Climate Change Strategy

Changing the way we work to create a more sustainable city

8.1 Whilst the Council’s carbon footprint as a proportion of the city is only 1%, the Net Zero Route map highlights the citywide picture and scale of the challenge ahead. We know that homes, transport and industry are responsible for the highest levels of carbon emissions and significant investment is needed to address this. It is not viable to expect this to be all publicly funded. However the Local Authority does have a key role as a leader to drive our response to this challenge and help develop wider opportunities and lever investment, which this section explores.

8.2 The Council has been working hard to improve its environmental credentials and reports performance annually through the globally recognised Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP). Reporting helps a city demonstrate how it is acting on climate change and provides data to improve these actions year-on-year. The Council achieved an A- rating in 2023 (second highest score available), indicating strong leadership and having demonstrated best practice standards across climate change adaptation and mitigation, and recognising we have set ambitious goals and made good progress towards achieving these.

8.3 In the consultation for the draft Strategy, lots of people told us that they want to see the Council taking a leadership role and be more ambitious in terms of tackling climate change. The Council’s policies can shape future development as set out in the figure over page:

Cultural Change of workforce

8.4 Tackling the causes and consequences of climate change is a core commitment in the Council’s One Coventry Plan. In order to drive meaningful change, sustainability needs to be embedded at the heart of our working practices and become business as usual. Some recent changes include making Climate Change part of a Cabinet Member portfolio, and a Strategic Lead – Green Futures officer position has been created to help drive organisational change.

8.5 To create cultural change across the organisation, we need to ensure that staff and councillors are equipped with the knowledge and skills to identify opportunities and changes required to create more sustainable working practices. Training and development will be a key part of this and help support councillors and officers to become stronger advocates for sustainability.

8.6 The Council also has an important role identifying issues, barriers and proposing practical solutions to address and using its lobbying, campaigning and advocacy role at a regional, national and international level - proposing new policies, practices, standards and frameworks which will help to build a more sustainable future.

8.7 The Council is committed to achieving more equality, diversity and inclusion in its workforce. A study commissioned by the Equality Trust, National Union of Students and the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA) revealed that in the UK only 3% of environmental professionals are from minority backgrounds and environment professionals are the second least diverse profession in the UK. The Climate Change and Sustainability Team will be actively exploring ways of attracting people from minority backgrounds.

Innovation and Partnerships

8.8 A key role for the Council is how we develop partnerships and empower change. This is an area that has been particularly successful for the Climate Change Board, where partnerships forged have helped drive opportunities and collaboration, and provided us with expertise to help develop our Strategy and Action Plan.

8.9 One of the biggest challenges that the Council is facing in terms of tackling climate change is capacity and resource. Whilst Coventry is fortunate to have a dedicated Climate Change team, we are limited in terms of people power, expertise and funding which is a barrier to delivering at scale and pace. However, what we do have is extensive local knowledge and assets. The Strategic Energy Partnership that the Council entered with E.ON in 2023 is a pioneering model and approach to addressing this challenge. This has effectively doubled the size of the climate change team and brings significant expertise and investment opportunities for net zero projects.

8.10 The state-of-the-art Materials Recycling Facility (MRF) that opened in 2023 was borne out of a need to address challenges around recycling, including rising costs, changing legislation and a volatile resale market. Coventry, alongside 7 other Local Authorities collaborated to form ‘Sherbourne Recycling Ltd’‘ to address these challenges. This innovative approach has resulted in creation of the most advanced MRF of its kind in the UK.

8.11 The Council has helped develop many other partnerships, including a ‘Citywide Innovation Board’ which brings together the public and private sector alongside academia to explore creative solutions to some of the city’s challenges, including climate change and decarbonisation. Some of the exciting opportunities coming out of this work include exploring drone and autonomous technology, and the city is keen to trial new technologies and act as a living lab.

Driving change through Policy

8.12 The Climate Change Strategy is intended to help influence policy development by setting out the key areas we need to address to create a sustainable future city.

8.13 Perhaps the most influential policy to inform future development in Coventry is the ‘Local Plan’, a significant policy and land use planning document that dictates the nature of land uses and future development of buildings, infrastructure and the public realm. As part of the Local Plan Review process the Council is considering where it could place greater emphasis on specific policy areas - such as those which address a number of climate change and sustainability issues to help deliver our priorities across all five pathway areas.

8.14 It is also important that policy gap areas are addressed, such as introduction of an adaptation and resilience strategy which is a significant gap in current policy and will influence service delivery and operations. Also, we need to ensure that policies are consistent and joined up, which requires regular reviews to be undertaken to ensure that our collective policies reflect the ambitions and principles of the Climate Change Strategy and broader One Coventry Plan. 

Sustainable Procurement and Social Value 

8.15 The Council works with a very broad supply chain to purchase both goods and services. This is a great opportunity to encourage suppliers to take more action on climate change and sustainability, alongside social value.

8.16 The Council recently adopted a Social Value Framework and recent changes in legislation with the introduction of the National Policy Statement for national procurement under the Procurement Act (2023) strengthens the requirement to address environmental sustainability and climate change. There is opportunity to further strengthen procurement policy, ensuring that all five pathways are embedded so that suppliers support delivery of the Strategy. 

Communication and Involvement

8.17 The feedback from the Council’s draft Climate Change Strategy consultation contained a call for improved communication and engagement around climate change and related projects. The Council is developing an engagement plan for this, and already taking action in response to this through the publication of a new Climate Change Newsletter and more regular communications to help raise public awareness, be more transparent and build trust.

8.18 People also wanted to ensure that communications and engagement are inclusive and promote equality and diversity. This is something the Council are working hard to improve, offering materials in multiple languages and formats and supporting ways to address digital exclusion. The Council collected over 500 responses and 1855 comments and the report can be found here Climate Change Strategy 2023 - 2030 consultation feedback executive summary – Coventry City Council. Whilst the feedback received was really valuable, the demographics of the responses received show there is more engagement work to do to involve key parts of the population, particularly in relation to low response rates from younger people and ethnically diverse communities.

8.19 Consultation on the Draft Climate Change Strategy was important to help understand the views of our communities across the city and how the Council can support and involve people in making positive changes. The exercise helped us to gather feedback on the Strategy and key themes within it and to understand resident and organisations’ priorities as well as highlighting any gaps.

8.20 81% of respondents to the Council’s Climate Change survey are ‘concerned’ or ‘very concerned’ about climate change. People told us the most important aspect of tackling climate change is to ensure a positive future for the next generation. 

8.21 It is important for us to understand what needs to be done to win the hearts and minds of the 19% of the respondents who don’t consider sustainability and climate change to be an issue of concern. A number of comments from this group reflected some cynicism, with concerns about people’s freedoms being reduced, scepticism of the science, a feeling that it is too vast an issue to worry about and that individuals can’t make a difference when faced with major polluting countries and corporations. Some fed back that they had bigger worries related to the cost of living. The collective impact of ‘a business-as-usual approach’ from the 19% (which could be higher as it’s likely people who don’t consider climate change an issue are less likely to respond to a consultation on this issue) could be significant on the city and its ability to address the issues facing the population.

8.22 In order to engage those that feel apathy or disagree with climate science and the need for a Climate Change Strategy, the Council will need to look at ways to identify opportunities that will benefit people, regardless of whether they consider climate change an issue or not, and work in a transparent way to build trust and buy-in to projects.

8.23 The Climate Change Strategy cannot be delivered without citywide support and involving and empowering our communities is vital to create change. There is a need to build a closer working relationship with communities and the voluntary sector working at the neighbourhood level to help drive progressive action. It’s very important that people don’t feel like changes are being done to them and instead they can play a positive role in influencing change and being part of the journey. 

8.24 An overarching Communications and Involvement Strategy will provide a template for all projects delivered through the Climate Change Action Plan. As part of this, the Council will consider a range of different tools for improving community engagement to ensure this aligns with our Just Transition principles. Communication will be clear and accessible and we will consider a range of creative and innovative ways to engage and work closely with community and faith leaders to get a broader reach into communities. We will seek to do more targeted engagement for under-represented groups, and use community panels to explore local issues and test ideas, using the arts and culture as a tool for engagement, alongside conducting research into market segmentation to help us better understand our communities, potential barriers to involvement, and ways to overcome these.

Recommendations

8.25 The Council has a leading role to play in tackling the causes and consequences of climate change. We are being bold in our approach, but there is still a lot more to do. This requires wider organisational and cultural change, with the right levels of resource and knowledge in place to support the changes we need to make to lead from the front:

• Review the structure of the Council’s Climate Change and Sustainability Team to ensure enough levels of resourcing, whilst increasing the equality, diversity and inclusivity of the workforce
• Develop and deliver climate change training to increase education and awareness and embed this knowledge into the delivery of services. Work across Council departments to help drive and develop policies that embed sustainability within all areas of the organisation
• Continue to be at the forefront of innovation, seeking out best practice, generating ideas, pursuing funding and research opportunities and forming consortiums and partnerships to tackle key challenges and pilot new technologies and initiatives in the city
• Build on existing partnerships and create new ones, using the Climate Change Board as a vehicle for bringing together key organisations to collectively work together to help deliver the Climate Change Strategy, monitor performance and continue to generate new ideas and opportunities
• Develop a Climate Change Communications and Involvement Strategy to be used as a template for all projects, incorporating monitoring and evaluation frameworks to ensure a consistent approach which is accessible and inclusive, providing opportunities for meaningful community engagement according to our Just Transition Principles.