The Climate Change and Environment Advisory Committee were scheduled to meet to discuss the Climate and Nature Strategy 2026-2030, and the Zero Carbon and Doubling Nature Action Plan. Also on the agenda was a discussion of the Retrofit Guide Early Findings Report.

Climate and Nature Strategy 2026-2030

The committee was scheduled to consider the draft Climate and Nature Strategy 2026-2030. The draft strategy combines the aims of the previous Zero Carbon and Doubling Nature strategies, and includes actions to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

The draft strategy sets out several key principles:

• Leading by example with the council's own estate.
• Collaboration across all levels of governance.
• Prioritising actions that create co-benefits.
• Maximising opportunities to accelerate the delivery of targets.

Seven key themes are set to shape action under the new strategy: transport, energy and retrofit, nature and water, sustainable food, waste minimisation, community support and behaviour change, and business, supply chain and finance.

The draft strategy includes new commitments in addition to the existing targets set out in the Zero Carbon and Doubling Nature Strategy:

• Creating a net zero target for the council's estate and operations emissions.
• Assigning a value to the previous 'doubling nature' target based on land use data provided by Defra to define the target in a measurable way, aiming to increase land managed for nature from 7% to 14% by 2050.
• A target to ensure that communities across South Cambridgeshire are resilient to a 2°C rise in temperature.

Where it is impossible to reduce emissions to zero, the strategy outlines a plan to offset these emissions.

A public consultation on the new draft strategy and action plan is planned for the autumn, and sustainability consultants Bioregional will analyse the results.

The report pack included a recommendation that the Climate Change and Environment Advisory Committee:

• notes the report and gives comment on the draft strategy and the proposal for public consultation, including the changes to the Council's actions,
• recommends that the Lead Cabinet Member for Environment approves the draft strategy for consultation.

Zero Carbon and Doubling Nature Action Plan Review 2024-25

The Climate Change and Environment Advisory Committee were scheduled to discuss the Zero Carbon and Doubling Nature Action Plan (ZCDNAP). The ZCDNAP sets out actions in support of meeting the Zero Carbon and Doubling Nature Strategy objectives.

The report pack included a table showing the number of actions within each objective of the ZCDNAP, and their status:

The report also included details of emissions from South Cambridgeshire District Council's estate and operations. Council emissions account for only >0.2% of district emissions, but provide an important opportunity to lead by example. The council has committed to targets to reduce carbon emissions from its estate and operations (not including Council housing) from a 2018/19 baseline, including:

• For the estate and operations, a reduction of 45% by 2025 and 75% by 2030.
• For the fleet, a reduction of 50% by 2025, and 90% by 2030
• For the main office at South Cambridgeshire Hall, a reduction of 50% by 2025 and a 75% by 2030

The Council's gross greenhouse gas emissions for 2024-25 totalled 1,363 tCO2e. Using a market-based method of accounting the emissions whereby electricity is purchased on a tariff with a renewable energy guarantee, the emissions total 1,202 tCO2e showing a 36% reduction from the 2018-19 baseline.

The report pack included a recommendation that the committee:

• notes the progress made against the actions in the ZCDNAP and provides comment, and
• notes progress against the greenhouse gas emissions targets and provides comment.

Retrofit Guide Early Findings Report

The committee was scheduled to receive an overview of the project to extend Cambridge City Council's 'Retrofitting your Home' guide to encompass housing archetypes across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. The project will identify common archetypes across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough to support homeowners to understand the types of measures and indicative costs to retrofit their property to improve energy efficiency, reduce energy bills and improve occupier wellbeing.

The project will produce a new Retrofitting your Home Guidance document to be accessed by residents in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, and an accompanying technical guide for internal use by council officers.

The contractor Bioregional were appointed to undertake the work. After agreement on project approach, Bioregional undertook a phase of initial engagement with the different authorities within the Cambridgeshire Energy Retrofit Partnership (CERP). Building on the archetype research undertaken as part of the Cambridge City 'Retrofitting your home' guide, three new archetypes were identified. Bioregional then built base models for all housing archetypes, and housing stock calculations including metering sampling for validation. Following this they undertook iterations of the baseline models for the archetypes, as well as mapping work to assess the area-wide grid capacity against potential retrofit upgrades, and conducted site visits to ground-truth model assumptions around the archetypes.

The report pack included a recommendation that the committee notes the report and gives comment on the Early Findings Report.