A report by the Director of Law, HR and Asset Management advised Members of the corporate and departmental progress made against the Carbon Budget 2011/12 (Appendix A); the revisions that were required to meet Corporate Goals; and, provide the Carbon Budget for 2012/13.

Members had requested that a Carbon Budget be established (Council 14 December 2009, Minute No. 77 refers).  The resolution included instructions to:

• establish the Council’s carbon footprint and quantify tonnes of CO2 emitted as a direct result of Council operations for 2010 onwards;
• prepare carbon budgets detailing emissions and efficiency targets for each department to be presented at Budget Cabinet and Council alongside the Council’s financial budget; and,
• report to Cabinet on progress being made by departments against their carbon target and the measures and projects being undertaken to reduce energy use and carbon emissions.

Appendix A to the report set out the Carbon Budget Performance Table for the Council’s buildings.  The Carbon Budget Impact Statement (Appendix B) summarised the measures and projects aimed at reducing carbon emissions.

Progress against the actions requested by Members at the Cabinet meeting on21 February 2011 (Minute No. 331 refers) was also included in the report.  The Carbon Budget process would be further developed in light of anticipated changes to the mandatory Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRCEES) and organisational needs.

The Carbon Budget was not a statutory requirement but is Wirral’s only method of managing CO2 emissions in order to comply with the Corporate Objective to ‘reduce our carbon footprint’ and the CRCEES.

The carbon budget was not financial but meeting the annual targets would have an impact on costs.  Reductions in carbon emissions were achieved by reducing energy use and there were financial savings that would be made from the avoided costs of energy and CRCEES allowances.

RESOLVED: That

(1)  the progress towards the 2011/12 target included in Appendix A to the report be noted;

(2)  the Carbon Budget for 2012/13 included in Appendix A be approved;

(3)  the actions described in Appendix B be noted and endorsed; and

(4)  the current Carbon Budget method be applied until April 2013 and that a further report detailing recommended alterations as a result of the review of the Carbon Budget process together with Carbon Budget targets for 2013/14 be presented to a future meeting of the Cabinet.