The Opportunities and Challenges of the Local Carbon Budget

Mike Berners-leeSmall World Consulting

mike@sw-consulting.co.uk

An Associate Company of Lancaster University

Quickly about me

An Associate Company of Lancaster University

Scope 3 Carbon: BT, Booths, Manchester, West

Sussex , Cornwall, Cumbria, Lake District, South Downs, Taylor

Wimpey, Lancaster University, Farms, Hotels, Factories....

Types of emissions and impacts

Direct (Scope 1)

Indirect(Scope 3)

Electricity generation(Scope 2)

Indirect carbon is not an exact science

Consumption Based Emissions Reporting

•UK reporting should take account of emissions in trade• Supply chain carbon is coming into the mainstream • West Sussex, Lake District National Park and Greater Manchester cited as examples of policy opportunity

Hong Kong return: 4.6 tonnes

Low 3.4 tonnes High 13.4 tonnesAverage 4.6 tonnes

Economy First class

Drying your hands: 10gLow 0 g 20g

typical hand drier

Average 10 g

Let them drip

Paper towels

Asparagus (250g pack): 2kg

Low 125 g

Air freighted from Peru

Average 2 kg

Local In-season

High 3.5 kg

London to Glasgow return

London to Glasgow return

120 kg CO2e

53 kg CO2e (by Banana power) to 2.3 tonnes (Peruvian asparagus power)

330 kg CO2e

500 kg CO2e

Laptop: 400KgLow 100Kg?

High 1 tonne?

Average400 Kg

The footprint of WS residents: 13.7million tonnes CO2e per annum (17.3t per annum per resident)

Different messages for different districts...

Household energy (17% of residents footprint)

West Sussex average: 3 tonnes per resident per annum

Driving (16% of residents footprint)

Flying (13% of residents footprint)

Footprint of WS industry: 20.9m tCO2e

Agriculture, forestry and

fishing5%

Production49%

Construction6%

Distribution, transport and

communication20%

Business services and

finance8%

Public administration,

education, health and

other services12%

Four reasons for WS’s consumption based metrics?

• Indirect carbon is the majority of our impact

• It is already instinctive for most of us• Consumption metrics are coming

anyway - so we may as well be prepared and lead.

• It opens up opportunity for actions that cut carbon whilst improving the economy and wellbeing West Sussex

Managing the footprint

Maintain and repair

Holistic approach to policyMAC curve for options

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700-800

-700

-600

-500

-400

-300

-200

-100

0

100Maintain, repair & resell

Sustainable Transport Communication

Easit rollout

Car Club

Public procure-ment

20 mph

Bike Hire

More Station Parking

Retrofit delivery plan

Local food strategy

Reduction target

Thousand tonnes of carbon saved/year

MA

C: £

/tCO

2

Lessons from Greater Manchester managing its Total Carbon Footprint

Three themes emerged from multiple criteria

• Product efficiency• Low carbon Procurement• Food

A ‘product efficient’ GM in 2023 …• More utility is derived from goods during their

lifetime than at present: a more circular economy

• More money spent locally translates into local GVA

• Products are shared, repaired, reshaped, reused, recycled more than now

• Maintenance/repair, repurposing and resale markets flourish

• Local finance invests in non-linear business models

• More utility for less resource use and lower cost for people and organisations

Potential impact

Policy PriorityImpact

potential(out of 10)

Mitigating the impacts of austerity on the most vulnerable 9

Reducing dependency on public services 7

Safeguarding existing employment & creating new jobs 8

Safeguarding existing local businesses 5

Creating opportunities for start-ups and facilitating their creation 8

Building social capital 6

Climate change mitigation & other environmental benefits 9

Current clothing spend in GM

£2B clothing spend leaving

residents’ pockets

£80m Manchester clothing

manufacturing GVA

Manchester retail GVA

£500m (?)

£1.42B?Rest of the world GVA.

Manufacture and distribution

(mainly overseas)

(All numbers very approximate)

Situation after 10% shift to repair and resale with same utility.

£1.9B clothing spend leaving

residents’ pockets

£70M Manchester clothing

manufacturing GVA

Manchester retail GVA

£500M (?)

£1.28BRest of the world GVA.

Manufacture and distribution

(mainly overseas)

£100M stays in residents’ pockets

£50M Repair and preparation for

resale – Manchester GVA

Overall Impact

£100m cash saving to residents

-£10m of GVA lost from new

manufacturing

£50mIncrease in

Manchester GVA through repairs

and resale

Overall £140M increase in Manchester’s Wealth

• We picked on clothing as a simple low tech example

• But we could have picked:– Appliances– Electronic goods– Furniture– Soft furnishings– Etc.

It’s starting to happen in GM already

• Typically, created by social entrepreneurs with ethical goals, with a UI that’s all about ‘what’s in it for me’

P2P car hire today

Swishing this week

The Issues & Questions for GM Policy-Makers

The role for policy and policy-makers

It’s happening anyway, so policy goal is to nurture, accelerate.

• Identify target product sectors• Identify the desired infrastructure

and behaviours• Understand the opportunities and

barriers for social entrepreneurs• Commission interventions to enable

change

Low Carbon Procurement: Potential impact

Policy PriorityImpact

potential(out of 10)

Mitigating the impacts of austerity on the most vulnerable 6

Reducing dependency on public services ?

Safeguarding existing employment & creating new jobs 7

Safeguarding existing local businesses 6

Creating opportunities for start-ups and facilitating their creation 8

Building social capital ?

Climate change mitigation & other environmental benefits 10

Happening Already?

• In GM: Progress on sustainable procurement, especially by MCC

• WSCC: consumption-based carbon budgets now in place for each department

•Warp-It platform for sharing used by NHS, schools, LAs, charities – use can be mandated in policy

Mike Berners-LeeMike@sw-consulting.co.uk

An Associate Company of Lancaster University

Questions and comments?