Climate Emergency policies and status

1. When did your council declare a climate emergency (CM)?

Devon County Council’s Cabinet recommended the declaration of a Devon Climate Emergency at its meeting of 9 January 2019, with this decision ratified by Full Council at its meeting of 21 February 2019.

2. What projects/policies have been developed by the council to tackle the CM?

In response to its declaration of a Devon Climate Emergency, Devon County Council took a lead in the establishment of the Devon Climate Emergency Partnership and the preparation of the Devon Climate Declaration, to which the Authority became a signatory on 12 June 2019.  The key role of this Partnership has been the preparation of a shared Devon Carbon Plan and promotion of action to urgently address climate change. Full detail is publicly available on the Devon Climate Emergency web site.

On 9 December 2019 Devon County Council adopted its own target to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030 and an associated Carbon Action Plan which sets out the overall approach to the achievement of this target alongside a detailed programme of action. This can be viewed at: Carbon Action Plan  Progress in the delivery of this action plan is monitored and reviewed on an ongoing basis; details are published through Highlight Reports prepared for the Authority’s Environmental Performance Board, available at: Environmental performance progress

Also published and available via a link from this same web page is the annual review of the Authority’s carbon footprint.

3. What projects/policies has the council produced since declaring a CM which could increase carbon emissions?

There is no practical way to list this individually as every activity undertaken by the Authority and every bit of expenditure will contribute to its carbon emissions.  Key decisions on new projects and policies are taken through meetings of Devon County Council’s Cabinet, as our decisions relating to its financial expenditure.  Details of these are available via our Democracy and Transparency web pages at: Democracy and Transparency

4. By which date do you intend for all of your operations to be producing net zero emissions?

As indicated in response to Q.3, Devon County Council has adopted a target of achieving net zero emissions by 2030, with the approach to the achievement of this target set out in Authority’s Carbon Reduction Plan.

5. What funds have been provided by central government to help you get to net zero?

There is no comprehensive list of such funding.  No specifical allocation to assist in the achievement of net zero is provided by central government through the local authority funding settlement.  Instead, local authorities (and, potentially, other organisations) are invited to bid for funding on a competitive basis through specially allocated funding streams, which Devon County Council does on a regular basis.  Successful applications are noted through the progress reports presented to our Environmental Performance Board, which are available online at: Environmental performance progress

6. What penalties, if any, could the Council face if it did not meet its own target for getting to net zero?

At present, the main penalties for failing to meet the Council’s own target for achieving net zero will be financial in nature, particularly through energy costs (i.e. where intended energy savings or renewable energy production targets are not met) or through the costs associated with carbon offsetting for residual emissions, particularly linked to supply chain emissions.