Glasgow’s Climate Emergency Implementation Plan
Is it up to scratch? We fill in the gaps and explain what it all means.
Barry Dalgleish
In November 2020, Glasgow City Council (GCC) launched its Climate Emergency Implementation Plan (CEIP) consultation. Accompanying the launch, GCC published a report which outlined the details of the Plan. The consultation runs until the 24 January 2021.
The report involved collaboration with GCC and the Climate Emergency Working Group. The result was 61 recommendations that would inform the City’s drive towards carbon neutrality by 2030. The recommendations are listed in the report’s Appendix 2.
The Plan is structured around five key themes. These are:
Communication and Community Empowerment: ‘We must continue to move away from siloed or sectoral thinking, taking a more integrated and inclusive approach has proven results in other areas of work.’
Just and Inclusive Place: ‘Climate change has an impact on everyone but often significantly impacts those already facing inequalities.’
Well Connected and Thriving City: ‘This plan seeks to move towards more integrated, collaborative, and transformative action. ‘For Glasgow to flourish, we must ensure that our communities are able to actively participate in the decisions about reducing our carbon footprint and adapt to the effects of climate change.’
Health and Wellbeing: ‘A city that is well connected, providing equitable access for all, is a healthier city where all of its occupants can thrive and flourish in the face of a changing climate.’
Green Recovery: ‘A sustainable and green recovery from current events will also require a rethinking of our city and its wider infrastructure, including enhancing and re-building green networks and biodiversity.’
Underpinning these themes and the recommendations are the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Also forming part of the framework for the Plan is GCC’s Strategic Plan and the UK Committee on Climate Change (UK CCC) report.
The report lays out the ambition of GCC in achieving carbon neutrality by 2030, then zero carbon by 2045. According to the report:
Carbon Neutrality refers to the point at which carbon dioxide emissions emitted by the city are negated by the amount of carbon stored, offset, or sequestered by natural means.
And:
Net-Zero Emissions refers to the point at which all emissions emitted by the city (CO2, NOx, Sox, PM10, PM2.5) are negated by the amount stored, offset, or sequestered by natural means.
Given the ambiguity of the two terms, the Carbon Trust outlines a more detailed definition:
The boundary of a net zero target includes global scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions of the organisation, whereas carbon neutrality for an organisation only requires scope 1 and 2, with scope 3 emissions encouraged but not mandatory.
The boundary of a carbon neutral claim can refer to a specific product or service instead of encompassing the whole organisation in the case of net zero.
The reduction in reported emissions required differs. Net zero targets must align to a 1.5°C science-based target, whereas the level of ambition of a carbon management plan for carbon neutrality is not specified.
The approach to residual emissions differs, with specific greenhouse gas removals required for net zero targets, whereas carbon offsets are accepted for carbon neutrality.
Scope emissions are based on the internationally recognised GreenHouse Gas Protocol standards. Within a city context:
Scope 1 – GHG emissions from sources located within the city boundary.
Scope 2 – GHG emissions occurring as a consequence of the use of grid-supplied electricity, heat, steam and/or cooling within the city boundary.
Scope 3 – All other GHG emissions that occur outside the city boundary as a result of activities taking place within the city boundary.
The purpose of the plan is to make Glasgow one of the most sustainable cities in Europe. This will mean an increased focus in tackling the climate emergency within the city. This will follow a process of adaptation and mitigation, reducing GHG emissions and preparing the city for the impacts of climate change, to follow through from a green economic recovery from Covid-19 and increased investment. It will be underpinned by two key principles:
• That actions to address the climate crisis must not further disadvantage people and communities who already experience significant inequalities.
• That actions to create a safer and more sustainable city should also be aimed at building a just and more equal city.
The report states that Glasgow has already achieved its CO2 reductions target of 30% emissions. Data on this is available from the Glasgow Indicators Project. It should be noted that:
the figures for Glasgow do not take account of the carbon footprint of goods imported to and then bought or consumed in the city. The figures also do not take account of personal air travel.
UK Committee on Climate Change
The Plan incorporates recommendations from the UK CCC. It emphasises the need for ‘a green and resilient COVID-19 recovery.’ The CCC report outlines five investment priorities that will be adopted by GCC. These are:
Low-carbon retrofits and buildings that are fit for the future
Tree planting, peatland restoration, and green infrastructure
Strengthening energy networks
Improving Infrastructure for walking, cycling and remote working
Moving towards a circular economy
Briefly, the City’s approach to each of these issues are as follows:
1. Low-carbon and affordable housing and energy will be achieved through application of its Carbon Management Plan; its Local Heat and Energy Effciency Strategy (LHEES), ‘which will present ambitious targets for absolute carbon reduction across the built environment by 2050.’ This will be derived from a Scottish Government initiative and through the City Development Plan. Imputing into this is Energy Systems Catapult, which was established by Innovate UK, a UK Government initiative.
2. Working with the Green Action Trust, GCC plans to plant 22,000 trees. This will form part of a wider initiative that falls under the Local Biodiversity Action Plan. An Ecological Emergency Working Group has been set up to guide this process, with the remit to ‘reverse declines in wildlife and restore nature in Glasgow.’
3. GCC has introduced a new Carbon Management Plan (CMP3) that ‘aims to address the city ’s direct carbon emissions’. The GCC website though only refers to the CMP2. The gist is more renewables in the city, upgrading lighting systems to energy efficient LED’s, greater energy efficiency and following through on the LHEES.
This will tap into the EU’s H2020 RUGGEDISED project, which is funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, which ‘includes three lighthouse cities: Rotterdam, Glasgow and Umeå to accelerate the smart city model across Europe.’
4. During the COVID-19 crisis, GCC introduced ‘‘temporary measures’ [to] provide additional space for physical distancing in public places for people to walk, wheel or cycle’. Its unclear why these measures are considered ‘temporary’ when the long term plan includes:
active travel (walking, wheeling and cycling) and the need to make the city a better place for pedestrians and cyclists whilst de-privileging the private motor car and improving our current public transport system.
The initiatives will be laid out in a proposed Glasgow Transport Strategy.
5. GCC plans to move towards a circular economy. This will be outlined in the proposed Circular Economy Route Map for Glasgow. In short this will involve:
A realignment of the economy on circular principles of sharing, reducing, reusing, remanufacturing, and repair.
Does the plan measure up?
Civil society groups have commented on the plan. Get Glasgow Moving has published an article. It states that in a previous consultation (2019), public transport was ‘the number 1 issue for local people’. Despite this, GGM’s position is that insufficient emphasis has been placed on transport within the plan. Following is part of their suggested response to the consultation (Question 13):
The Council must take a much more active role in the city’s transport system, to stand any chance of sufficiently reducing emissions. This must include regulating the city region’s bus network to deliveran integrated service (buses, trains and Subway working together) and bring down the cost of fares.
As things stand, GCC has published a Draft Case for Change Report – Glasgow’s Transport Strategy 2021-31(PDF). The following infographic shows how the strategy will progress. It looks likely that it will come up for consultation towards the end of 2021.
Divest Strathclyde have made a submission, specifically relating to their campaign against the Strathclyde Pension Fund. They note action point 45:
The city will encourage pension fund investors in the city to develop a strategy for divestment from the fossil fuel industry.
Although they support the initiative cited in the plan, a couple of points from the submission emphasises issues that should be focused on:
The divestment strategies should include a clear date by which divestment will have been achieved. A timescale of 5 years is frequently used and offers a generous period of time to move investments, so if a pension fund announced its divestment in 2021 the process should be completed by absolutely no later than 2026.
The Strathclyde Pension Fund can lead by example by announcing its decision to divest before COP26 in November 2021. The trustees of the SPF have been aware of the arguments for divestment for years and are well placed to take action.
One of the key points that is stated in the CEIP report is engaging with key stakeholders. This will be vital following the consultation. This will cover a broad church that will include other groups not specifically associated with the environmental movement. This includes those connected with social justice and inclusion as inequality is linked to climate change. According to the report:
The city will develop a Climate Risk Register as part of the climate adaptation planning work, reflecting findings from the UK Climate Change Risk Assessment for Scotland and Climate Ready Clyde Regional Risk and Opportunity Assessment. This will give us a better understanding of risks, vulnerabilities and opportunities for the city, as well as the priorities for action in continuing to build our resilience to climate change.
Contributing to this process is the Place Standard tool. Its purpose is to provide:
a simple framework to structure conversations about place. It allows you to think about the physical elements of a place (for example its buildings, spaces, and transport links) as well as the social aspects (for example whether people feel they have a say in decision making).
The tool provides prompts for discussions, allowing you to consider all the elements of a place in a methodical way. The tool pinpoints the assets of a place as well as areas where a place could improve.
Glasgow will set up a Just Transition Commission, which will link into the Scottish Government initiative, that will:
ensure the burden of climate impacts is shared equitably and that all in Glasgow have equitable opportunities of access and success in our low carbon economy.
Air quality has been a major issue. The report has outlined steps to deal with this. This began with the introduction of low emission zones (LEZ) at the end of 2018. According to the report:
This has provided measurable improvements in air quality and will be extended on a phased basis to include all vehicle types.
Full implementation will take place in 2022. However GCC has come under fire from Friends of the Earth Scotland, which described the city’s initiative as ‘low ambition zone’. FOES criticised the time frame for full implementation and the fact that the city will still fail to comply with EU regulations.
Another important area is food. This has been the subject of a separate consultation. Locavore has published a comprehensive response to this.
Finally
This is an ambitious Plan, although it is at the initial planning stage. The real test of the City’s commitment to its CEIP will take place once the consultation is over. Meanwhile, readers can participate in the consultation either personally or representing an organisation.
This ‘will allow the council to gather feedback on the plan’s proposed actions, thematic approach and level of ambition.’ Following the consultation survey, GCC will have ‘climate emergency conversations’ that will lead to the adoption of a revised plan.
First Published, Jan 14th, 2021