Our Action Plan

Appendix 3 - Climate Emergency

The initial focus of this Action Plan for a route towards becoming a net zero-carbon local authority is not intended to limit or preclude other potential wider actions that contribute towards addressing the climate emergency.

Some of these actions are identified below (this is not an exhaustive list):

Housing

• PCC maintains around 5,650 dwellings for the provision of social housing. Following comprehensive energy-efficiency retrofit measures as part of the Council’s progress under the Welsh Government’s current Welsh Housing Quality Standard (opens in a new tab) (WHQS), it has achieved a very good average Standard Assessment Procedure (opens in a new tab) (SAP) rating of 75 (in the middle of the ‘C’ band). WHQS requires the SAP 2005 methodology that produced this rating to be updated to SAP 2012. This will impact on non-gas properties, probably dragging the average rating down to 72.
• Measures installed include:
• Cavity-wall and loft insulation completed at most properties where applicable.
• A gas-boiler replacement programme – ultra-efficient gas combi boilers installed at all gas-boiler properties (Note: Boilers replaced every 15 years, so PCC is now replacing first-generation gas combis with new gas combis; therefore, there is little improvement in efficiency – typically, 88% v. 90% – and this does not change the SAP score for a property).
• Oil boilers – PCC has changed 550 of 805 oil boilers for ultra-efficient condensing combi boilers. It is currently looking at trialling six hybrid oil boilers as part of the replacement programme – additional cost per unit is in the region of £7,500.
• Windows programme – five-year programme of installing ‘A’ rated double glazing nearing completion.
• Doors – programme nearly complete to replace all doors with high-performance composite doors.

All of the above only applies where the tenant has accepted the works, and issues such as listed status and Conservation Areas have to be considered.

• There will be a new WHQS post-2020, which will probably place demands on PCC to further improve in stages towards zero-carbon housing stock. Therefore, the Council has not yet set its own target pending further guidance and targets from the Welsh Government in 2020. It is apparent that WG is finding it harder and more expensive than expected to achieve this new standard. For example, an air-source heat pump (ASHP) might improve energy efficiency over oil but actually costs more to run; however, the Council cannot pass that cost on to the tenant if trying to tackle fuel poverty.
• The Welsh School of Architecture has completed Stage 3 of its review ‘Homes of Today for Tomorrow’, including discussion of case studies of individual social-housing units. Their findings are summarised below:
• For houses, fabric retrofit is expensive – particularly for old/poor-quality dwellings – but without it, decarbonisation could dramatically increase fuel bills.
• Retaining mains-gas central heating constrains decarbonisation to around 70% (range: 60–71%).
• Switching to heat from electricity dramatically increases decarbonisation levels, from 70%+ to 90%+.
• Installing renewables has a moderate effect on decarbonisation. More critically, it reduces heating bills by over £500 per year. The predicted cost of decarbonising houses is consistently around £30,000 (range: £27,000–£33,000) per unit.
• Fabric improvements for flats are typically less expensive, but also less effective, than those for houses – making it more difficult to decarbonise flats to target levels.
• Flat retrofits are more complicated – party walls also limit effectiveness, and shared ownership is a recurring issue.
• The size of smaller flats makes space-consuming measures such as internal wall insulation (IWI) problematic.
• In some cases, SHLs (Social Housing Landlords) are reviewing whether demolition and new build is preferable.
• Successful retrofitting of flats demands greater coordination than that for houses, and may require a more creative response – e.g. the introduction of district heating.
• The predicted cost of decarbonising flats is consistently around £22,000 (range: £19,000–£25,000) per unit.
• Achieving decarbonisation targets requires fabric retrofit, a transition to low-carbon heating and a significant renewable component.
• Renewables (for example, PV) are essential if tenants are to see retrofit as desirable. Benefits for tenants are still typically less than those seen for homeowners.
• Successful decarbonisation is a more complex and challenging process than simply complying with the WHQS programme targets (2004–14), and requires more holistic understanding and actions.
• SAP ratings predict energy efficiency and fuel costs, but cannot be used as the sole basis on which to judge whether retrofit will meet decarbonisation targets. Decarbonisation requires transition to a low-carbon heat source.
• If the dwelling fabric is improved to an enhanced standard, the retrofitting of low-carbon heating systems can be cost-effective for tenants – and could take the place of boiler-replacement programmes.
• Renewables are effective in reducing fuel bills for tenants, and they reduce pressure on the energy-supply network.
• Unengaged tenants can significantly reduce the effectiveness of housing retrofit.
• Accurate modelling and holistic retrofit are critical to decarbonisation being perceived positively by tenants.
• Without in-house skills and expertise, it will be difficult for SHLs to develop and evolve decarbonisation strategies.
• The retrofit strategy should always be modelled as accurately as possible prior to commencing schemes in which renewables are already installed.
• The current ‘direction of travel’ is not to consider electric and fossil-fuel-based heating as mutually exclusive. So-called ‘hybrid’ heating systems (a combination of a gas boiler and heat pump) represent both an optimal heat-transition accelerator and an enduring sustainable-destination technology. Hybrids are the lowest carbon solution and do not ‘lock-in’ fossil fuels any more than heat pumps or boilers on their own do. Electricity supply locks-in fossil fuels for powering heat pumps; natural-gas supply locks-in fossil fuels for running boilers. Both are equally reliant on decarbonised gas to cut emissions in the power sector for flexible supply during periods of low renewables or to supply directly to the buildings sector. Hybrids give the greatest flexibility in escaping from fossil fuels used in space heating. They also represent the low-carbon domestic-heating technology that offers the greatest carbon savings – with an enduring role to deliver net zero by 2050, combined with the decarbonising gas grid that is transitioning completely away from fossil fuel. As both electricity and gas go ‘green’, they combine to deliver the best of both worlds as the third vector for decarbonised heating: they are able to immediately ‘soak-up’ low-carbon electricity when it is available, and to fall back on a greening gas grid at other times. Hybrid heating systems can meet the energy demand for all dwellings irrespective of the energy performance of a building. They make green gas go further, compounding the benefit of actions taken to ‘green’ the gas grid.
• The Council has an officer qualified to prepare domestic Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) in-house. (EPCs provide an asset rating for a building, and are required every ten years.) This is largely to provide EPCs for council housing and to assist the property team with their landlord’s obligations to meet the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards for leased or sold buildings.
• The Pembrokeshire Energy Company Obligation (EcoFlex 3) grant scheme commenced in April 2019. It covers energy-inefficient homes that either spend more than 10% of their income on fuel or are vulnerable to the cold. The grant goes towards home energy-efficiency measures involving heating upgrades and insulation. So far, over 100 properties have received improvements through the scheme.
• The Arbed 3 programme is being evaluated for application in Pembrokeshire for the potential delivery of energy-infrastructure schemes (e.g. whole-estate energy efficiency) in areas of mixed private and public housing.
• PCC has recently committed to the provision of new affordable and energy-efficient homes, as follows:
• Johnston – 33 affordable Council-owned new-build homes. The build tender was awarded in 2020. The design will go beyond Part L of the Building Regulations for energy efficiency with a requirement on the design & build contractor to achieve an EPC rating of ‘A’. It is likely that this will be achieved via solar PV and over-insulation (i.e. putting in more insulation than Building Regulations demand, in order to enhance U-values), and the proposal also includes Tesla Powerwalls (power-storage batteries) in two of the properties. Infrastructure for electric-car charging is also being installed.
• Milford Haven, Charles Street – 15 older-person affordable Council-owned flats in a three-storey development. The design will go beyond Part L of the Building Regulations for energy efficiency with a requirement to achieve an EPC rating of ‘A’. It is likely that this will be achieved via solar PV and over-insulation. The design & build provider has been asked to consider heat-pump and hybrid heating systems. Battery storage is a consideration, depending on prevailing tech costs/efficiencies. Although there are limited parking spaces, two will be electric-car charging points.
• Tiers Cross – demolition of ten non-standard ‘Airey’-type (concrete-panel) houses, which are highly energy inefficient, to be replaced with 11 affordable Council-owned new-build homes. Heat and hot water to the properties will be wholly provided by electricity – thereby avoiding the use of oil, which served the previous units. The electricity will be provided via a mains supply and will be supplemented by PV and air-source heat pumps; it will provide heating and hot water with the use of hot-water cylinders and electric showers. Internal battery storage will also be incorporated in order to further reduce the demand on mains supply during the evenings/night. Electric-car charging points will be provided.
• Boncath, Tŷ Solar (Western Solar) – ten ultra-low-energy affordable ‘towards zero carbon’ homes to be built using the Innovative Housing Fund. Development has started, and the properties will be owned by a Registered Social Landlord (RSL).
• Tenby, land at Brynhir – around 140 homes; 100+ will be affordable Council-owned new-build dwellings. The remainder will be for sale on the open market and a number of self-build plots with planning will be offered, supported by the Development Bank of Wales. An outline planning application has been submitted to the National Park Planning Authority.
• Former school sites – development of affordable Council-owned homes. Numbers not yet available.
• The ‘Homes as Power Stations (opens in a new tab)’ project aims to deliver smart, low-carbon, energy-efficient homes through a coordinated approach across the Swansea Bay City Region. The project will deliver a programme of new-build developments, the retrofitting of existing buildings and local supply-chain development support. It aims to help tackle fuel poverty, cut carbon emissions and meet the need for more housing. The project will monitor the health and well-being aspects of warmer homes and the impact of the ‘homes as power stations’ concept on fuel poverty.

 

Planning, Development, Land Use and Biodiversity

• The Pembrokeshire Local Development Plan (LDP) is used to determine all planning applications in the PCC planning area and to guide development.  The current LDP is underpinned by the overriding principle of achieving sustainable development. It also has a key objective linked to reducing / tackling the causes and impacts of climate change. This is delivered in the Plan’s strategy: a settlement hierarchy is used to ensure that development is directed to locations that have good levels of services. This aims to reduce the need for travel, and therefore to reduce carbon production. The principle of sustainable development is carried through all policies within the Plan, including promoting energy-efficient design and ensuring that new proposals such as community facilities are well related to existing settlements. Review of the Local Development Plan is under way, and climate change and the need to promote sustainable development will remain key elements within LDP 2.
• PCC has prepared a Biodiversity and Ecosystems Resilience Plan (awaiting formal sign-off) to detail how the Authority intends to fulfil its duties under Section 6 of the Environment Act to enhance biodiversity and the resilience of ecosystems. The plan sets out a number of corporate actions that, when undertaken, will also help with reducing PCC’s impacts on climate change – including how it manages Council land. 
• The Council has produced a Green Infrastructure Study for Pembrokeshire (which includes PCNPA and PCC Plan areas). This identifies opportunities to enhance green infrastructure across the main settlements in the County through a range of actions including tree planting. Some projects are already progressing elements of this study – e.g. the Haverfordwest Green and Blue Infrastructure project. LDP 2 will include a specific policy on Green Infrastructure, and PCC will be considering whether it can allocate specific land for this over the next few months (the Welsh Government requires the Council to consider this under national policy as a result of the Well-being of Future Generations Act).
• PCC hosts the Pembrokeshire Nature Partnership and Local Nature Partnership, and supports these initiatives both financially and through the allocation of officer time. The partnerships consider a whole range of projects, which support biodiversity/tackling habitat fragmentation and addressing climate change.
• The Council works with two marine groups who are engaged with the marine environment, and supports these historically through the Single Revenue Grant (SRG) and directly through officer time and limited financial contributions. They are the Milford Haven Waterway Environmental Surveillance Group (opens in a new tab) and the Pembrokeshire Marine Special Area of Conservation Regulatory Authorities Group (opens in a new tab). The former primarily gathers evidence of the conditions of the waterway, and is critical in providing information on changes to the waterway over time. The latter group is focused on a range of projects and actions around the Marine Special Area of Conservation – including work with schools about reducing plastic/marine litter and a recent study using citizen science to monitor nitrate levels in the Marine SAC.
• PCC/PCNPA have been looking at light pollution in Pembrokeshire and potential actions to reduce this. The team has recently finalised mapping of light pollution in the County against recorded bat roosts/flight paths. This will be included in a forthcoming Biodiversity Supplementary Planning Guidance document, and will provide additional information when planning applications are considered. This should ensure that the authorities can design out unnecessary lighting on schemes where this is a planning matter. Separately, PCC has been working on a lighting standard for HRA (Housing Revenue Account) schemes in conjunction with the local Secured by Design advisor. This standard is based around the criteria that HRA schemes have to meet in order to minimise lighting and also to use lamps of a wattage designed to minimise carbon production and impact on bats.
• Evidence base – PCC has a range of evidence that it uses to inform decision-making with the intention of reducing the causes and impacts of climate change. This includes the Land Use Mapping tool, which shows habitats and species. The Council has also, via the LDP, developed further evidence on flood risk through the recently completed Strategic Flood Consequence Assessment, which is taking a precautionary approach and building in an allowance for climate change and for sea-level rise to the current WG flood maps. This precautionary approach will inform LDP allocations. The recent Renewable Energy Assessment (referred to in Section 3.3) also forms part of the LDP 2 evidence base.
• The Council is seeking to identify key habitats and species at risk from climate-change impacts, and to review its biodiversity plan in order to ensure that it is climate proof. It is recognised that resilience to pressure (such as climate change) is increased by improving the diversity, extent, condition, connectivity and adaptability of ecosystems: any work on any or all of these attributes increases resilience. The Council’s Biodiversity Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG) is currently being reviewed jointly with PCNPA.
• PCC is considering opportunities to increase pollinator areas in parks and open spaces via methods such as increasing the use of wildflowers in highway verges and roundabouts, and creating wildflower meadows. A wildflower-meadow harvest can occur just once a year in order to produce hay/compost, reducing land management and therefore reducing the use of petrol/diesel emissions. It also provides wildlife benefits and colour for people to enjoy.
• Reduced frequency of grass cutting in strategic areas should be considered in order to complement initiatives such as the Wales Biodiversity Partnership Action Plan for Pollinators and Buglife B-Lines Wales.
• The Council recognises that there is scope to explore opportunities for enhancing or creating nature reserves in the County, and to create nature-based tourist attractions – e.g. high-rope activities and camping.
• Examples of nature-enhancing projects undertaken by PCC and its partners:
• The Council has worked with a number of community groups to establish community allotments on both PCC land and land donated by local owners. It aims to continue identifying land for local produce and supporting the use of allotments so that communities can grow their own food and reduce food miles and waste – e.g. community gardens, orchards, ‘produce pockets’ where space is limited. This increases community resilience and is also good for health, well-being and biodiversity.
• PCC supports a Pembrokeshire Coastal Forum and Pembrokeshire Marine Special Area of Conservation pilot project to restore underwater seagrass meadows at Dale Bay in order to tackle climate change. Despite experts saying that it acts as a ‘nursery for a wide variety of marine life’, 92% of seagrass has been lost over the last 100 years. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Sky Ocean Rescue and Swansea University are partners in the Dale Bay scheme. Seagrass is key to reducing levels of carbon dioxide, a gas that contributes to global warming, as it absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere up to 35 times faster than tropical rainforests can. It also accounts for 10% of annual ocean carbon storage globally, despite only taking up 0.2% of the seafloor.
• In March 2020, a tree-planting event occurred at Wolfscastle that showcased best practice in working together across public bodies and the third sector to deliver real benefits for people and the environment. The event was volunteer led and aimed to plant 1,000 trees in a day, with the intention of repeating this each year to match the number of births in Pembrokeshire annually. This ties in with the Welsh Government Plant Scheme (opens in a new tab), but delivers planting to create a woodland in Pembrokeshire, for the people of the County, celebrating births in Pembrokeshire and taking the opportunity to engage new parents in issues of sustainability. It is a collaboration between PCC (which has made land available for the project), Hywel Dda Health Board (engaging new parents in sustainability and the benefits of access to natural areas), Tir Coed and PCNPA (both engaging volunteers in planting and maintaining the trees), the Woodland Trust (advising on and sourcing suitable mixes of local-provenance trees) and Pembrokeshire Lamb (preparing and maintaining the land). The project is funded through the Pembrokeshire Nature Partnership, which is supported by the Welsh Government’s Enabling Natural Resources and Well-being (ENRaW) fund.
• Cleddau Walk, Haverfordwest Green and Blue infrastructure – a key regeneration project that delivered a new route around Haverfordwest, improving access, leisure and recreation opportunities. The path highlights biodiversity and includes a European protected-species habitat.
• Hayscastle Community Woodland – the community was supported and received funding through PCC to purchase a one-acre (roughly half-hectare) site upon which they established a community woodland.
• Johnston Millennium Park Community Woodland – the community was supported and partly funded through PCC to manage an established community woodland and ponds.
• Jubilee Park East Williamston – the community was supported and, in part, funded by PCC to purchase and enhance 22 acres (9 hectares) of land, delivering eight key habitats and planting in excess of 8,000 trees. Additionally, a team of over 40 local volunteers has been established to ‘grow’ Jubilee Park.
• Orchard Mawr, Haverfordwest – PCC supported and, in part, funded a volunteer group in Haverfordwest to plant approximately 550 fruit and nut trees on PCC-accessible land. This included planting on the urban streetscape, and resulted in the establishment of three orchards.
• PCC Woodlands, county-wide – enhanced 33 PCC native broadleaved woodlands through the Better Woodland Wales grant for biodiversity, thus creating public access to 15 woodlands and, through linkages with Norman Industries, managing PCC timber stocks through thinning, resulting in a supported income-generation scheme through biomass sales.
• Saltings, Haverfordwest – the enhancement, in collaboration with Haverfordwest Town Council, of an old landfill site, transforming it into a public country park. It is now planted with Pembrokeshire wildflower seed and 300 broadleaf trees, with much-enhanced public access opportunities.
• Village Green/Common Land, county-wide – working with a wide range of community groups to access funding, which was used to adopt and manage PCC’s Section 9 Common Land, incorporating the enhancement of many village greens through tree planting.
• Scolton Country Park – enhanced the wooded site through the Better Woodland Wales grant for biodiversity, creating public access and introducing 5 one-acre (roughly half-hectare) coppice compartments.
• Mount Woodland, Milford Haven – supported the community association to manage the 18-acre (7-hectare) woodland site and gain funding to provide community access and deliver learning outcomes for NEETs (young people Not in Employment, Education or Training).
• Tidy Towns, county-wide – delivered many community enhancements through this PCC scheme, including the establishment of community gardens and community tree planting.
• Withybush Woods, Haverfordwest – delivering a historical enhancement, which creates better public access and leisure/recreational opportunities together with biodiversity gain. The latter included de-silting the main pond with further management of European protected species, along with community tree and wildflower bulb planting.
• Milton Marsh, Milton – actively managing and working with the community to enhance this special community nature reserve, including tree planting.
• Railway Terrace, Neyland – supported the community to access funding for this site to establish a wildflower meadow while eradicating invasive plants.

 

Regeneration

• The Economic Recovery & Regeneration Strategy for Pembrokeshire, 2020 to 2030, was presented to PCC Cabinet on 14 September 2020. The strategy maps out what is intended in response to COVID-19 and post Brexit. It includes working with PCC’s partners to deliver the next generation of clean, green engineering jobs focused around the Milford Haven Waterway; carbon-neutral building methods linked to carbon-offsetting projects; and using the opportunity created by COVID-19 and enhanced connectivity to benefit from agile working and reduced travel.
• Carbon reduction is at the heart of the £1.3 billion Swansea Bay City Deal (opens in a new tab), which is being delivered by the four Swansea Bay City Region local authorities, including Pembrokeshire, with the area’s two regional health boards and two regional universities.
• Among the projects forming part of the City Deal programme of investment is a pan-region ‘Homes as Power Stations’ initiative (opens in a new tab). Under this project, it is proposed to retrofit 7,500 homes with state-of-the-art energy-efficiency technology and build 3,500 new, highly energy-efficient homes over a five-year period. As well as helping the region to cut its carbon emissions, Homes as Power Stations will also tackle fuel poverty and meet the need for more housing while benefitting/creating low-carbon supply-chain businesses throughout Pembrokeshire and South West Wales.
• Also due to be part-funded by the City Deal is the Pembroke Dock Marine (opens in a new tab) project, which will considerably boost the region’s ‘blue economy’ through major investment in the advancement of marine energy. Made up of elements including a Marine Energy Test Area and a Pembrokeshire Demonstration Zone for marine-energy developers to trial, de-risk and commercialise their devices, this project will also include infrastructure upgrades at Pembroke Dock Port and a Marine Energy Engineering Centre of Excellence to which industry and academia can co-locate. This will place South West Wales at the forefront of a growing global industry.
• Great potential exists in the Celtic Sea for the floating offshore-wind industry. The Council is working with a number of floating offshore-wind developers to establish a base and supply chain in the county for this important renewable-energy source. A recent Offshore Wind Industry Council and Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult study, Offshore Wind and Hydrogen (opens in a new tab), shows how this source could also help to establish a hydrogen and renewable-energy economy.
• Led by PCC, Milford Haven: Energy Kingdom (opens in a new tab) (MH:EK) is a two-year £4.5 million project, completing in 2022, exploring what a decarbonised smart local-energy system could look like for Milford Haven, Pembroke and Pembroke Dock. The project partners are:
• PCC;
• The Port of Milford Haven;
• Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult;
• Riversimple; Wales & West Utilities;
• Arup; and
• Energy Systems Catapult.

Project supporters and collaborators are RWE, Simply Blue Energy, Welsh Government Energy Service and Community Energy Pembrokeshire. The project will explore the potential of hydrogen as part of a multi-vector approach to decarbonisation. If successful, it has the potential to lead the way and become the first of many Smart Local Energy Systems supporting the UK and its local communities in reaching the government’s target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

• The Council is a non-funded collaborator on the South Wales Industrial Cluster (opens in a new tab) (SWIC) Roadmap project, which will seek to identify the best options for cost-effective decarbonisation of industry in South Wales – including the industrial cluster on the Milford Haven Waterway. The project will look at the infrastructure required for the development of the hydrogen economy; for large scale carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) and transport; as well as on-site strategic opportunities specific to each industry.
• Bush Farm Biomass Boiler, Pembroke – Greenlinks Community Interest Company was supported to develop successful funding applications to refurbish farm buildings, which included the installation of a biomass boiler.
• PCC is exploring facilitating a move to a circular economy, whereby waste is avoided and the things that we use are kept in use as long as possible. The Council is considering providing a materials-reuse facility to coordinate the collection, storage and reuse (including transport) of excess materials from PCC projects and to support community organisations to establish workshops/resources to mend, repair, upcycle and extract materials from items destined for waste.

 

Coastal Protection, Flooding and Drainage

•  All coast-protection and flood-alleviation schemes undertaken by the Council are designed to include climate-change allowances in accordance with Welsh Government guidelines.
• Surface-water drainage systems are also designed to cater for a 1-in-100-year rainfall event plus 30% allowance for climate change.
• Via the planning process, PCC oversees Schedule 3 under the Flood & Water Management Act 2010, which came into effect in Wales on 7 January 2019 and requires new developments to include Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) features. This may require on-site provision of rills, leats, ponds, etc. for new developments.
• Flood-risk areas are identified in the emerging LDP 2. This local plan identifies areas where coastal change may occur and provides a policy on this: GN 36. The LDP 2 evidence base includes a Strategic Flood Consequences Assessment for Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire. The primary source for flood-risk mapping remains the Natural Resources Wales (NRW) website (opens in a new tab).

 

Transportation and Highways

• In recent years, PCC has constructed over 11 km of footways and 76 km of shared-use paths (walking and cycling) as part of active-travel development in the ten main settlements around the County.
• As part of the Council’s statutory duties under the Active Travel Act 2014, it has developed an ‘Integrated Network Map’ (INM) for Pembrokeshire that sets out its long-term aspirations for active-travel route development for the next 15 years. Around 170 routes are identified on the INM for improvement.
• In this financial year, PCC has succeeded in obtaining over £1 million in WG transport-grant funding to enhance active-travel provision in Pembroke Dock and Narberth.
• Web information promoting 20 cycle routes across the County has been developed, with additional routes and promotional information to be added this year.
• Pembrokeshire has a good track record of obtaining WG Safe Routes in Communities funding. It has secured over £300,000 in this financial year for developing safe walking and cycling routes in the vicinity of Lamphey,and over £7 million in grants since the inception of the scheme.
• Over 1,809,000 passenger journeys to schools and college are provided every academic year by PCC.
• Over 1,800 pupils receive Safe School Transport training every academic year to encourage and promote the use of school buses.
• The Council supports 22 local bus services, which provide over 970,000 passenger journeys annually.
• There are 13 ‘Dial-a-Ride’ services operating in Pembrokeshire, which provide over 26,000 passenger journeys a year.
•  ‘My Train Wales’ is a project developed by PCC and funded by Great Western Railway, which promotes rail travel and track safety to primary- and secondary-school pupils. Each year, over 7,500 pupils across the region benefit from this promotional initiative.

 

Waste and Environmental Services

• In March 2018, the Cabinet agreed that the Authority would move to a much-improved recycling service. The changes came into effect in autumn 2019. Householders can now recycle a greater range of plastic as well as paper, cardboard, glass, cans and food. Recycling collections take place every week, and households will be provided with free boxes and bags in which to collect the items.
• Cabinet also approved a move to three-weekly bin-bag collections, on the basis that householders will need to place fewer items in refuse bags thanks to the increased recycling opportunities.
• Cabinet also approved a fortnightly collection service for bulky, absorbent hygiene products, including discreet collections where requested.
• The Waste and Recycling Team, PCC Eco Champions project and the Waste and Recycling Campaign Team produced ‘The Wonder of You (opens in a new tab)’ public video to explain and promote the new waste and recycling service.
• A feasibility study is being carried out to locate a central bulking transfer facility in Pembrokeshire, where lorries will unload items before they are dispatched for recycling. This could present an opportunity for social-enterprise development along with local employment.
• The Council’s waste plans are driven by relevant legislation, which sets targets for Wales. The Welsh Government has published Towards Zero Waste, the new Waste Strategy for Wales, which forms part of a suite of documents setting out how Wales will comply with legislation. Towards Zero Waste is the overarching waste strategy for Wales, and identifies high-level principles, policies and targets.
• The Pembrokeshire Eco Champion Project is funded by the Welsh Government Leader Programme via the Arwain Sir Benfro local action group and match-funded by PCC. It aims to celebrate and support the work of active and aspiring eco champions in all parts of Pembrokeshire, and to seek out the people who are considered or willing to be champions in their local area to share good practice; disseminate useful, inspiring information; and encourage others to ‘do their bit’ by living more responsibly, reducing waste and ensuring that Pembrokeshire remains a clean and ‘green’ place in which to live. A primary initial focus for the project was to encourage residents to embrace the rollout of the Council’s enhanced recycling and waste separation in 2019.

 

Procurement

• PCC is represented in regional procurement networks, and engages and consults with various groups such as WRAP Cymru (opens in a new tab) and the Welsh Local Government Association (opens in a new tab). It does so to ensure that climate-change considerations are incorporated within strategic procurement documentation and associated best-practice guidance in order that all specifications, tender documents and award criteria address climate-emergency commitments.
• The Council has engaged with WRAP Cymru and requested a spending review to address better use of resources in its own current procurement portfolio. The project focuses on how the standard of reuse (RU) and recycled-content (RC) materials (plastic, textiles paper and card) can improve in future procurement exercises. The project considers how future changes are assessed, tested and tasked with continued improvement, and how to influence consistent application across the different departments and supply chains involved. The principles applied during the review follow those of a circular economy and the waste hierarchy. Approaches aim to reduce (buy less), reuse (no single-use items), recycle (collect and sell), recover and repurpose into newly designed goods. It is recognised that when considering how to buy appropriately for the economic, environmental and social well-being goals of Wales’ Well-being of Future Generations Act, it is critical that new thought paths are applied, upfront, at the procurement-design phase and product-design stages. This approach will require timely tracking of re-procurement timelines and robust contract-management processes.
• PCC carries out a Sustainable Risk Assessment (SRA) on all tenders over the value of £25,000, which incorporates environmental, social and economic issues.
• The Council sits on the Welsh Government National Procurement Service (NPS) Energy Sub Group, shaping the NPS energy-procurement strategy.
• PCC and the majority of Welsh local authorities already source 100% of their electricity needs from certified renewable generation sources (50% of that renewable power was sourced from within Wales in 2018/19).
• The NPS authorities are part of the seventh-largest purchase (after the ‘Big 6’) of electricity and gas in UK markets, taking advantage of the Crown Commercial Service’s professional energy-trading desks.
• The NPS is actively seeking low-carbon gas sources – e.g. bio methane from Anaerobic Digestion (AD) – and monitoring the hydrogen-gas agenda.
• PCC sits on a local-government advisory group working with Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water to improve DCWW’s service to the public sector.
• The Energy / Procurement and Finance teams all provide advice to Council energy-bill payers, and offer a dispute-resolution service.

 

Education

The Council runs the successful Sustainable Schools Award Scheme (SSAS). The scheme was set up in 2003 to help schools embed Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship (ESDGC), in both teaching and learning and the sustainable management of Pembrokeshire’s schools. PCC is seeking to ensure that the SSAS aligns with the objective in WG’s ‘Prosperity for All: A Low Carbon Wales (opens in a new tab)’ for ‘working with partners to include more about sustainability and decarbonisation in the new curriculum’.

 

Finance

• PCC is part of the £2.4 billion Dyfed Pension Fund (opens in a new tab).
• The fund is a long-term investor, responsible for looking after the interests of beneficiaries over many decades into the future, and has long been concerned about climate- and carbon-related risks to the underlying investment portfolios of member funds. It takes the approach of engaging actively and productively with companies in the sector through its participation in the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum (opens in a new tab) (LAPFF). LAPFF considers that companies should report on their approach to carbon management in the context of how they are factoring climate change into their business strategy. When engaging, the forum encourages companies to align their business models with a 2°C scenario in order to push for an orderly transition to a low-carbon economy. LAPFF is a member of the Ceres Investor Network on Climate Risk and Sustainability (opens in a new tab), participates in the Climate Action 100+ initiative (opens in a new tab) and is in partnership with the Climate Majority Project (opens in a new tab).
• Also, via the fund’s investment managers, LAPFF votes on resolutions at global AGMs, seeking transparency and disclosure of climate risks and setting emission-reduction targets. In this manner, the fund’s view is directly communicated to individual boards.
• The Dyfed Pension Fundhas an increasing level of investment in renewable and low-carbon energy production via pooled funds. It is also interested in investment opportunities afforded by a low-carbon future that increase asset diversification and provide long-term returns. The fund will continue to make such investments where the risk/return profile fits its investment strategy. It also has investments in the BlackRock UK Strategic Alternative Income Fund (opens in a new tab), some of the core strategies of which are in the renewable-energy sector and a number of different sectors that have a direct impact on local communities – including healthcare and social housing. During 2019/20, the Pension Committee will also be considering investment in other low-carbon tracker funds.
• The fund has a comprehensive Investment Strategy Statement (opens in a new tab), which is currently being reviewed.
• PCC welcomes the recent open letter from the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales (opens in a new tab), and engagement with others regarding divestment.

 

Information and Communications Technology (ICT)

• The Council continues to introduce ICT good practice to actively help reduce carbon emissions, including:
• reducing energy consumption at its data centres and across its network through the virtualisation and rationalisation of hardware and the adoption of energy-efficient servers and ICT infrastructure;
• facilitating a reduction in staff travel through the implementation of agile working practices across the Authority, including the use of laptops and online video-conference meetings and calls (Skype for Business, MS Teams, etc.);
• reducing printing across the Authority by facilitating the adoption of paperless working through better use of technology; and
• applying centrally administered, powered management systems to ensure that all devices such as laptops and PCs are powered-down overnight and when not in use during the day.

 

Civil Contingencies and Emergency Planning

• PCC’s civil-contingency and emergency-planning role aims to help mitigate the effects of climate change by writing and testing contingency plans for the various risks involved. These risks include:
• more extreme weather events causing severe fluvial flooding, such as Storm Callum in 2018;
• rising sea levels causing an increase in coastal flooding; and
• hotter, dryer summers causing water shortages, an increase in ‘wild fires’ and effects on the health of the population (especially the elderly).
• The ‘UK Climate Change Risk Assessment 2017 Evidence Report – Summary for Wales (opens in a new tab)’ summarises the Wales-specific evidence included in the ‘UK Climate Change Risk Assessment Evidence Report (opens in a new tab)’.
• The Council is a member of the Dyfed-Powys Local Resilience Forum (opens in a new tab) (LRF), whose members include the emergency services, health bodies, other local authorities, government agencies and utility companies. Dyfed-Powys LRF members work together to ensure that arrangements are in place to help mitigate the effects of any emergencies, including those caused by climate change. The role of PCC during emergencies includes providing support for the emergency services, support and care for the local and wider community and coordination of the response by organisations other than the emergency services. As time goes on, and the emphasis switches to recovery, the Council takes a leading role in rehabilitating the community and restoring the environment. The LRF produces the Dyfed Powys Community Risk Register, which can be viewed in the ‘downloads’ section of the LRF website.

 

The Future Role of Renewable Energy, Hydrogen and Major Infrastructure Changes

While recommending actions that PCC can take to decarbonise, it has to be recognised that economics, politics and policy, and popular action sometimes cause major future dynamic changes to ‘business as usual’. Furthermore, they do so at a local, national and global level, which can lead to organisational and regional decarbonisation ‘by default’.

An example of this is the once-unthinkable upsurge in renewable-electricity generation capacity in Wales, the UK and globally from virtually nil ten years ago to a point at which, in January to March 2020, renewable-electricity generation reached record levels – up 30% compared with Quarter 1 2019, to 40.8 terawatt hours (TWh). This was a 47.0% share of electricity generation, the highest quarterly value in the UK Government’s published data series (opens in a new tab). This quarter also saw the lowest share of generation coming from fossil fuels, at 35.4%. This is the first time that the fossil-fuel share has dropped below 40% of total generation, continuing the ongoing trend away from such sources. Total fossil-fuel generation in Quarter 1 2020 was 30.8 TWh, which was the lowest value for any Quarter 1 and the second-lowest quarterly value in the published data series.

Chart 1. Shares of electricity generation

 

This record electricity generation from renewable sources also led to an increase in the share of generation from low-carbon sources, up to a record high of 62.1%. This was despite nuclear generation falling 5.8% compared with Quarter 1 2019 to 13.1 TWh.

Chart 2. Low-carbon electricity’s share of generation

 

While electricity has decarbonised rapidly, and continues to do so, industrial processes, heating and transport have proven harder issues to tackle. As part of the commitment for the UK to reach net zero-carbon status by 2050, the UK Government is actively pursuing a greater rollout of renewable energy. It is also investigating the role of hydrogen, which has the potential to provide ‘whole energy system’ decarbonisation because it can act as a zero-emissions solution as gas directly for industrial processes, heating, hot water and cooking; as a fuel source for electricity generation; as a battery-storage medium, which can aid grid balancing; and as a transport fuel.

The recent APPG on Hydrogen Report (opens in a new tab) makes the statement that ‘we believe that hydrogen is the solution to decarbonisation in industry, power, heat and transport. It has the potential to create and sustain hundreds of thousands of high-quality jobs across the country, and aid in the Government’s plans to “level-up”’ and that ‘Hydrogen will play a key role in shaping our future economy and our ability to meet our net-zero targets, the only question that remains, is when.’

Hydrogen and renewable electricity have excellent synergies, in that renewable electricity can drive electrolysis to produce hydrogen. The Offshore Wind and Hydrogen ‘Solving the Integration Challenge’ Report (opens in a new tab) examines the potential for hydrogen to play a key role in providing the flexibility, and short- and long-term energy balancing required for integrating high percentages of offshore wind into the UK energy system and achieving Britain’s net-zero climate-change targets. The report highlights the fact that the UK has the right level of offshore wind-capacity potential – and a strong industrial base, combined with world-leading academic research – to develop a sustainable, low-cost, ‘green’ hydrogen industry – one that produces green hydrogen without CO₂ emissions from electrolysis of water. Pembrokeshire is incredibly well placed to be at the forefront of this renewable-energy and hydrogen sector, with huge potential for floating offshore wind generation in the Celtic Sea, a strong industrial base and world-leading existing energy infrastructure around the Haven Waterway.

The Energy Networks Association and Navigant have produced a report, Pathways to Net-Zero: Decarbonising the Gas Networks in Great Britain (opens in a new tab), which concludes that a balanced combination of low-carbon gases and electricity is the optimal way to decarbonise the UK energy system and reach net zero emissions by 2050.

 

On 25 June 2020, the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) produced a report to Parliament that assesses progress in reducing UK emissions over the past year. This year, the report includes new advice to the UK Government on securing a green and resilient recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic. It highlights five clear investment priorities for the months ahead:

 

1. Low-carbon retrofits and buildings that are fit for the future.
2. Tree planting, peatland restoration and green infrastructure.
3. Energy networks must be strengthened.
4. Infrastructure to make it easy for people to walk, cycle, and work remotely.
5. Moving towards a circular economy.

 

The report also finds opportunities to support the transition and the recovery by investing in the UK’s workforce, and in lower-carbon behaviours and innovation. Key areas include:

• reskilling and retraining programmes;
• leading a move towards positive behaviours; and
• targeted science and innovation funding.