Agenda item

The Council had before it a report by the Director of Commissioning which sought approval of the citywide approach to addressing climate change, as articulated through a Net Zero Aberdeen Routemap which set a net zero target for Aberdeen City by 2045 across six themes and the refreshed Aberdeen Adapts, which provided a climate adaptation framework for Aberdeen.

The report recommended:-

that the Council -

Citywide - Net Zero & Aberdeen Adapts

(a)           note that two significant local drivers behind Net Zero Aberdeen and Aberdeen Adapts are the Economic Policy Panel’s recommendations and Moodie’s credit rating, the recent assessment of which noted that for overall environmental risk, Aberdeen scored neutral to low (E-2), reflecting low exposure across all categories, but a moderately negative exposure to carbon transition risks given the significant dependence of the city on the oil and gas sector, an issue which this route map now sets out to address;

(b)           note the recommendation of the City Net Zero Leadership Board that Council should approve the Net Zero Aberdeen Routemap, including the six place-based strategies;

(c)           approve the Net Zero Aberdeen Routemap and associated place-based strategies in line with the Net Zero Vision to achieve the goal of a Net Zero Aberdeen by 2045 (Appendices 1 & 1A to 1F);

(d)           approve the updated Aberdeen Adapts Framework (Appendix 2);

(e)           note the severity of Storms Frank, Arwen, Malik and Corrie, their major impacts on the City and Northeast infrastructure, economy and communities and the list of first and second civil contingency responders to these events (Appendix 3 within Aberdeen Adapts Framework);

(f)            note the objectives already set out in Aberdeen Adapts and the Local Outcome Improvement Plan to focus on and advance community resilience planning and outcomes;

(g)           instruct the Chief Officer - Governance to ensure the cluster capitalises on recent learning and the strong desire to further develop community resilience by working alongside communities to develop and embed community resilience plans in line with the above objectives;

(h)           instruct the Chief Officer - Strategic Place Planning to report back to the City Growth and Resources Committee on an annual basis on progress towards the objectives of both Net Zero Aberdeen Routemap and Aberdeen Adapts and to revise them at least every five years, and sooner as may be necessary;

(i)             instruct the Chief Officer - Strategic Place Planning to engage with communities, business and third sector partners to develop and implement an engagement plan to support delivery of the objectives of the Routemap and Adaptation Framework, including:

(a)       The co-creation with Net Zero partners of a Net Zero Aberdeen microsite as a digital platform through which to promote the Routemap, Aberdeen Adapts and associated information, projects, etc. of the Council and partners (initial design concept provided in Appendix 3);

(b)       The development and promotion of a “Climate and Net Zero Aberdeen Pledge” (initial pledge concept outlined in Appendix 4) and agree that the Lord Provost sign the pledge on the Council’s behalf;

(j)             instruct the Chief Officers - Governance and Strategic Place Planning to work with the members of Aberdeen’s Net Zero Leadership Board, Delivery Unit, the Local Resilience Partnership and other groups as appropriate to develop city climate change governance structure/s appropriate for meeting the aims of the Route-Map and Aberdeen Adapts Framework, and report back to a future Council meeting, no later than the next annual update on the Routemap and Adaptation Framework;

(k)           instruct the Chief Officer - Strategic Place Planning, in conjunction with relevant stakeholders, to explore options towards developing a locality-based approach to deliver net zero and adaptation, taking into account allied approaches and commitments, such as locality plans, local place plans, 20-minute neighbourhoods, etc., and to begin this process with a pilot reporting both back to Council in or before March 2023;

(l)             with regard to a city Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategy (LHEES)

(a)       note the statutory duty placed on councils to develop an area based Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategy (LHEES) and that the attached strategies work to meet those requirements in the context of the Scottish Government ongoing development of guidance;

(b)       instruct the Chief Officer - Strategic Place Planning to keep the place-based strategies under review as further clarity is provided by Scottish Government;

1. 

2. 

Council - Actions towards Net Zero

(m)         instruct the Chief Officer - Corporate Landlord within the context of available funding, to update the Council's Building Performance criteria to ensure that it is compliant with Scottish Government’s voluntary Net Zero Public Buildings Standards for all new build or significant refurbishment projects and to seek funding opportunities to upgrade existing building stock, including all required feasibility assessments to allow the building assets to meet Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing (EESH2), or to reduce carbon usage within the portfolio and create pathways to Net Zero, and report back to the City Growth and Resources Committee on progress before March 2023;

(n)           instruct the Director of Commissioning to ensure alignment between the Council’s Commissioning Intentions for 2022/23 and the aims of Net Zero Aberdeen and Aberdeen Adapts;

(o)           note the decision at the City Growth and Resources Committee on 3 February 2022 in relation to the development of the Aberdeen Hydrogen Hub (AHH) and its importance in the journey to decarbonising the energy sector as we move to net zero;

(p)           note that as with the recently Proposed Local Development Plan, officers have supported the Delivery Unit in developing the strategies in the context of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and a health in all policies approach;

(q)           note the update on the Memorandum of Understanding with bp, being presented to Council, and the important role the recommendations in that in that report may have on Net Zero Aberdeen across all theme strategies;

Council - Climate Change Plan Carbon Budget

(r)            approve the approach to carbon budgeting for the Council Climate Change Plan, as set out in Appendix 5 and instruct the Chief Operating Officer to progress a phased roll out of the carbon budget, including integration of carbon reduction in Service Re-design;

(s)           instruct the Director of Commissioning (for Place) and the Chief Operating Officer (for Council) to identify and instruct relevant senior managers to undertake Carbon Literacy training, and instruct the Chief Officer - Governance to include Carbon Literacy training within the induction programme for Elected Members, initially through the existing externally funded places under the Scottish Cities Alliance Net Zero Peer to Peer Network and thereafter as other opportunities arise, all towards driving up capabilities for better informed high level decision making for climate change, including net zero and energy transition;

Data

(t)            instruct the Chief Officer - Strategic Place Planning to continue to engage with the Council’s current technology partner Microsoft and bp, its Joint Venture Partner, as well as relevant Chief Officers, on a process for managing and modelling climate data as well as filling existing data gaps and report back on progress as part of the annual update report to Council; and

COP 26

(u)           note the work undertaken in advance and during COP26 as set out in Appendix 6, publicising the work of the Council in its own journey to Net Zero.

The Council resolved:-

to approve the recommendations.