onto issues that are underperforming and over which local actors have influence (see Ian Hutchcroft’s and Ian Bailey’s earlier comments in these minutes).

Ian and Ashish volunteered to represent the task force’s views at the response group meeting scheduled for November 7th, aiming to emphasize the need for targeted action. They plan to meet beforehand to align on the message, highlighting the need for a reassessment of priorities and implementation strategies to accelerate progress towards the Devon carbon plan’s goals.

7. AOB

Tim raised two points:

Devolution Deal: Tim enquired if there’s a need to respond or adjust the tactical approach due to the confirmed announcement about the devolution deal for Devon and Torbay, excluding Plymouth.
Community Support for Renewable Energy: He mentioned the government’s statement about no longer requiring community support for onshore and offshore wind farms, suggesting a potential need to revisit communication strategies regarding renewable energy projects.

ACTION: Tim to send Doug the government’s statement about no longer needing community support for offshore wind farms.

Doug said the Devolution Deal is still being prepared so it’s a case of keeping this under review.