Energy and Climate Change

On this page:

1. Nottingham Declaration
2. A vision for your local area
3. Supporting local businesses
4. Why is energy & climate change important?
5. Recent government policies
6. Recent News

Nottingham Declaration websiteThe Nottingham Declaration recognises the central role of local authorities in leading society's response to the challenge of climate change. By signing the Declaration councils pledge to systematically address the causes of climate change and to prepare their community for its impacts. The Nottingham Declaration website contains a range of support materials including information for developing an action plan

2. A vision for your local area and good practice examples

In July 2005 the LGA published leading the way: how local authorities can manage the challenge of climate change. This document contains a long term vision of how local government can play an essential role in adapting to the impacts of climate change.

3. Supporting local businesses

The BREW centre for local authorities provides information on how councils are helping local businesses to be more resource efficient - including energy efficiency.

4. Why is energy & climate change important?

The timing and severity of effects are still uncertain but the Hadley Centre (2004) research shows that the effects of climate change on the UK are likely to include:

• higher temperatures all year
• more extreme weather events including hurricanes, flash floods and droughts
• more coastal and river flooding
• frequent disruption to transport and other infrastructure
• loss of native wildlife

Energy is needed to heat and cool homes, cook our meals, fuel our transportation, and operate our farms and businesses. Because of the limited amount of non-renewable energy sources on Earth, it is important to conserve our current supply or to use renewable sources so that our natural resources will be available for future generations.

Energy conservation is also important because consumption of non-renewable sources impacts on the environment. Specifically, our use of fossil fuels contributes to air and water pollution. Possible impacts include a threat to human health, environmental impacts such as rising sea levels that can damage coastal areas, and major changes in vegetation growth patterns that could cause some plant and animal species to become extinct.

5. Recent government policies

A Draft Climate Change Bill was published in March 2007. An LGA briefing on the Bill is available here. The government published the review of the Climate Change Programme and the findings of its energy review in spring and summer 2006.The Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Act also gained Royal Assent in June. For councils key measures include:

A commitment to an appropriate outcome on climate change in the post 2008 performance framework A requirement for councils to have regard to government energy reports in exercising their functions (from summer 07)

Currently government reviews are in progress on:

The Home Energy Conservation Act - how will HECA be reformed? The Energy Efficiency Commitment - from 2008 - 2011

In January 2007, the LGA responded to a consultation on measures to reduce carbon emissions in large non-energy intensive business and public sector organisations. You can read the response here

6. Recent News

Councils have powers to tackle climate change
But there is a lot of environmental legislation for them to understand. An important new LGA publication cuts through some of this, signposting tools and resources councils can draw upon and offering some practical examples of those councils that have successfully utilised these powers. Find out more about Cutting through the green tape

New Department of Energy and Climate Change
On the 3rd of October Gordon Brown made changes to the responsibilities of DEFRA and BERR in the creation of a new Department of Energy and Climate Change. Hilary Benn will continue as the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, while Ed Miliband has been appointed the new Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change.

Climate Change Toolkit
Climate Change Toolkit for Regulatory Services LACORS' Climate Change Toolkit for Regulatory Services is the first guidance on climate change mitigation produced specifically for regulatory services.

The toolkit is aimed at local authority elected members and officers involved in regulatory services. It will help anyone interested in taking action to mitigate climate change, whilst also benefiting the local community in other ways by improving local air quality, increasing levels of health and fitness, reducing waste or tackling fuel poverty.
The toolkit is made up of individual project sheets to help you plan and implement local actions alongside your everyday regulatory work. The pack also includes an introductory sheet setting out the key methods and benefits of addressing climate change throughout your council, and includes further sources of information and guidance.

Each sheet can be downloaded and read or printed separately from the LACORS website.