Published: 12 November 2007
Joint declaration by Cities to tackle climate change
Three major English cities are set to develop tailored action plans to slash their CO2 emissions under a new scheme, Minister for Climate Change Joan Ruddock has announced.
Under the Low Carbon Cities Programme, the Carbon Trust and the Energy Saving Trust will work with Bristol, Leeds and Manchester to develop individual city-wide action plans to achieve low carbon economies which are both prosperous and sustainable.
New measures & initiatives will be introduced and could include renewable energy and trigeneration (creating power, heat and cooling from a single source) along with energy saving measures such as insulation and promoting cycling to work.
Key public service bodies, businesses and community leaders in each of the cities will contribute to the strategy and its implementation.
The £250,000 of funding from Defra will also benefit the other members of the Core Cities Group - Birmingham, Liverpool, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield - by producing audits of current emissions and identifying cost effective carbon saving opportunities.
The programme will establish a city-wide CO2 baseline, show emission totals and provide a detailed breakdown of where emissions come from. The data gathered will allow cities to forecast how changes to certain areas will most effectively cut emissions.
Leaders of the eight Core Cities, Communities & Local Government (CLG) Secretary Hazel Blears and Joan Ruddock also today signed a pledge that identifies opportunities to reduce emissions and outlines specific actions that Government & Core Cities will undertake.
The Minister also announced a new programme from the UK Business Council for Sustainable Energy which is working with Shell and RWE npower, to assist UK cities in taking practical measures to tackle climate change.
This project is focused on the UK's major cities to develop a network of good practice in deploying technology and exploring emerging sustainable energy opportunities.
The Council will deliver a targeted regional programme in key UK cities to stimulate high level support for action on sustainable energy and build networks with the energy sector.
The Council will also deliver a series of events to investigate how policy can be improved to enable the growth of new low-carbon technologies.
Ms Ruddock said:
"Our cities were once at the forefront of the industrial revolution. Now they have the opportunity to lead the way again and be the driving force behind our push to a low carbon economy.
Creating targeted action plans will help them achieve this by setting a clear path for cutting emissions.
The Low Carbon Cities Programme will illustrate that meeting the challenge of climate change and building prosperity in our cities can and should go hand in hand."
The Core Cities Group is a strong cross-city and cross-party alliance with more than 10 years track record of collaboration on economic development and related issues,
It includes Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield. These cities are major centres of international competitiveness, key to regional and national economic growth, forming the economic and urban cores of their surrounding areas - the city regions.
The Core Cities are major wealth producers. Some city region areas produce 50% and more of their entire region's economic output, with the Core Cities providing the driving force. Their performance is critical to regional and national competitiveness.
Cities consume 75% of the world's energy and produce 80% of its greenhouse gas emissions. Cities contribute to the causes of climate change, but they can also provide solutions.
Climate change is already having considerable social and economic impacts for our major cities, which need to be managed sustainably.
The Core Cities have large and dense populations, with high degrees of deprivation. They are located in areas that are adjacent to major rivers, flood plains or the sea and these populations are especially vulnerable to climate change impacts.
The Core Cities' city regions are home to more than 16 million people. Changing the behaviours of these large populations will make a major contribution.
Our city region areas are responsible for around 30% of England's carbon emissions - some 140 million tonnes of carbon annually. But because of high-density living and income levels, average domestic carbon emissions per person in the Core Cities are 20% less than the average for England.
By, for example, increasing local renewable energy supplies and improving public transport, addressing the energy efficiency of buildings and improving waste and water management, the Core Cities can help greatly to reduce England's overall impact on the environment.
This means that, where most appropriate, action to tackle climate change needs to prioritise the Core Cities and surrounding areas.
Further information
Defra – climate change
Carbon Trust
Energy Saving Trust
Core Cities Group
Core Cities Summit – Nottingham, Nov 2007
UK Business Council for Sustainable Energy
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