Climate Action and Carbon Reduction Plan 2024 - 2027

Rationale

Introduction

Climate change

International context

• United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
• The Paris Agreement

The National context: UK commitment

The Local context: how Wyre Forest district compares regionally and nationally

2023 Climate Emergency UK scorecards

The hyper-local context: mapping the Council's emissions

What we are doing

Appendix one

Appendix two

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a set of 17 goals for the entire world. They were written to cover the period 2015 - 2030. This climate action and carbon reduction plan is directly related to goals 7, 11, 12, and 13, and indirectly related to goals 6, 8, 9, 14, and 15. The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) are:

1. No poverty
2. Zero hunger
3. Good health and well-being
4. Quality education
5. Gender equality
6. Clean water and sanitation
7. Affordable and clean energy
8. Decent work and economic growth
9. Industry, innovation, and infrastructure
10. Reduced inequalities
11. Sustainable cities and communities
12. Responsible consumption and production
13. Climate action
14. Life below water
15. Life on land
16. Peace, justice, and strong institutions.
17. Partnerships for the goal

For more information on each of the SDGs, visit the United Nations' website.

The Paris Agreement

Prior to the 2015 Paris Climate Accords, 186 out of 195 countries submitted Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs). These were a set of pledges that stated how each individual country would reduce its carbon emissions. In December 2015, the UK and 195 other countries agreed to aim to limit anthropogenic mean global temperature rise to 1.5C above preindustrial levels. This is known as the Paris Agreement as it occurred within the Conference of the Parties 21 (COP21) in Paris. To achieve this, global emissions must be cut in half in the period 2015 – 2030. Upon approval of the Paris agreement, the INDCs dropped the ‘intended’ part to become Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). These NDCs have been updated every five years, with the most recent round of updates occurring in 2022.

From the perspective of sub-national government, the Paris Agreement is significant due to its inclusion of representatives of non-state entities, with everything from businesses to regional governments included. As of October 2023, only three countries (Iran, Libya, and Yemen) have not yet ratified the agreement. However, according to climate watchdog Climate Action Tracker, not a single G20 country is on track to meet its commitments established at COP21.

The National context: UK commitment

The UK is responsible for just over 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions, but accounts for just 0.84% of global population. Therefore, the UK is overrepresented with regards to its share of global greenhouse gas contributions. Furthermore, if we look at cumulative carbon emissions since 1750 (the approximate beginning of the Industrial Revolution), the UK ranks 5^th in the world with 78,500,000,000 tCO2e (78.5 billion metric tonnes of carbon dioxide) behind only the USA, China, Russia, and Germany. It also ranks well ahead of India (whose cumulative figure is 57.1 billion tCO2e), despite India having a much higher population both historically and in the present day (1.4 billion people compared to the UK’s 67 million). Therefore, as the UK has historically contributed so much to the global greenhouse gas budget, it follows that the UK should bear responsibility in reducing its emissions. The UK has set its own target of becoming net zero by 2050. This was made legally binding by the Climate Change Act 2008 (2050 Target Amendment) Order 2019. This act stipulates the need for an emissions reduction of 100% relative to 1990 levels. If the UK fails to achieve net zero by 2050, it shall remain a carbon positive country, as its total greenhouse gas emissions will outstrip the amount of carbon the country is sequestering. Therefore, this excess of emissions will have to be offset by other countries– a situation that should be avoided at all costs.

The Local context: how Wyre Forest district compares regionally and nationally

Figure 1 demonstrates how the per capita emissions of the Wyre Forest district compare regionally and nationally. As shown in the graph, the per capita emissions of Wyre Forest district were 7.1 tCO2e in 2005, which was 2.2 tCO2e lower than the Worcestershire average of 9.3 tCO2e, and 2.9 tCO2e lower than the England average of 10 tCO2e per capita for the year 2005. In the period 2005-2021, per capita emissions fell to 4.3 tCO2e per capita for Wyre Forest district, which is still 1.7 tCO2e below the Worcestershire average (for 2021) of 6 tCO2e per capita, and 1.2 tCO2e below the England average of 5.5 tCO2e per capita.

Figure 2 illustrates per capita emissions for all six districts of the county of Worcestershire in tCO2e. As shown in the graph, the per capita emissions of the Wyre Forest district have consistently been around 3 tCO2e lower than the per capita emissions for Wychavon, Malvern Hills and Bromsgrove in the period 2005-2021. In the same time frame, Wyre Forest has performed only slightly worse than Worcester and Redditch in terms of per capita emissions, with the per capita figure for Wyre Forest always remaining less than 1 tCO2e higher than the corresponding figures from Redditch and Worcester City. The graph also demonstrates that the general trend in per capita emissions is that of a fall, with a slight rise since 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a trend that is reflected both regionally and nationally.

Source: GOV.UK 2021

Accessible data tables for graphs

2023 Climate Emergency UK scorecards

Every year the climate action charity Climate Emergency UK assess the climate credentials of all local authorities in the UK and publish their findings in a set of scores known as climate scorecards. In these scorecards, every local authority is assessed using a methodology that is tailored to the responsibilities of that Council and is given an overall score for each methodology section. The methodology sections on which Councils are assessed are as follows: Buildings and Heating; Transport; Planning and Land Use; Governance and Finance; Biodiversity; Collaboration and Engagement; and Waste Reduction and Food. You can find out more information on the Council Climate Action Scorecard website.

The most recent round of scorecards was released on 18 October 2023. Wyre Forest District Council received an overall score 28%. This was slightly below the national average district Council score of 29%, and slightly above the average for Worcestershire districts of (27.5%). Please note that different sections receive different weightings within the methodology. Therefore, averaging out a Council’s scores for the different sections will not equate to the overall score for that Council. You can see how we compare to the other districts in Worcestershire by visiting the Council Climate Action Scorecard website.

Data Source: GOV.UK, 2021
Accessible data tables for graphs

The above line graph depicts the per capita and per square kilometre emissions for the entire Wyre Forest district in the period 2005 – 2021. To ensure that both variables can be plotted on the same chart, per capita emissions are depicted in tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per head of population (tCO2e per capita), whilst per square kilometre emissions are depicted in kilotons of carbon dioxide equivalent per square kilometre of the district’s area (ktCO2e km²). As shown in the graph, there is a relatively consistent fall in the emissions figures for both variables. Per capita emissions fell from just over 7 tCO2e in 2005 to just over 4 tCO2e in 2021. In the same period, per square kilometre emissions for the district fell from a shade under 4 ktCO2e km² in 2005 to just over 2 ktCO2e km² in 2021.

Combatting climate change is about more than just reducing carbon dioxide emissions. As stated earlier, methane is far more potent that carbon dioxide in terms of its ability to enhance the greenhouse effect and trigger global heating. Therefore, the stacked line graph below breaks down the Wyre Forest District’s per capita emissions by Greenhouse Gas (GHG) type. Most of the reduction in the district’s per capita GHG emissions is accounted for by the fall in per capita carbon dioxide emissions, with per capita methane emissions and per capita nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions remaining relatively stable in the period 2005 - 2021, especially N₂O emissions. The most recent per capita emissions figure for the Wyre Forest district (for the year 2021) was 4.3 tCO2e per resident. Extrapolated out (multiplied by the population of the district), this equates to a gross emissions figure of 436,500 tCO2e.

Source: GOV.UK, 2021.

Accessible data tables for graphs