The Climate Change Advisory Board of Gravesham Borough Council is scheduled to meet to discuss the Climate Action Delivery Plan, updates to energy efficiency standards, emissions statistics, and a Climate Emergency UK Scorecard.

Climate Action Delivery Plan

The board is expected to discuss the Climate Change Delivery Plan. This plan outlines specific actions, officer updates, resource implications, and timeframes for achieving the council's climate change ambitions, as detailed in the approved Climate Change Strategy.

The report pack highlights some key activities that have progressed in the last six months:

• A food waste campaign launched by the Waste Management Team in June 2025, which included leaflets and free caddy liners.
• Collaboration with Connected Kerb to explore new charging stations in the Camer and West Street car parks.
• Solar panel installation at Chinnery Court, including a communal PV¹ array with battery storage.
• Planning consent for cycle spaces at Lower Range Road and Milton Place in Gravesend.
• Prioritising works at Camer Park and West Park to protect veteran and ancient trees, following the launch of the North Kent Woods & Downs National Nature Reserve.
• A talk on recycling and litter delivered to students at Istead Rise Primary School and Riverview Girl Guides.
• Progress with the new Cascades project, with a Pre Construction Services Agreement in place with Wilmott Dixon.
• A proposal to install solar PV panels on the main roof at Brookvale, aiming for an annual carbon reduction of 34 tonnes and ongoing energy cost savings.
• Successful applications to the Cycle to Work scheme and the Octopus EV Salary Sacrifice Scheme.
• Development of a general climate awareness online training package in collaboration with Kent County Council, made available to all staff.

The board will also be asked to consider the preparation for the council's sixth Annual Report, suggesting a similar approach to previous years:

• Borough and Council Emissions Baseline for the year 2024-25: An update against the emission levels across the borough from the period (April 2024 to March 2025).
• Carbon Reduction Actions during 2025: An overview of the proactive work that has been undertaken by the council over the past 12 months since December 2024.
• Areas of Focus for 2026: To work on the existing projects, bring them to speed/closure where possible, and include projects as per the new climate change strategy which was approved in June 2025.
• Future Projects: An update on future projects and/or initiatives that will help the Council achieve its net zero goal as an organisation and as a social housing provider by 2030 and as a borough by 2050.

New Climate Action Delivery Plan 2025-2030

The board is also scheduled to discuss a draft Climate Action Delivery Plan for 2025-2030, which aligns with the new Climate Change Strategy adopted in June 2025. The draft plan includes specific actions, officer updates, and timeframes for achieving the council's climate change ambitions. The plan is organised under seven key workstreams:

• Transport & Movement
• Buildings & Energy Efficiency
• Low carbon Business & Industry
• Waste production & Resource consumption
• Land Use & Biodiversity
• Community Engagement & Green Skills
• Council Assets & Fleet

The report pack notes that existing action items not yet completed under the previous strategy but remaining relevant have been carried over to the new delivery plan, along with 37 new action items.

Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard (MEES) Update

The board is expected to receive an update on the proposed response to the 'Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard (MEES) for the social rented sector at Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) Band C or equivalent by 2030'.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government released a consultation regarding the introduction of MEES to social rented homes in England for the first time, with a proposal that all housing within the social rented sector must achieve an EPC Band C or equivalent by 2030. The consultation closed on 10 September 2025, and sought views on:

• Setting a Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard
• Addressing Implementation Issues
• Longer-term Decarbonisation and Net Zero
• How this will be introduced and implemented

The consultation also introduced a time-limited spend exemption for social housing providers, meaning that the maximum a provider would be required to spend on each property in terms of energy efficiency improvements to comply with MEES between now and April 2030 is £10,000.

The Energy & Sustainability Team has been working towards making every dwelling meet an EPC C rating by 2030. When the team was formulated in 2021, 2379 of the council's properties did not meet the proposed Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard, but this has been significantly reduced, and there are now only 887 properties with an EPC rating between D-G.

The board will be provided with a copy of the council's response to the consultation, which has been produced and provided by the Energy & Sustainability Team.

The council's response to the consultation includes the following points:

• Gravesham Borough Council is responding as a Local Authority Registered Provider.
• The council agrees that the government's preferred option to setting a minimum energy efficiency standard for the SRS² is the most suitable option.
• The council agrees with the proposal for social homes to comply with MEES by 1 April 2030 and to set a time limited spend exemption.
• The council agrees that the most appropriate maximum required investment under a spend exemption for the SRS is £10,000, and that any time limited spend exemption should be valid for 10 years from 1 April 2030.
• The council estimates that it would use the spend exemption for less than 10% of its housing stock, citing no access and planning restrictions as specific circumstances where individual dwellings could not meet the standard.
• The council agrees that properties that meet an EPC rating of C prior to the introduction of new EPCs should be recognised as compliant with the future standard until their current EPC expires or is replaced, and that properties that have achieved EER C from the introduction of new EPCs until 1 April 2028 should be considered compliant until the property's EPC expires, after which they would need to comply with MEES.
• The council anticipates that registered providers of social housing would improve homes to meet MEES using new EPC metrics by 1 April 2030 for homes that do not currently meet EER C.
• The council foresees issues arising from installing energy efficiency measures in properties where the registered provider holds the freehold but there are also leaseholders in the building.
• The council asks whether there will be additional funding available, what happens if a property does not achieve an EPC Band C after 10 years, and whether there is a Conservation area exclusion.
• The council plans to install low carbon heating in some homes in the 2020s, and elsewhere in the 2030s and beyond, replacing failing/end-of-life heating systems with low carbon heating in the 2020s.
• The council will target those with failing/end-of-life heating systems, those off the gas grid, those with a lower starting EPC band, whichever homes are most convenient to install low carbon heating in, and properties that are cavity constructed and fabrically insulated.
• The council plans to install individual low carbon heating, anticipating installing solar PV in most, but not all homes up to 2035.
• The council intends to use self-funded through existing budgets and innovative financing models to fund net zero by 2050, having substantially considered the longer-term costs of reaching net zero in social housing by 2050 in its long-term business planning.
• The council was aware of heat network zoning proposals but is not planning to connect buildings to a heat network, recommending that the government create positive incentives for social landlords to arrange for smart meters to be installed in their properties.

Department of Energy Security and Net Zero Emissions Statistics

The board is scheduled to receive an update on the latest Greenhouse Gas Emissions data published by the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ).

Each year, DESNZ publishes greenhouse gas emissions data for every local authority area, with the newly published data now including 2023. The method of calculating the data is constantly being refined to provide the most accurate picture possible, and the council will always use the latest available data when reporting.

The report pack notes that the graph below shows a downward trend in emissions compared to prior years, with the total CO2 emissions for 2023 coming in at 353 Kt CO2e.

The borough's emissions contribute approximately 6% of Kent's overall carbon emissions, with Gravesham the second lowest emitting borough in Kent.

The two largest areas for emissions within the borough remains the same as previous years and those are Transport (44%) and Domestic Properties (30%), followed by Industry (13%) and Commercial (8%) sectors.

Within the transport category, the largest contributor to emissions is A roads, which includes the A2 carrying through traffic which does not originate or terminate within the borough. Future emissions from A roads are anticipated to increase in tandem with the Lower Thames Crossing project, as more traffic passes through the borough to access the tunnel.

Domestic CO2 emissions are dominated by the use of gas, highlighting that the most effective way to decarbonise social housing stock and the wider private stock is to move to heating solutions that do not use fossil fuels. The downward trend in domestic electricity emissions will largely be driven by the decarbonisation of the electric grid by the use of renewables rather than a result of reduced consumption.

The CO2 emissions for Industry in the borough are now dominated by gas usage, with the only industrial emitter in the borough for 2023 being Kimberly Clark. Kimberly-Clark has been working on their sustainability target and have recently announced a £125m contract with two hydrogen facilities to reduce natural gas usage in its production line, set to be operational in 2027.

Commercial CO2 emissions are dominated by electricity usage, with the use of solar PV on commercial buildings or shared solar farms could be an effective way to reduce emissions and costs for local businesses.

The borough's public sector emissions (which includes emissions generated from this council) show electricity usage slightly higher than the gas usage. Further decarbonisation could be achieved through the replacements of gas boilers, energy efficiency measures and an increase in renewable energy generation through solar PV, Air & Ground Source Heat Pumps.

Climate Emergency UK Scorecard Report Update

The board is also expected to receive the outcomes of the 2025 desktop assessment of the council's climate action by Climate Emergency UK (CEUK).

Climate Emergency UK (CEUK) is a not-for-profit community interest company which has been working with councils and residents since 2019 to share best practice about what councils can do to tackle the climate and ecological emergency and to encourage effective action.

In 2023, CEUK assessed all UK councils on the actions they have taken towards net zero, adopting a different methodology and approach to the assessment from that used in 2021. Following the publication of the Council Climate Action Scorecards in October 2023, CEUK conducted a detailed review of the Action Scorecards methodology in order to improve and clarify the questions, thereby ensuring the Action Scorecards are relevant, accurate and useful for residents and councils, reassessing all UK Councils using the same Climate Action Scorecard, which was created in 2023 with few modifications.

The report pack notes that the methodology used by CEUK does have some significant drawbacks, as the assessment is based on published information only and therefore will not reflect everything the council is doing, and some initiatives (particularly those which are more innovative) will not be reflected in the assessment if they do not fall into the standard categories used by assessment methodology.

Gravesham Borough Council was assessed as scoring 36%, which is in line with the district average score. The table below shows the weightage and the final score the council received for each section in year 2023 and 2025.

The report pack includes comparative scores for Lancaster City Council, assessed as best performing district council by CEUK, and the 11 other Kent District Authorities, with this data to be used to identify any specific actions or initiatives being undertaken by these councils that Gravesham could consider implementing as part of its own Climate Action Delivery Plan.

The report pack quotes Isaac Beevor, Partnerships Director at Climate Emergency UK, who said:

*We're pleased to see councils using the Scorecards to improve, especially as the effects of climate change hit closer to home with wildfires already happening and a predicted drought this summer in the UK. However, the UK Government must make climate action a fully funded legal duty for all UK councils to remove the national barriers councils face. This would support councils to step up their climate action by more than 6 percentage points over almost 2 years and at the emergency pace needed by providing increased funding, powers and guidance to cash-strapped councils tackle the climate and cost of living crisis. *

The report pack also quotes Councillor Richard Clewer, from Wiltshire, who sits on the Advisory Group to create the Action Scorecards, who said:

The Government may have a target for net zero by 2050, but these Scorecards results show that they are not doing enough to support communities and councils across the UK with sorely needed funding and powers to deliver the change needed, such as cheaper and frequent public transport, wellinsulated homes and affordable local food and rent. These Scorecards show where councils need real investment from the National Government, and show the difference this can make, as seen where no Scottish council scores below 27% .