Conf 23 | TEST

Barking and Dagenham have declared a climate emergency and are committed to achieving net zero as a council by 2030 and as a borough by 2050. To help achieve this they commissioned a research piece to understand the carbon footprint of the borough, this found that:

• Buildings contributed 38 per cent of emissions – which has led to the setting of high efficiency standards for new builds and the securing of funding to drive retrofit.
• Industrial and commercial contributed 34 per cent of emissions – which has led to further engagement with business to decarbonise.
• Transport contributed 27 per cent of emissions – which has led to the plan to only use electrical vehicles by 2030, more Electric Vehicles (EV) charging points and working with Transport for London (TFL) to improve public transport and infrastructure.
• Waste and Recycling contributed 0.6 per cent of emissions – which has led to the further tackling of low rates of recycling.
• The Council itself is only responsible for 1 per cent of emissions.

The borough is also planting trees over the next eight years to reduce carbon and provide heat protection. It’s also working to restore the natural environment.

To achieve net zero much higher levels of investment are required from national government and wider behaviour change will have to take place among residents.

Supporting SMEs to decarbonise

Barking and Dagenham have worked in partnership with their local business support provider and Better Futures+ to help test and develop a better understanding of what works. The initial offer included:

• workshops to engage businesses in their need to reduce carbon
• access to the Climax Community carbon reduction tool
• 1-2-1 support from expert advisers

Funding has also been secured through the LGA for research by consultancy to inform effective engagement.

The key findings from the initial offer have been:

• don’t say green but embed support in wider business support
• businesses engage best when there are small incentives
• 1-2-1 support is more effective than workshops or information
• build a network of advocates and champions.

Growing the Green Economy

Barking and Dagenham also wanted to understand where the best opportunities for local jobs in the green economy were and how they could be created. To do this government funding was used for a review to identify how the green economy could be grown, in line with the council’s net zero ambitions, while also generating jobs for local people. This found that:

• seventy-eight per cent of local companies were interested in finding out more about opportunities for green growth