Climate Change Committee Wednesday 9th September, 2020 at 9.00 am The meeting will be held virtually and live streamed - please use the link below https://youtu.be/8cUUtJoNFdg Contact Officer: Janet Howard – Tel: 0191 211 5048 – Email: [email protected] Membership Councillors: N Forbes, C Penny-Evans, A Ainsley, G Bell, M Folker, R Higgins, G Kane, S Lambert, S Postlethwaite, R Shatwell, JP Stephenson and W Taylor AGENDA Page No 1. Welcome and Introductions 2. Apologies for Absence 3. Declarations of Interest Please remember to declare any personal interest where appropriate both verbally and by recording it on the relevant form (to be handed to the Democratic Services Officer). Please also remember to leave the meeting where any personal interest requires this. 4. Minutes of the previous meeting held on 30 July 2020 1 - 8 5. Net Zero Newcastle 2030 Action Plan 9 - 162 In attendance Tom Warburton – Director of City Futures 6. Date and Time of Next Meeting An induction loop system is available on request for meetings in the Committee Suite at the Civic Centre. Anyone wishing to use this facility should ring the Contact Officer. This page is intentionally left blank Agenda Item 4 1 DRAFT MINUTES TO BE APPROVED Climate Change Committee 30 July 2020 (1.00 - 3.11 pm) The meeting was held virtually and live streamed Present: Councillor: C Penny-Evans (Chair) Councillors: A Ainsley, G Bell, M Folker, R Higgins, G Kane, S Lambert, S Postlethwaite, R Shatwell and JP Stephenson 23 WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS It was noted that the Chair of the committee, Councillor Forbes, would be late joining the meeting and that the Vice-Chair, Councillor Penny-Evans, would chair the meeting until he arrived. The Vice-Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and asked all members of the committee present to introduce themselves. 24 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Taylor. 25 DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST None. 26 MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS MEETING HELD ON 5 MARCH 2020 Members highlighted the importance of maintaining partnership working and momentum on climate change during the pandemic – it was noted that a lot of activity had been taking place and that there would be an update from anchor institutions later on the agenda. RESOLVED – that the minutes of the previous meeting held on 5 March 2020 were agreed as a correct record. Page 1 2 27 CITY FUTURES BOARD AND POST COVID-19 GREEN ECONOMIC RECOVERY - VERBAL UPDATE Submitted: Presentation updating on plans for post Covid-19 green economic recovery (tabled at the meeting and copy attached to Official Minutes). M Wilton (Head of Policy) presented the update which covered the work of the City Futures Board, the importance of low carbon transformation, the benefits of green growth, national investment priorities to drive a post-Covid green transition and Newcastle’s green growth opportunities. In discussion the following key points were noted. It was important to have the public on board. Environmental and climate change champions could be a powerful way of motivating residents and communities, and of doing things ‘with’ rather than ‘to’ them. A meeting was to take place with the two universities in the city to discuss how to encourage and empower students to be ambassadors and champions of climate change in the community. Work was also taking place with schools and through the Climate Change Champion programme which was a UN accredited course run at a North of Tyne level. This was to be reinvigorated over the coming months and there could be an opportunity to widen it into student forums. There had been a lot interest and engagement from private sector organisations across the city in the low-carbon sector as a potential economic stimulus area and an area of growth in the local economy. The intention was wherever possible to use public funds to leverage greater private sector investment, as it would be almost impossible to achieve the net zero target without private sector involvement. The new £2bn Green Home Grants scheme announced recently by Government to provide grants for home insulation and de-carbonisation of properties could present an opportunity to unlock an historical problem with environmentally unfriendly housing in the private rented sector and the difficulty in engaging with landlords. Officers would also be looking at ways to support people through the grant process in order to make it as painless and smooth as possible and encourage uptake of the grant funding. There could be a rebalancing of the city’s economy with cafes and shops moving out of the city centre and into the suburbs as a result of increased home working. It would be important to capture the benefits and opportunities and to embed the good practice that had emerged over the last few months across the city during lockdown, but there could be an equalities issue in the way those benefits were distributed across society with those from lower socio economic backgrounds and more disadvantaged communities less able to access them. There was not yet an answer to this problem but the challenge was recognised and the aim was for all residents to benefit from changes. The circular economy was incredibly important to the city’s future low carbon transition, with a need to be more resource efficient and to find new ways to Page 2 3 open up routes for value to be extracted from the waste process. Refuse sent to the new waste to energy facility would be the remnants of that process that could not be recycled or upcycled. The facility would not be a core component of the circular economy in the future but was a way of diverting waste away from landfill and using it in a manner that was still productive. There was an appetite to explore different economic models and a recognition that the way things had worked before was not necessarily the most effective, inclusive or socially just and fair model. There was a degree to which this was for others to make the case and to identify how they would like to see things move forward but the council was keen to see that sort of opportunity emerge and would be supportive in principle. The council had its own in-house procurement process but also carried out procurement through the North East Procurement Organisation (NEPO). Climate change and sustainable decision making would be embedded within those procurement and approval processes. It would be important to keep developing in this area as an iterative process so that the bar was set increasingly higher, and to ensure that learning from best practice elsewhere was taking place. The council was working in partnership with the North of Tyne Combined Authority to set up a Citizens’ Assembly to facilitate engagement with residents, this had been postponed due to the pandemic but the council was pushing for it to be developed in different ways such as online. Plans were currently being discussed under the City Futures Board for consultation to take place in communities over the summer and this would be complimentary and supplementary to the Citizens’ Assembly work. Newcastle Gateshead Initiative (NGI) had also been working with the business community to put in place design sprints. This would be the start of conversation and of the ten year journey to net-zero, and more activity would take place later such as seeking to understand residents’ experience of measures that had been put in place. 28 PROGRESS ON NET ZERO NEWCASTLE ACTION PLAN - VERBAL UPDATE Submitted: Presentation updating on progress against the Net Zero Newcastle Action Plan (tabled at the meeting and copy attached to Official Minutes). T Rippon (Senior Specialist Climate Change) presented the update which covered the purpose, structure inputs and timeline for completion of the Net Zero Newcastle Action Plan. In discussion the following key point were noted. Capital projects currently being built would be with the city for decades to come and it would be important to ensure that the city was not locked into future high intensity carbon activity through capital programmes. Climate change would need to be embedded into the early stages of formal processes for decision making and procurement to map out low carbon transition. A working group had been set up in recent months to look at Page 3 4 enhancing and enforcing planning policy to ensure adherence with planning requirements around climate change. As an example it was suggested that any remodelling of roadways should include sustainable urban drainage systems. It was important to make sure that information about the Action Plan and the activity taking place was being communicated with residents and partners. There was a link between poor air quality and Covid-19. The Newcastle Hospitals Trust were a partner organisation on the Net Zero Taskforce and officers were working closely with health services in the city, and the response to the pandemic in the city reflected this. Newcastle City Council’s Public Health team were also engaging on the issue, capturing information about the impact of air quality and climate change on public health so that it could be reflected in city plans going forward. 29 CLIMATE CHANGE EMERGENCY - UPDATE FROM ANCHOR INSTITUTIONS - VERBAL UPDATE Submitted: Presentation updating on the actions of anchor institutions in response to the climate change emergency (tabled at the meeting and copy attached to Official Minutes). T Rippon (Senior Specialist Climate Change) presented the update which outlined actions that were being taken by the council, the Newcastle Hospitals Trust, Newcastle University, Northumbria University and Newcastle Colleges Group to mitigate in response to the climate change emergency.