Climate Change
To prepare for climate change, we must focus on both adaptation
and mitigation; we need to make sure we respond to unavoidable
global warming as well as doing what we can to slow it down and
reduce any future affects.
The Northwest needs to adapt if our economy is to grow is a
sustainable way. The NWDA’s role is to support businesses to become
more sustainable and in doing so making sure that the Northwest
secures its future economically as well as environmentally.
The NWDA is lead Regional Development Agency for the Department
for Energy and Climate Change, providing opportunities to promote
the work of the RDA network in this area and support the
development of national Government policy. A Strategic Partnership
Agreement has been signed between the Regional Development Agencies
and DECC setting out our shared priorities and how we will work
together to address them.
The NWDA actively promotes climate change adaptation and
mitigation through a number of projects and programmes:
Climate Change Action Plan
In the
Northwest Climate Change Action Plan, the NWDA
has identified how the Northwest can tap into the £30 billion
opportunity that climate change represents for British business
over the next ten years.
The Action Plan was developed with input from an advisory group
of regional partner organisations and experts. Over 25 workshops
and presentations were undertaken as part of the consultation
exercise and over 130 responses were received from groups and
stakeholders from across the region.
This Action Plan focuses on the twin objectives of reducing
regional greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to those effects of
climate change which are now unavoidable. The Action Plan forms
part of the NWDA’s sustainable
development strategy.
The Action Plan - which fulfils certain Regional Economic
Strategy criteria - is being delivered by the Northwest Climate
Change Unit, a multi-agency team comprising of officers from the
NWDA, 4NW,
GONW, and the
Environment Agency. The plan is steered by the cross sectoral
Northwest Climate Change Partnership.
The Climate Change Northwest website is a hub of climate change
information for the region, aimed at households and businesses as
well as Northwest stakeholders. As well as an advice and support
section, it provides updates on NWDA work, such as the Climate
Change Action Plan, and news affecting climate change in the
region, such as DEFRA’s UK climate projections 2009 report.
Climate Change Local Area Support Programme
In partnership with the Northwest Efficiency and Improvement
Partnership the Climate Change Unit is leading the delivery of
support to local strategic partnerships and local authorities
through Climate Change Local Areas Support Programme (CLASP) for
the National Indicators on Climate Change.
- Find out more about CLASP
Improving Your Resource Efficiency
The Improving Your Resource Efficiency business support service
is an opportunity for businesses in the Northwest to not only meet
the environmental compliance issues but to benefit from going
beyond them and acting in a socially and environmentally
responsible way.
Improving Your Resource Efficiency is the name of Business Link
Northwest’s environmental advice service. The service is free and
confidential, and connects the region’s businesses to a whole range
of resource efficiency support, making accessing the right kind of
support simple.
The support offered can: reduce energy, waste, water and
material costs; cut carbon emissions; access new technologies;
increase productivity; increase access supply chains and new
markets; aid eco-innovative design; enhance corporate image; reduce
the impact of your product and processes; and reduce the impact of
construction.
Grant for Improving Your Resource Efficiency
There is also a grant available to assist capital purchases that
demonstrate carbon dioxide reductions. The grants cover 50% of the
capital costs up to Eur200k. A Grant for Research & Development
is also available.
The Grant for Improving Your Resource Efficiency is a business
product funded by the NWDA and available through Business Link Northwest.
Grant for Research & Development
The Grant for Research & Development assists businesses
introducing innovative products and processes. The NWDA has made an
additional £2.2 million funding available to extend the grant’s
remit to cover the development of low carbon technologies
The Grant for Research & Development is funded by the NWDA
and available through Business Link
Northwest. The grant covers 35% to 60% of the project
costs up to £500,000.
Foundation - Climate Fund for the Northwest
Foundation is a local climate fund supported by the NWDA and
delivered by Groundwork. It provides funding for individual carbon
reduction projects and invests in green collar jobs, using
donations provided by businesses and individuals.
The NWDA has invested £1.6 million and Foundation has a target
to raise an additional £3 million in donations over the next three
years.
Foundation projects - which range from insulation and solar
panels to biological carbon sinks like peat bogs - are selected
based on an ability to demonstrate their carbon savings. Projects
that tackle issues like fuel poverty or biodiversity are given
priority.
Carbon Challenge Fund
The NWDA is investing up to £2 million in the Carbon Challenge
Fund to promote low carbon technologies by demonstrating and
monitoring the effectiveness of new and innovative technologies.
Awards of £100,000 to £500,000 are available to organisations and
eligible businesses to contribute to projects which demonstrate new
approaches to energy efficiency, renewable energy, low carbon
transport and construction.
Adaptation
Over the coming century, the Northwest will see increasing
temperatures, reduced summer rainfall, more intense periods of
winter rainfall, and rising sea-levels. These changes will affect
many aspects of our lives, communities, workplaces, public services
and local environments.
UK Climate Projections 09 - which predicts the impacts of future
climate change in the UK - shows that with a medium emissions
scenario the Northwest could experience:
- An increase in average summer temperatures with a central
estimate of 3.7 degrees by the 2080s
- 13% less rainfall in the summer leading to subsidence, lower
crop yields and water stress by 2040
- 16% more rainfall in the winter leading to increased winter
flooding, transport disruption and risks to urban drainage in the
2080s
- Sea level rise in Liverpool of 32cm by 2080
The NWDA supports the Northwest Adaptation Group, a
multidisciplinary group leading the regional response.
Carbon Calculator
The NWDA’s carbon calculator has been developed to measure the
carbon dioxide impact of NWDA and European Regional Development
Fund (ERDF) projects
over £250,000. Project applicants are required to provide an
initial carbon dioxide estimate for the lifetime of the project and
the actuals will then be reported, usually on a quarterly
basis.
NWDA project sponsors will give project applicants login and
password access to the carbon calculator. In addition to the live
site, a test site has been set up to provide potential project
applicants to explore how the carbon calculator works. (The test
site is a replica of the live site.)
The Carbon Calculator - along with Checklist Northwest and the
Integrated Appraisal Toolkit - is key to the NWDA’s approach to
sustainable
infrastructure.
Manchester is My Planet
The Manchester is My Planet programme has two roles: to apply
European Union Energy Planning to the Greater Manchester area; and
to promote the area as being at the forefront of climate change
thinking in the UK.
European Union Energy Planning is part of PEPESEC (Partnership
Energy Planning as a tool for realising European Sustainable Energy
Communities). PEPESEC is a project to support sustainable energy
communities throughout Europe through local community planning for
the efficient supply, distribution and use of renewable energy
sources.
Manchester is My Planet is delivering a number of innovative
green energy projects, including: the Circle of Wind
urban/industrial wind turbine installation and a biomass supply
chain. And through its Pledge campaign, the programme encourages
individuals to reduce their carbon footprint.
May Day Pledge
The NWDA is encouraging Northwest businesses to make a
commitment to reducing emissions by signing up to the Prince of
Wales Network May Day Pledge, which is being led by Business in The
Community (BiTC).
There are six elements of the pledge, and businesses are being
asked to sign up to one or more of them and make a commitment to
corporate social responsibility:
- Measure and report your business’ carbon emissions publicly or
to Business in The Community
- Manage your carbon emissions, develop a carbon action plan, and
set an absolute carbon reduction target
- Take action to reduce your business' carbon emissions
- Encourage employees to reduce their carbon footprint at home
and at work
- Work in partnership with suppliers to reduce emissions in the
supply chain
- Encourage your customers to take action on climate change
Climate Change STEM Education Activities & Sector Skills
Councils
The NWDA is supporting STEM (Science,
Technology, Engineering and Maths) education activities in the
region’s schools through a climate change
website for teachers to inform teachers on climate
change developments and provide classroom resources.
Working with the Development Education Project in Manchester,
the NWDA has established a Sustainable Schools Network Co-ordinator
who is working on the sustainable
schools agenda in the Northwest.
The NWDA works in partnership with Summit Skills, Cogent and
Energy & Utility Skills Sector Skills Councils to ensure the
Northwest benefits from low carbon technology.
Summit
Skills - the Sector Skills Council for Building
Services Engineering, Cogent - the
Sector Skills Council for Science Based Industries (including
nuclear), and Energy
& Utility Skills - the Sector Skills Council for
the gas, power, waste management and water industries - give
employers the opportunity to influence the strategic planning of
skills and education.
Transport Infrastructure
A more efficient transport system will minimise the growth in
carbon emissions. The NWDA is involved in the region’s
transport planning
through the Regional Spatial Strategy, which advocates policies and
proposals for managing travel which will contribute towards
reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector. The
work we are doing includes the Government’s DaSTS process.
Domestic Emissions
The NWDA is one of the partners of the Domestic Energy Alliance,
which brings organisations together that can contribute to the
reduction of carbon emissions in the domestic sector and the
eradication of fuel poverty.
We fund the Domestic Energy Alliance’s Northwest Low Carbon
Housing & Fuel Poverty Activity Plan to support low carbon
housing and fuel poverty eradication and encourage the installation
of microgeneration and energy efficient technologies. We have
committed to spending £200,000 until 2010/11.
Emissions from the domestic sector, both household and transport
related, account for almost two-thirds of total emissions. The
Energy Saving Trust aims to cut carbon dioxide emissions by
promoting sustainable energy usage.
The NWDA has put funding towards three new advice centres -
Merseyside & Cheshire, Cumbria & Lancashire, and Greater
Manchester - which will provide communities with the information
and advice they need to make more sustainable decisions around
energy use, such as installing loft or cavity wall insulation. We
have committed to spending £720,000 until 2010/11.
The advice centres will also work with local government and
businesses to encourage leadership in sustainable energy and
identify success stories to promote across the region.