This meeting covered several important climate-related topics. The meeting received an annual review of progress on the Council's Climate Change Strategy, including a review of the Council's and the County's progress towards their net zero targets. There was also an update on the preparation of the Derbyshire Local Nature Recovery Strategy and a summary of a project by the Council's graduate cohort to improve stakeholder engagement with climate change.

Derbyshire County Council Climate Change Strategy: Annual Review of Progress (2024)

This report presented a review of Derbyshire County Council's progress on their Climate Change Strategy: Achieving Net Zero (2021-2025).

The report reviewed the council's progress on each target and action included in the strategy. It also reviewed the council's net zero target of 2032 and the County's net zero target of 2050, and described the challenges being faced in reducing emissions from corporate property, streetlighting, the core fleet and grey fleet.

The report provided details about the sources of the Council's carbon emissions. The four sources are:

• Corporate property (gas, electricity, oil and propane use, excluding schools).
• Streetlighting (electricity use).
• Core fleet (mileage).
• Grey fleet (mileage). These sources are included in the council's net zero target. The report states that combined emissions from these four sources have fallen by 7% from 2022-23 to 2023-24, meaning that the Council has achieved a 73% reduction in emissions from these sources since 2009-10.

This section of the report also provided a more in-depth review of each emissions source, describing how emissions are calculated and the activities the council is undertaking to reduce them. The report noted that the increase in carbon intensity of UK grid electricity is impacting the Council's ability to decarbonise.

The report then examined the council's Scope 3 emissions¹, stating that they account for around 95% of the council's total emissions. It listed the three service areas with the highest Scope 3 emissions as health and social care, waste and environment, and highways and transport.

The report also reviewed Derbyshire's overall progress toward its net zero target of 2050, which is in line with the UK Government's target. It stated that the latest data available from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero is from 2022, showing that Derbyshire's total emissions were 8,226 kilotonnes (kt) of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e). This was a 3% reduction from the previous year, but still less than the UK's overall emissions reduction of 43% during the same period.

The report went on to provide detailed summaries of progress against the 27 targets in the strategy, describing the actions the council is taking to meet them. It listed 19 of the 32 priority actions in the strategy as being on track or complete, with the remaining 13 under review.

The report concluded with a summary of the Council's other climate change-related activities. It described the following activities:

• Updating the Council's Corporate Environment Policy.
• The Climate Change Team and Corporate Property's Energy Team's Energy Champions scheme.
• Reviewing options to offset residual emissions.
• Delivering a climate change training programme for employees and Elected Members.
• A project by the Council's graduate cohort to review and update the Climate Change Engagement Plan.
• Leading discussions with other local authorities and the Environment Agency to scope collaboration on climate risk and adaptation.
• Continuing to collaborate with other local authorities through the Fast Followers project.
• Supporting Derbyshire's community energy groups.
• Progress toward the target of planting a million trees in the county by 2030.
• The creation of the Derbyshire Heartwood Community Forest.
• Progress on the Derbyshire Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS).

The report concluded by noting that the speed of the council's emissions reductions is at risk of slowing. It stated that it will be necessary to ensure that adequate funding and resources are available for climate change initiatives if the council is to maintain its path to net zero.

Preparing a Local Nature Recovery Strategy for Derbyshire – Update

This report provided an update on the progress that has been made on preparing the Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) for Derbyshire.

The report explained what LNRS are, why they are important and what they are for. The report included the four strategic national objectives of the Nature Recovery Network:

• Creating and restoring wildlife-rich habitats.
• Improving the landscape's resilience to climate change.
• Reinforcing the natural, geological, and cultural diversity of England’s landscapes.
• Enabling people to enjoy and connect with nature – benefiting society’s health and wellbeing.

The report stated that Derbyshire County Council was appointed by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to be the responsible authority for preparing, approving and publishing the LNRS for Derbyshire, including the city of Derby. It then described the process the council is following to prepare the LNRS.

The report described the work that had been done on the LNRS since the committee last received an update on the topic on 29 April 2024.

The report described the preliminary stakeholder engagement activities that were undertaken in April and May 2024. The report then described how these activities had informed the stakeholder engagement events that were held in September 2024. It listed the five place-based in-person engagement events and the five online sessions, which were focussed on five specific landscape types. The report then summarised the findings from these events.

The report described the public survey that was launched on 19 August 2024 and the findings of the survey, including the five top priorities for nature recovery in Derbyshire as identified by the respondents:

1. Healthier rivers, lakes, streams, springs and wells.
2. Protection of engendered species.
3. Improved condition of habitats.
4. More trees and woodland.
5. More hedgerows.

The report described the work that has been done to engage with farmers and landowners, who are likely to have an important role to play in delivering the objectives of the LNRS. It described the strategies that the council is using to facilitate engagement with farmers and landowners. The report then described some of the findings of this engagement, and listed some of the nature recovery opportunities emerging from engagement with this sector:

• Sustainable farming practices.
• Pollution reduction and improved water quality.
• Increased carbon sequestration and climate resilience.
• Nature-based land use and multi-functional landscapes.

The report stated that the Council launched a website to share information about the LNRS in August 2024 and that they are disseminating a newsletter by email to interested people. The report then described the preparations the council is making for the LNRS public consultation phase, which is scheduled for February and March 2025. It listed the following public consultation activities:

• Public Consultation Survey.
• Pop-up Public Consultation Events – S.H.E.D.
• Online Consultation – Virtual S.H.E.D.
• Partner Drop-in Locations.
• Use of Audio-visual Storytelling.

The report concludes by stating that work has commenced on preparing a pre-consultation draft of the LNRS, which will be reviewed by stakeholders and Natural England/DEFRA in January 2025, before being put to public consultation. It listed the key delivery milestones from January 2025 onward.

Graduate Cohort Climate Change Project

This report described a project carried out by the Council's graduate cohort during 2024. The report stated that the graduate cohort project is a way to develop the skills of graduates recruited by the council. It also stated that the project provides a way for the graduates to put their skills to use while gaining knowledge about climate change and environmental sustainability.

The report stated that the graduates had reviewed the council's current stakeholder engagement approaches and identified external good practice. The report listed the headline findings of the review as follows:

• It is crucial to engage each identified stakeholder group in a targeted and inclusive way.
• Adequate time should be scheduled at the start of each project to identify, understand and involve relevant stakeholders in project design and decision-making.
• Behaviour change can be promoted through several mechanisms and channels relevant to the stakeholder group(s).

The report described how the graduate cohort was tasked with designing and delivering four pilot stakeholder engagement projects as part of their project. It listed the four pilot projects:

• Promoting clothing recycling and reuse with students.
• Engaging the farming community in nature recovery.
• Beautification of renewable energy.
• Education/awareness of the new food waste regulations for schools.

The report states that the graduate cohort will be producing a Good Practice guide on stakeholder engagement by the end of December 2024.

The report concludes by listing the ways in which the outputs of the project will be used.

Work Programme

The report pack included a list of the topics that are scheduled to be discussed at the Improvement and Scrutiny Committee – Climate Change, Biodiversity and Carbon Reduction’s February meeting. They include:

• Supporting community climate change initiatives.
• Derbyshire Heartwood Community Forest.
• Improving Derbyshire’s bus network - update.