Position Statement - Environmental Sustainability
Today’s environmental sustainability agenda
The Community Strategy (2004) has, as one of its five cross-cutting
themes, a shared ambition to ‘BE: Sustainable’ by ‘Taking
responsibility for our environment and natural resources now and
over the long term.’
The Council recognises that, through community leadership,
partnership working, the procurement of goods and services and
managing its own operations, it has a unique role to play in
delivering this ambition.
The Council also recognises that improving and maintaining
quality of life now and ensuring the future well-being and
prosperity of the community depends upon achieving environmental
sustainability. This is because, despite
technological advances, we are absolutely dependent on natural
processes to ensure fertile soil to produce food, fresh drinking
water and breathable air on the one hand and a stable, liveable
climate on the other.
The Council understands that all developed countries, including
the UK, are using resources at a rate beyond which natural systems
can recover and be replenished. This is environmentally
unsustainable.
The Council recognises that Bath & North East Somerset needs
to reduce its environmental footprint (see appendix) in order to
achieve environmental sustainability.
The Council also recognises that the top priority for
environmental sustainability today is tackling climate
change. In December 2005, the Council signed the
Nottingham Declaration on Climate Change and has committed to
tackling the causes and effects of climate change and to
contribute, at a local level, to the delivery of the UK Climate
Change Programme, the Kyoto Protocol and the target for carbon
dioxide reduction by 2010 (20%) (see appendix).
The Council recognises that action on climate change is now an
issue that will be taken into account in future assessments of the
Council’s performance (CPA).
Putting Climate Change and Sustainable Energy at the heart of
the Council’s environmental sustainability agenda
The Council recognises that the primary cause of climate change is
the burning of fossil fuels for energy production, which releases
carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, trapping more of the sun’s heat,
which in turn disrupts global climatic systems.
Energy is used in almost everything we do. Therefore, we
need to be looking at all of our plans and activities for ways to
use energy more efficiently, reduce consumption and use renewable
and low carbon energy sources. It is obvious that energy is
used to provide heat, light and power in buildings and to provide
the fuel for cars, buses, trains and planes. It is less
obvious that how we produce and distribute food has a huge impact
on energy use and carbon emissions, as does the creation of waste
of any kind.
VISION
To become an authority that is moving towards a strong and diverse
low carbon economy, cutting carbon emissions through avoiding
unnecessary energy consumption, increasing energy efficiency and
switching to sustainable sources of energy, bringing our
environmental footprint within natural limits and delivering
improvements in quality of life, health and community well-being as
a result.
Commitments
1. The Council is concerned about the impact of
climate change and is committed to taking action, as a priority, to
reduce Bath & North East Somerset’s contribution to this
problem through:
- increasing energy efficiency in buildings (old and new);
- facilitating less polluting transport and reducing the need to
travel;
- creating the conditions for the development of renewable and
low carbon sources of energy;
- facilitating the achievement of our Zero Waste vision;
- encouraging local food production and facilitating market
access.
2. The Council is concerned about the depletion
of natural resources and the contribution that this makes to
climate change, such as through the destruction of rain forest and
the earth’s ability to absorb carbon from the atmosphere, and to
loss of habitat and bio-diversity and is committed to taking action
to reduce Bath & North East Somerset’s contribution to these
problems through:
- reducing the consumption of water;
- using recycled natural materials (such as paper, glass, bricks,
steel) rather than virgin materials;
- only using timber and other virgin natural materials from
proven sustainable sources;
- avoiding the use of polluting substances and
processes.
3. The Council is concerned about the quality
of the local environment and the area’s rich natural heritage, for
its own sake, and because of the importance of green spaces and
tree cover for bio-diversity, carbon dioxide absorption, flood risk
reduction, shade and human health and well-being. It is
committed to taking action to maintain and enhance the local
natural environment through:
- working with communities for cleaner and greener streets and
environments;
- protecting and enhancing urban green spaces and local nature
reserves and the countryside;
- promoting bio-diversity in our area.
This is a long-term
vision. Action will be taken year by year to take us further
towards this vision, with short-term targets set and regularly
reviewed against progress.
Appendix
Recent Ecological Footprint (Box A) and Carbon
Dioxide (Box B) data for Bath & North East Somerset and some
sustainability definitions (Box C)
Box A
|
Bath & North East Somerset’s Ecological Footprint
The following data is taken from a recent report by the
Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) and provides baseline
information on Bath & North East Somerset’s ecological
footprint.
Ecological footprinting is based on an analysis of the
biological capacity of the planet allocated per capita by the
number of hectares needed to support this level of
consumption. At current levels of consumption, the global
average is 2.2 hectares per capita. In order to bring global
consumption back to within the planet’s biological capacity, the
average needs to come down to 1.8 hectares per capita.
The current UK average is 5.5 hectares per head. The
current Bath & North East Somerset average is 5.31 hectares per
head. This breaks down as follows:
| 21% |
food and drink |
| 19% |
household energy consumption |
| 10% |
durables & consumables |
| 14% |
transport |
| 36% |
the rest (this includes all public sector services,
such as Council activity, and UK residents’ holiday
activity overseas) |
To bring our per capita footprint down to 1.8, we need to reduce
it by 3.51 hectares per person. This means roughly cutting
consumption by two thirds.
(From The Ecological Footprint of Bath & North East
Somerset by Stockholm Environmental Institute, a REAP
project)
|
Box B
|
Bath & North East Somerset Carbon Dioxide Emissions
(2004)
By Kt CO2
Total: 1,181,000
Breakdown:
| Industry & Commerce |
450,000 |
| Domestic |
449,000 |
| Road Transport |
266,000 |
| Land Use change |
17,000 |
Domestic per capita 2.7 (based on population of
169,000)
In order to meet the UK CO2 reduction target, we need to reduce
our CO2 emissions by 20% by 2010 and 60% by 2050.
(Data taken from Experimental Statistics on CO2 Emissions at
Local Authority and Regional Level: 2004, by the Department of
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, published November
2006)
|
Box C
|
Environmental Sustainability, Sustainable Development &
Sustainable Communities
Sustainable development is usually defined as being about
delivering improvements to quality of life now without compromising
the quality of life of future generations. It is often
described as a way of solving problems by keeping in balance the
three aspects of economy, society and environment.
The Council has teams of people who work on economic and social
development issues and who work to protect and enhance the natural
environment. But, not as much effort goes into ensuring that
the natural life support systems on which we all depend and without
which there can be no society or economy, remain intact. This
is where environmental sustainability comes in.
Attending to environmental sustainability means ensuring that,
as we work to create a better future for all in our area, we do so
in ways that reduce the area’s overall ecological footprint.
And very often, the solutions to environmental sustainability
problems, like climate change, also bring the very improvements in
quality of life that we aspire to and will help to strengthen and
diversify the economy.
So, a truly sustainable community is one that safe, secure,
clean and green and that provides what people need in an
environmentally sustainable way. This means homes that are
energy efficient, powered by sustainable energy, that are cheaper
to run. It means reducing the need to travel for everyday
needs such as shopping for fresh food, education, healthcare,
employment and other important
services. |
