Coventry’s draft Climate Change Strategy

Strengthening the corporate culture for delivering sustainability across the Council.

5.1 Following a series of meetings with Heads of Service the City Council has identified a number of key actions it will need to focus on across the organisation which are relevant to all divisions across the City Council. These are measures which focus on creating cultural change across the organisation embedding core values, knowledge and skills which respect the environment to meet the key objectives for delivering a sustainable future.

5.2 Officers of the City Council will look at ways in which they currently do business and attempt to measure their environmental impacts to see if there are alternative ways in minimising waste and improving the way it delivers services to the public. This will require the use of methods and processes e.g.‘LEAN Methodology’ (a method to remove waste, wasteful activities and improve efficiency originally adopted in the Japanese motor industry resulting in dramatic efficiency improvements), environmental audits and impact assessments. There is clearly a strong commitment across the organisation to develop new skills and to be increasingly conscious of the environmental impacts of the activities the Authority has on the world outside.

5.3 The proposal for an independent review to ensure the functions of the Sustainability Team and other areas of activity across the City Council are fit for purpose and have a part to play in addressing sustainability and climate change. The question we need to ask of the City Council does it have an adequate capability to oversee the delivery of a complex series of activities and programmes which will occur across the Council Departments and divisions of the City Council. This should include a clarification of core competencies across the City Council which can be incorporated in the Personal Development Reviews for employees who all have a role to play in delivering elements of the Five Pathways

5.4 A Policy Exchange study commissioned by the Equality Trust, National Union of Students (NUS) and the Institute of Environmental Management & Assessment (IEMA) revealed that in the UK only 3% of environmental professionals are from minority backgrounds and the environment professionals are the second least diverse profession in the UK. The Sustainability Team will be actively exploring ways of attracting the interest of young people from minority backgrounds with placements and internships wherever possible.

5.5 There is an opportunity to recruit and train volunteers amongst the workforce to act as advocates for sustainability to help monitor progress and promote a culture of continuous improvement and mutual support in achieving improved standards in sustainability and consciousness.

5.6 The recent development of the Institute of Environmental Management & Assessment’s a Blueprint for a Green Workforce Transformation provides a coherent approach to skilling up and raising the awareness of members of the workforce to be better equipped and able to address sustainability and climate change issues. The City Council now has IEMA accredited trainer status and is developing sustainability & Climate change awareness courses for staff across the organisation and also local businesses.

5.7 The Local Authority will develop an initial basket of sustainability indicators for measuring the performance and impact of the 5 pathways in the Strategy in delivering outputs and outcomes after the first six months of its operation.

5.8 The Local Plan is a very significant policy and land use planning document that dictates and influences the nature of permitted land uses and future development of buildings, infrastructure and the public realm.   It is our opportunity to shape how we would like the City to develop in the future and to protect those aspects of the Built and natural heritage that we hold dear.  We are approaching a window of opportunity where the City Council has the chance to review its Local Plan and to consider where it could place greater emphasis on specific policy areas - such as those which address a number of climate change and sustainability issues which will impact across all five of the identified pathways. 

The Plan Review process will be wide ranging and should in particular consider opportunities to;

1. further promote energy conservation in buildings and the development and use of renewables for energy generation.
2. further protect and enhance biodiversity.
3. promote high quality design that promote active travel.
4. ensure accessibility to public transport and active travel and minimise the need for the use of the private motor vehicle.
5. further reduce the risk of flooding) and minimise the opportunities for heat gain.

5.9 These proposed universal corporate areas of activity are detailed below: 

• U1. To conduct an independent review of the structure and organisation of the City Council and the Sustainability Team to ensure sufficient levels of resourcing and staffing are present with a structure and organisation that is fit for purpose and that the City Council has the capacity and capability to deliver a complex programme of work across the Five Pathways.
• U2. To provide detailed guidance to support the drafting of environmental/ sustainability paragraphs in reports to the City Council identifying the likely impact of recommendations in reports on the development of Partnerships and business ventures.
• U3. To carry out a Formal Internal Audit to develop an assessment framework with the Sustainability and Climate change Team and to conduct audits of the standard of Sustainability reporting, alongside an informal self-monitoring guide for service areas.
• U4. To introduce a Procurement Strategic Framework and practical toolkit to ensure sustainability criteria are incorporated in decision making when: 
  • Purchasing new goods and services
  • Selecting a partner organisation to do business with
  • Selecting conditions to attach to a major planning application to address social value and sustainability issues
• U5. To engage with partners in the development of a ‘State of the City Report ‘which would be reviewed Annually or Biannually depending on the level of resourcing required across the organisation as a whole. The Report will be used to assess progress over time and relate outcomes of specific projects and programmes by the City Council and its partners and the quality of life of its citizens and the state of the environment.
• U6. To Develop a set of performance indicators to measure outputs and outcomes in the delivery of projects, services and activities These could be related to the state of the City Report which will reflect the circumstances faced by citizens.
• U7. To work with organisations like Climate View to develop effective measures to monitor and model impacts of changes in practices and behaviours upon carbon emissions and climate change.
• U8. To ensure the SMART Cities Sherbourne Project includes opportunities to address sustainability and environmental issues such as utilising the use of real time monitoring systems to more efficiently manage resources and energy across the City and minimise the risk of pollution with improvements to water and air quality.
• U9. To work with IEMA and the LGA on the development of accredited Carbon Literacy and sustainability knowledge and awareness courses for staff across the City Council and also offered to personnel in partner organisations to attend as part of their professional development programmes.  This would help to promote the highest standards in terms of skills, knowledge and awareness of the sustainability criteria.
• U10.  To initiate discussion with other local authorities in the WMCA area to introduce a set of sustainability criteria for the West Midlands Pension fund to ensure it supports environmentally sustainable projects and activities.
• U11. To work with the Personnel Department on the performance frameworks for staff to ensure key knowledge, skills and behaviours are fully conversant with meeting sustainability criteria.
• U12. To work with the Personnel Department, schools, colleges and universities on the promotion of the environmental professions as a career to minority groups through positive action with the provision of work experience placements and internships where possible for environmental and sustainability-related posts.
• U13. To recruit a number of sustainability champions to promote the Strategy and advocate continuous improvement in achieving higher standards in environmental and ethical practice in the workplace within their division or service area and to keep colleagues up to date about the latest news concerning sustainability & climate change.
• U14. To promote and further the development of sustainable travel, promotion of active travel, cycle and shared electric vehicles for staff, and public transport.
• U15. To promote loans for bicycle, public transport passes and car leasing agreements for Council employees including installation of home charging facilities.
• U16. To improve the Council’s monitoring of resource consumption (electricity, gas & water), air quality, water quality, transport movements, waste generation & disposal, recycling etc to help the Local Authorities CDP Assessments etc using automated technologies where possible and help in improved planning for the measurement of resource consumption.
• U17. To explore new means of financing initiatives in the future including engaging with communities and businesses in the development of Community Investment Plans crowdfunding or securing loans from the UK Infrastructure bank and the development of Green Municipal bonds as in Warrington etc.
• U18. To demonstrate the City’s commitment to addressing climate change by driving a rapid transition from diesel to electric for our vehicle fleet with livery messaging to communicate this commitment to the public.
• U19. For the Central Communications Team to provide support for the City’s Sustainability Strategy with targeted communications and engagement of communities and businesses etc.
• U20. To support schools where possible with educational programmes to promote awareness and understanding of all environmental and climate change issues and to encourage positive action and behaviour change with increases in the numbers of schools participating in positive initiatives such as Eco-Schools, Food for Life Schools, and Forest Schools.
• U21. To follow on from COP26 for the City Council to play a leading advocacy role in championing the Sustainability agenda and lobbying at the regional, national and international level for change on behalf of the City and others in local government aiming for the highest standards in policy and practice.
• U22. To engage professionals across the Local Authority in the Review of the Local Plan to amend policy statements relating to sustainability and climate change where appropriate.