Issue - meetings

(Stephanie Holt-Castle, Interim Director of Environment, Planning and Enforcement, Deborah Kapaj, Sustainable Estates Programme Manager, and Christine Wissink, Head of Sustainable Business and Communities, were in attendance for this item)

(1)          Miss Carey (Cabinet Member for the Environment) introduced the report which asked the cabinet committee to consider and endorse, or make recommendations on a proposed decision to accelerate the net-zero emissions target to be achieved by Kent County Council by 2030 for its own estate and operations (excluding schools) and those of its traded companies; and to note the funding required to achieve this target.  She said that KCC was a front runner nationally in developing an evidence-based, data driven, adaptable approach to net zero and it was significant that targets were based on empirical data from a range of technologies and energy programmes including LED street lighting and solar energy schemes. She further said that the authority would actively seek opportunities arising from innovation and new technology to achieve the emissions reduction targets.

(2)          Miss Wissink drew the cabinet committee’s attention to the information set out in paragraphs 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 2.2 and 2.3 of the report.  Members welcomed the recognition that KCC had received nationally for innovation in this area.

(3)          In response to questions and comments, Miss Carey and the officers provided the following information.

·         A case study on the approach and some of the methodology used by Laser Energyto modelscenarios toachieve net zero was being developed and would be made available on the Kent Environment Hub which would be on KCC’s website.

·         Information and data for the modelling came from services across KCC.

·         It was intended to extend the data and expand the baseline to include outsourced services and the initial focus would be on waste and recycling services.

·         Monitoring KCC’s impact on the environment was not new but it had been given a greater emphasis recently.

·         The UK government required the country to achieve net zero by 2050, however the report and indicative expenditure referred only to the achievement of a target of net zero by 2030 for KCC’s own estate (excluding schools) and services and did not seek to cover how Kent and Medway would achieve the Government’s target. 

(4)          The cabinet committee welcomed the report; however, Miss Carey urged members not to under-estimate the scale of the task and commended the Environment team for their work and, in particular, for their success bidding for grants for projects that contributed to the achievement of the challenging targets. 

(5)          RESOLVED that:

(a)      the proposed decision to accelerate the net-zero emissions target to be achieved by Kent County Council by 2030 for its own estate and operations (excluding schools) and those of its traded companies be endorsed; and

(b)     the indicative level of funding that will need to be secured to achieve this target be noted.