Speech by Joan Ruddock MP at the Local Government Association Environmental Leadership Conference, London - 4 October 2007
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak to you today.
It would be much easier to be speaking to you once the CSR has been announced – but I fear that is not in my gift. And I am not allowed to give you a preview – but I do want to take this opportunity to set out how Defra wants to work with you - local government - over the CSR period and beyond – and how we hope you will rise to that challenge.
The Joint Environmental Prospectus, launched by Hilary Benn and Sir Simon Milton in July set out the new agenda – with a new focus on climate change; a shared responsibility on protecting natural resources and continued emphasis on enhancing the public realm. Over the next few months we will be looking to see how these three issues can be advanced through the new set of Local Area Agreements based on your sustainable community strategies.
This morning I want to concentrate on climate change.
We know its happening, the impacts are being felt already. Local government of course is on the frontline – in helping mitigation – but also in ensuring that we are adapting to the already inevitable consequences.
Globally, eleven of the twelve warmest years on record have occurred in the past 12 years.
Last year the UK had one of its worst droughts ever.
And this year, torrential downpours and flooding across the country mean that 2007 will go down as the wettest summer since records began.
These are the kind of events that we expect to see happen increasingly frequently because of climate change. We can see the damage they cause and the social impacts they have.
This is not some series of unfortunate co-incidences. It’s real-life evidence of climate change – happening right here, right now in the UK.
Even today, Government vets and local authority staff are battling to contain an outbreak of bluetongue in Suffolk.
A disease never found in the UK before. But the midges that spread it have been creeping northwards almost a decade.
We have to accept that change is taking place and that we need to do something about it. And today is an opportunity for us to start that conversation about how we go forward.
Nationally the Climate Change Bill will play a vital part by setting the UK on course to be a low carbon economy. It will make us the first country to legislate for a long-term legal framework for reducing carbon emissions.
But to deliver the ambitions in the Bill, Government, local authorities and individuals are going to have to work together as never before. We need to challenge ourselves to build on what’s already been achieved and to drive forward far more radical policy initiatives.
First - Central Government needs to set the framework and give all Local Authorities the impetus to raise their game to the level of the best. In turn – you need to set yourselves ambitious targets on climate change mitigation and adaptation.
Second, we need to ensure you have the powers you need to bring about the level of change that is required. You need to use those powers in innovative and challenging ways to drive behaviour change and reduce CO2 emissions in your local areas.
Third, we need in Government to practice what we preach and dramatically reduce emissions from the Central Government estate. You need to follow suit where you work - showing others that you can lead by example.
You will have seen that we recently published, for consultation, a set of indicators for the new Local Government Performance Framework. Thank you to those who contributed to that consultation. The indicators reflect our environmental priorities for local government, and include for the first time action on climate change mitigation and adaptation, on flood risk management, on biodiversity, and fuel poverty – alongside the conventional Defra issues of waste and local environmental quality.
Within a much reduced local government indicator set – as promised in the Local Government White Paper – there will be a more comprehensive approach to the environment – reflecting a growing understanding of the role local government can play. Richard Pullen, from my Department, will be saying more about the indicators later this morning.
I hope this framework will provide a great impetus for action. It will help to highlight the fact that climate change is an issue for all authorities, while enabling those of you who are already performing well to have your actions recognised. Our hope is that most – if not all - Local Strategic Partnerships will embrace the opportunity to help reduce CO2 emissions – and that all local authorities will start factoring in the need for adaptation into their planning and service delivery.
It is for you to consider how to respond to the framework – but you will need to set yourselves ambitious goals. Some of you are already doing it.
Birmingham City Council has a target of reducing its own emissions by 20% by 2010, starting with a combined heat and power scheme.
Shropshire County Council has a Corporate Climate Change Strategy to achieve 40% reductions by 2010 with a range of technologies, including ground source heat pumps for schools and PV powered street lights.
Nottinghamshire County Council has gone for 27% reductions in a Public Service Agreement with another range of technologies including boiler conversions and wood heat boilers.
And I haven’t forgotten Kirklees, but I will leave it to the next speaker to tell you their story.
And of course the best known example, Woking, has already achieved a staggering 77% reduction in CO2 from its own buildings in a 15 year programme.
What these examples show is how well-placed you are to provide vision and leadership to your local community.
The way that you exercise your powers, in particular in the areas of planning, housing and transport, is absolutely critical to helping us achieve our climate change goals. And of course we mustn’t forget waste.
Most of the 100m tonnes of waste produced in England each year goes to landfill – generating methane – accounting for about 3% of UK greenhouse gas emissions.
As you are only too aware, local government, is on the front line when it comes to reducing biodegradable waste going to landfill. Once again we can see that leadership counts – the top performing recycling authorities are collecting 4 to 5 times the amount of the poorest performing.
Redcar and Cleveland have appointed a Community Waste Liaison Officer to work face to face with residents – recycling rates there have increased as a consequence by 20% in a year. Preston Council has pioneered an inner city food waste collection scheme which now has 90% participation in some areas. Bury St Edmunds have been a consistently high performer and are now aiming for a 60% recycling rate by 2010.
If we can achieve the targets we set out in Waste Strategy 2007 we expect to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from waste management by at least 9.3m tonnes of CO2 per year compared to 2006.
As you know, we are hoping to introduce new powers to enable you to incentivise households to recycle more and we will be looking for early champions for that scheme.
You have the power to deliver creative local solutions which have real economic and social benefits for your area, whilst also delivering climate change and other environmental objectives.
Public engagement is vital, both locally and nationally. Many local authorities are engaging in projects that demonstrate low energy technologies and educate people at the same time. Guildford Council, for example, renovated a disused watermill. It now produces energy for 50 homes and creating a community focus. South Gloucestershire has reduced food miles by sourcing local and organic produce for their schools, and Notthingham’s tram has helped reverse traffic growth in the Greater Nottingham Conurbation.
At Defra in terms of public engagement we have launched our ‘Act on CO2’ campaign and the carbon calculator which allows individuals to calculate their carbon footprint and then go on to take steps to reduce it. And why is that so important? It is because 40% of all CO2 emissions come from our individual actions – from heating our homes and the lighting and appliances we use, and through our personal travel.
Once again you can provide the community leadership that makes it possible for people to act.
I’ve already referred to some of the Sustainable Energy Beacon Councils. I’m glad to say my own local authority, Lewisham, is one of them – having procured 100% ‘green’ energy, saving 15,000 tonnes of CO2 each year, and achieving £1m per annum savings by reviewing energy contracts each year.
A toolkit and benchmark developed by and benefiting from the beacons experience was produced earlier this year and that is available and I recommend it to all local authorities who want to see what can be achieved.
And other support is out there through organisations like WRAP, the Carbon Trust and the Energy Savings Trust, and also from an increasing number of private sector organisations, such as Salix Finance - an independent company supported by the Carbon Trust which provides interest free loans to the public sector for energy efficiency projects and recycles savings to pay for further capital investment. This has already been used by over 50 local authorities.
Leadership is all about setting examples and Central government increasingly recognises that carbon dioxide emissions need to be reduced from our own estate.
In my Department, we have established a programme to drive forward our work in these areas. We are piloting new technologies to reduce our electricity and gas consumption and are developing a new business travel policy. We have also commissioned a zero carbon new build at our offices in Alnwick.
And we are talking to civil servants across the country – trying to get everyone to ‘Act on CO2’ – doing the little things like turning off monitors when not in use.
Across Government as a whole our aim is to be a carbon neutral central office estate by 2012.
Another key area is procurement. In March this year we published the UK Government Sustainable Procurement Action Plan. This set out our ambition for a low carbon, more resource efficient public sector and how central government Departments will play their part.
Together with the forthcoming local Government and Health Service sustainable procurement action plans this demonstrates our joined up commitment to buying sustainable goods and services. The challenge for all of us is to translate that commitment into actions. This will require strong, visible leadership across Government at all levels.
The examples that I’ve given throughout this speech show what can be done when there is real commitment and leadership. The challenge is for all councils and their partners, to demonstrate similar environmental leadership.
All of us need to make a step change in our approach to the environment and tackling climate change.
Above all, we should be optimistic about the power of politics to create a better world. Because time and again, we have shown that when we work together we can achieve more than we could ever have thought possible.
Thank you.
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4 October 2007