Our key themes
Energy efficiency
The Authority is clear that to reduce the demand for power and heat in buildings across all sectors, the energy efficiency of existing buildings must continue to improve.
In terms of buildings under its direct influence and control, the Authority has undertaken a range of measures, such as replacing fossil fuel boilers with air source heat pumps in some of our larger buildings, replacing internal lighting with LEDs, making changes to improve the efficiency of air handling units, replacement double glazing, and improvement to heating controls.
The Authority has undertaken a number of measures in its social housing stock to improve their energy efficiency. For example, cavity walls and lofts have been insulated, as well as the replacement of boilers which are hydrogen ready.
The Authority is working with a range of partners to ensure further measures are also put in place for energy generation i.e., solar PV arrays, as well as the transition to domestic air source heat pumps. New build social housing has moved towards modern methods of construction and require little in the way of fossil fuel use. This particular construction method called HUSK has placed the Authority at the forefront of the Net Zero transition. More work on energy efficiency programmes are planned on the Authority ’s social housing stock as well as how the Authority supports the owner occupier and private rented sectors.
The Authority is unable to undertake direct measures to make privately owned commercial properties more energy efficient, however there are many opportunities to signpost businesses to advice and national government support.
Residents in the borough will benefit from a new free comprehensive energy advice service aimed at improving home energy efficiency. The Home Energy Advice North East service will guide residents through the steps needed to make home energy improvements, enabling them to reduce their carbon emissions and lower their energy bills.
Decarbonising / generating heat and power
Within the borough, the Authority is clear that opportunities may exist to enable the generation of heat and power to support its own demands as well as those of businesses and households.
In reducing demand for heat in existing and new buildings, the Authority is working with the Department for Energy Security Net Zero (the former Department of Business and Industrial Strategy) to assess the roll-out of heat networks using zero carbon heat supplies i.e., geothermal and mine water.
The Killingworth Heat Neat Network Study has identified that a centralised heat production can deliver the reduction of energy (heat) waste and also lower carbon emissions. A scheme could contribute to cost savings for consumers as well as stimulate local economic growth by creating jobs and investment. Additionally, heat networks improve energy security and can play a crucial role in reducing fuel poverty, ensuring everyone has access to affordable and sustainable heating solutions
Decarbonising travel
Travel contributes to 30.4% of the borough’s carbon footprint. Reducing vehicle emissions and usage by encouraging modal shift and accelerating the transition to low carbon transport is integral to decarbonisation and improving air quality. Decarbonising road transport is a national ambition. The proposed regulatory framework (recently under consultation May 2023) for new car and van emissions is a devolved policy area under the Climate Change Act 2008, meaning there could be the potential for separate ZEV mandates and CO2 emissions trading scheme regulations across the UK. In November 2020, the UK Government announced that all new cars and vans must be fully zero emissions at the tailpipe by 2035.
The rise in electric vehicles is currently very rapid, driven largely by the development of technology and market forces, with their registration doubling every year. It is expected that by or before 2028, every second new car will be an electric vehicle.
The Authority has recently published its Zero Emission Vehicles (ZEV) Strategy and Action Plan which is designed to be flexible and responsive. It will be refreshed as required to reflect the ongoing development of ZEV technologies. The Authority is also developing is programme of road improvement schemes to enable safer cycling and walking modal shift. The Action Plan will continue to consider the necessary steps to transition to low and zero carbon travel
Food
The Authority recognises that the potential impact of more sustainable food policies can be a significant factor in carbon emissions reduction. Food system activities, including producing food, transporting it, and storing wasted food in landfills, produce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that contribute to climate change. Of these sources, livestock production is the largest, accounting for an estimated 14.5 percent of global GHG emissions. Meat from ruminant animals, such as cattle, are particularly emissions intensive. The Authority provides a range of healthy balanced meal options in schools and operational buildings which include non-meat options. In conjunction with the provision of food, the Authority has adopted energy efficient kitchen technologies for cooking, dish washing, cooling, and freezing.
The Authority has developed a Food Waste Strategy which sets out a vision and plan for North Tyneside to tackle food insecurity, food related health inequalities and the impacts of food on our environment.
It has been developed with partners to be an overarching document that begins to consider the different policy areas that impact our food system. This strategy initially has a 1-year action plan with the intention that this facilitates further development work, conversations, and actions both within the Council and with our partners across North Tyneside during 2024 to set out the longer-term approach.
Food waste
A significant proportion of greenhouse gas emissions can be attributed to the food we throw away. It has been estimated that if food waste was a country, it would be the third highest emitter of greenhouse gases after the US and China. There is also the economic factor to consider; UK households throw away 300,000 tonnes of meat and fish a year, costing £3.2 billion.
Councils in England will be required to introduce weekly food waste collections by March 2026. Ahead of this milestone, we are taking steps to raise awareness on the importance of food waste prevention and influence changes in behaviours towards waste. By measuring and monitoring food waste, we can provide evidence-based recommendations which encourage people to help reduce the amount of edible food thrown away.
We are supporting Eat Smart, a food waste prevention programme delivered by Bind. Eat Smart is working with some of North Tyneside’s primary schools to empower children to prevent food waste by raising awareness of where our food comes from and what happens when it’s thrown away.
At Richardson Dees Primary School in Wallsend, over 200 pupils participated in efforts to reduce the school’s food waste by 21%. This is the equivalent of preventing over 3,100 meals being binned per year, saving 3.8 tonnes of carbon.
Adaption to Climate Change
The Authority is clear that to meet its climate ambitions, adaptation to climate change must be an inherent and core part of the Action Plan. An integrated approach of mitigation and adaptation continues with the Authorities inclusion in the Department of Environment of Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) pilot for local authorities in line with the 4th Adaption Reporting Power cycle (detailed below).
Adapting to current and predicted changes to our climate, both at the national and local levels, is a vital necessity to protect the economy and protect society. All the current science and evidence suggests that climate change is leading to increasing frequency of severe weather, be that high rainfall and flooding or heatwaves. North Tyneside is as vulnerable to these types of events as the rest of the North East of England. Storm Arwen (November 2021) is an example of how extreme weather can impact the borough. There are short, medium- and long-term climate change risks to residents, business, and infrastructure as a result of hotter and drier summers, more intense rainfall, stronger winds and more storminess, and warmer winters.
Waste and recycling
The Authority has a statutory duty to collect and dispose of household waste arising within the borough. To achieve this, it directly provides a kerbside collection service and contract arrangements are in place to dispose of residual waste, reprocess recyclable material and operate a Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC). The process of managing waste contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. For example, when organic waste decomposes, carbon dioxide and methane gas is created. The production and incineration (energy from waste) of inorganic waste uses natural resources such as water, fuel, metal, timber in their production and this results in the emission of greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide and other pollutants.
Plastic waste produces greenhouse gas emissions during every stage of its lifecycle. The extraction and transportation of plastic is dependent on oil, gas, and coal. The production and disposal of plastics also release carbon emissions.
The Action Plan includes policy commitments around the introduction of separate food waste collections and implementation of emerging government legislation on consistency in collections and deposit return schemes. The aspect of waste and resource management is looked at in more detail in Section 8 of this update.
Offsetting and Insetting emissions including nature based solutions
The Authority has identified a range of carbon reduction projects in the Action Plan which will impact on reducing its own direct emissions and emissions from the borough. There is however recognition that there are some emissions which will not be addressed by physical technology interventions or cultural behaviour. A current practice in the commercial / private sector is the use of carbon offsets which tend to provide an opportunity to sponsor projects across the globe for a range of costs per tonne of carbon emissions.
The public are becoming better educated on climate change matters and are likely to scrutinise offsetting issues around additionality, permanence, and verification of emissions savings. This scrutiny could be compounded by the lack of choice taxpayers would have in how their money is invested. There is to date no direct option for the public sector to engage in offsetting as government policy remains unclear and it is anticipated that significant development work will be required to enable this to happen. There is also a balance of public perception and the use of public money on investing in offsetting projects. At this point in time the Authority does not consider this practice as acceptable best value for money.
The Authority is now focussed on developing an approach to these emissions and alternative means of supporting the Net Zero transition as required and one of these is to look more closely at Area Based Insetting (ABI). Area Based Insetting (ABI) is a new mechanism being developed by a small number of local authorities including North Tyneside Council that builds on the principles of traditional ‘offsetting’, by shifting the focus of the carbon saving project from a value chain into the geographic boundary of a local Authority.
ABI applies relevant principles and learnings from offsetting, including the use of credits to raise finance. It also seeks to retain insetting’s potential to connect local stakeholders and generate mutual benefits. This project commenced in March 2021 and is making steady progress. ABI projects can take the form of technological as well as nature-based solutions.
The Authority’s ambition for a low carbon and clean growth economy means that we will continue to nurture a broad range of low carbon industries, including some sectors which have world leading positions; this success to date is built upon wider strengths in the borough in support for innovation and excellence. The publication of a regional study commissioned by Newcastle City Council (Cambridge Econometrics study) on the green economy and green jobs aims to ensure that the North of Tyne Combined Authority area and local Authority areas within it can take advantage of green growth opportunities, and that current employers and communities are not disadvantaged by the transition to net zero. Transitioning towards a greener economy will require structural change in the region, as new technologies and working practices develop and are deployed, while the use of more carbon-intensive technologies and systems declines.
These structural changes will cause shifts in production and consumption throughout all sectors of the economy, particularly shifts from high-carbon-intensive sectors to low-carbon-intensive sectors. A successful transition to decarbonisation has far-reaching implications for the region’s labour market, with new opportunities created for workers in existing and new green sectors, while jobs in more carbon intensive, declining sectors may be put at risk.
There is also a focus on how economy activities and changes can help to increase the scale and scope of sustainable and green products, services, and methods of working to support and accelerate the journey to net zero.
For a successful and socially just transition to take place, the local workforce needs to be equipped with the right skills to adapt to this changing economic structure and the changing nature of jobs, to avoid exclusion and increased unemployment.
Both mitigation of carbon emissions as outlined in this Action Plan and adaptation to climate change have direct economic benefits, and therefore are also opportunities for new skills and training opportunities. There are also new and emerging jobs that relate directly to the transition to net zero and these include:
- the energy transition (including oil and gas, on and offshore wind, hydrogen, electricity, carbon capture and storage)
- construction (including the retrofitting of housing and non-residential properties)
- manufacturing (with a focus on engineering)
The work carried out by North Tyneside Council on these subjects not only contribute to the overall prosperity of the borough but also the region. Seeking to provide skills and training support will ensure local workers are equipped with the necessary expertise to fully realise future employment opportunities in the green economy, and this is particularly important in the region, where skills shortages and mismatches in the context of the transition to net zero have been identified.
Behaviour change
The Authority has a long history of promoting messages to households to make small and easy changes to reduce the impacts of lifestyle on the environment. It is now recognised there is a need to raise the profile of this messaging in order to accelerate consumer behaviours and choices to the scale needed to match the pace of the Authority’s action planning. For the purposes of equity and inclusion and a just transition to a low carbon future, the Authority recognises that public change need not be expensive or reduce well-being, and also that changes could deliver huge co-benefits to health and other aspects.