Net zero risk register

Risk Title and Description

Challenge to reduce City Council Scope 3 other indirect emissions (supply chain, assets, investment, waste disposal, employees commuting).

Service: All City Council Departments

Date identified: 13 June 2022

Owner: Executive

Target implementation date: 2030

Potential Causes:

• Insufficient data capture in place to provide meaningful incentive for reduction and identify where greatest reductions can be made
• Methodology for calculating majority of Scope 3 emissions is based on financial spend and therefore not an accurate reflection of type of purchase and services
• Procurement Policy unable to support carbon reduction measures in our supply chain e.g contactors do not/unable to reduce emissions
• Impact of increased spend as a result of Council new build and purchase of new assets
• Budgets restrict sustainable options if more costly, and can result in increased greenhouse gas emissions using less sustainably resourced products / products with shorter life spans

Potential Impacts:

• Scope 3 emissions increase on an annual basis
• City Council unable to achieve net zero by 2030

Existing Mitigations & Control

What has been done to control the risk?

• Procurement Policy amendment to support a reduction in Scope 3 emissions
• Officers responsible for procurement decisions within their own service area to follow sustainability principles
• Regular internal and external communications to introduce better methodology to capture accurate meaningful data to incentivise reduction, "you cant manage what you don't measure"
• Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) bid to support further Electric Vehicle charging infrastructure to include staff Electric Vehicle charging
• New technology and agile working facilities for reduction in staff travel emissions
• Procurement Working Group provides for regular discussions with Procurement and Heads of Service on how to best tackle Scope 3 emissions
• New procurement rules have been implemented in May 2024. All contracts exceeding £25,000 must now disclose carbon footprint data. For contracts valued over £100,000, stricter environmental standards apply, including mandatory carbon footprint disclosure and the requirement to hold an environmental accreditation.
• Green Accord accreditation scheme relaunched to better engage with Council's supply chain and support contractors to reduce emissions

Further Mitigations & Controls to be put into place

• Embodied emission evaluation needed for new developments and acquisitions to assess whole life impact of carbon emissions. This includes assessment of building new versus use of existing assets and building efficiently
• Sustainable buildings maintenance policy to review lifecycle emissions and overall cost benefit of low carbon alternatives
• Green Travel Plan under review to support and incentivise staff in making more sustainable travel choices for commuting and business travel
• Research underway to improve integration of net zero ambition into all Council decisions, looking at models such as Doughnut Economics

Notes

New procurement rules implemented in May 2024 require  disclosure of carbon footprint data for all contracts exceeding £25,000. Contracts valued over £100,000, stricter environmental standards apply, including mandatory carbon footprint disclosure and the requirement for a contractor to have an environmental accreditation.

Risk scores

Risk scores explained.