Our journey to net zero carbon

Reducing the amount of carbon emissions generated in Derbyshire isn't something we can do on our own. We need the whole county to get involved.

Work is underway throughout the council to reduce carbon emissions across the county in partnership with people in our communities, businesses, other local councils, interest groups and government.

Find out more about our climate change challenge.

Our Climate Change Strategy for Derbyshire was approved by Cabinet in October 2021. You can find it attached to this page along with a shorter summary version which sets out the next steps for us to reduce emissions from our own estate and operations, and from across the county.

Priority work

Our climate and environmental priorities are as follows.

Make our buildings and operations more energy efficient and effective:

• monitor energy consumption to manage it more effectively and reduce costs and emissions
• develop behaviour change programmes with colleagues to reduce energy consumption
• conduct an asset review programme to identify energy saving investments and renewable energy opportunities
• monitor our water use and implement water-saving measures
• decarbonise our vehicle fleet with electric vehicles when there is an appropriate vehicle for the job
• complete our LED street lighting programme
• support employees to reduce business mileage and travel-to-work miles

Support our employees and elected members:

• deliver a range of climate change training courses for employees and councillors, including a mandatory training module for all employees
• run internal workshops for all service areas to develop actions to reduce emissions, achieve co-benefits of climate action and adapt to the effects of climate change

Green our local economy to support local businesses:

• use results from the Derbyshire Spatial Energy Study (attached to this page) to support an increase in renewable energy generation across Derbyshire
• work with the local quarrying and mineral products industry to support the sector to become more sustainable - see Improvement and Scrutiny Committee - Climate Change, Biodiversity and Carbon Reduction agenda on 29 April 2024 item12/24
• work closely with the county's industrial and agricultural sectors to help reduce their emissions and safeguard their long-term environmental and economic stability in the region
• support schools across the county to reduce emissions, leading to wider environmental benefits and climate change awareness in schools and their communities
• carry out climate change impact assessments on some of our biggest infrastructure projects
• continue to develop our sustainable procurement policy and encourage our supply chain to deliver goods and services to reduce our environmental impact and improve sustainability
• work with our partners (the East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA), district and borough councils, and Midlands Net Zero Hub) to support the development of green sector training, skill development and new jobs across the county

Help improve the energy efficiency of local homes and communities:

• deliver actions under the council strategy for the decarbonisation of Derbyshire's housing - see Improvement and Scrutiny Committee - Climate Change, Biodiversity and Carbon Reduction agenda on 18 September 2023 agenda item 28/22
• support homeowners in improving the energy efficiency of their homes, for example through the HEAT Hub in collaboration with local agencies and experts
• host the Local Authority Energy Partnership which brings together county, city, district, borough councils across Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire and whose work includes coordinating large-scale retrofit programmes to reduce fuel poverty
• partner with Midlands Net Zero Hub to deliver projects including the upskilling of local suppliers
• engage and work closely with the county's active and knowledgeable community energy groups to co-design and co-deliver projects and campaigns
• use our expertise and resources to promote events and support community energy groups and town and parish councils and signpost them to funding streams to support their climate and environmental projects

Support green and active travel to improve accessibility, health, and wellbeing:

• develop sustainable travel master plans in market towns across Derbyshire
• work in partnership with district and borough councils and private enterprise to install 1,000 electric vehicle charge points across the county by 2025
• use Active Travel England Capability Funding to develop a series of local active travel (walking, cycling and wheeling) plans
• work with operators and partners to deliver the county-wide Bus Service Improvement Plan using £47 million of funding secured from the Department for Transport in November 2022
• work with schools across the county to develop specific school travel plans and promote and develop active school travel
• pilot and support partners with the use of alternative low carbon vehicles (electric and hydrogen)

Reduce the environmental impact of resource use and waste, including food sustainability:

• work to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill and increase recycling and composting across the county
• work with the operator of our household waste recycling centres to run a re-use shop for pre-loved items
• provide healthy and sustainable meals for schools as part of the primary food explorers programme
• support Derbyshire schools with their food waste reduction programmes

Improve Derbyshire's natural environment to benefit wildlife and local communities, increase resilience and remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere:

• work with other councils in Derbyshire to apply findings from the Natural Capital Strategy and Local Nature Recovery Strategy to enhance and protect Derbyshire's natural resources
• develop and promote our Million Trees campaign, involving communities and businesses in their own tree planting while looking at other types of habitat protection and creation
• develop the Derbyshire Heartwood Community Forest in partnership with organisations, individuals and communities across the county
• manage our green spaces across the county effectively to protect and enhance local biodiversity
• work with partner organisations to achieve biodiversity net gain and biodiversity off-setting in Derbyshire, linked to the requirements of the 2021 Environment Act
• contribute as a delivery partner to the Peak District National Park management plan

Develop plans to adapt to climate change:

• identify and develop actions we need to take to respond to extreme weather events such as floods, strong winds or long spells of hot weather
• build awareness of adapting to climate change with our service areas and vulnerable communities
• work with our partners and other specialists to help build pathways to climate change resilience in our communities

Governance and monitoring

Tackling climate change and environmental sustainability are core priorities in our Council Plan. The council has internal and county-wide climate change targets that are set out in our climate change challenge.

As part of our approach:

• climate risk is monitored by the audit committee through the strategic risk register
• we undertake annual carbon reporting to cabinet using guidelines developed by the Local Government Association and have started reporting our progress to CDP
• the Climate Change, Biodiversity and Carbon Reduction Improvement and Scrutiny Committee monitors and scrutinises delivery of our climate change ambitions
• the elected Leader of the council is the Climate Change Portfolio Holder
• we have introduced a climate change section in committee report templates
• we apply for external grant funding to support our work, where we have capacity to deliver - this has included Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (LEVI) funding and the Bus Service Improvement Programme (BSIP)

Supporting policies and strategies

In delivering these projects and work streams we are supported by the following policies and strategies:

• Environment Policy - the framework for what we do, which explains how we put sustainability into action
• Sustainable Procurement Policy (approved by Cabinet in June 2022 item 116/22) to influence and manage our process for buying goods and services to reduce environmental impact and improve sustainability
• Tree and Woodland Strategy for Derbyshire (approved by Cabinet in September 2023 item 137/23)
• Strategic Framework for Council Action for Progress to Net Zero Energy in Derbyshire (approved by Cabinet in June 2023 item 87/23), which sets out how we will help to enable a net zero energy system in the county
• Single-use plastics policy to reduce the number of products we use in our buildings and the services we provide
• Natural Capital Strategy and Local Nature Recovery Strategy development, which will help to drive nature's recovery and provide wider environmental benefits
• Climate Change Engagement Plan (attached to this page) for how we will engage with local communities to deliver the Climate Change Strategy for Derbyshire
• our role in decarbonising Derbyshire's schools was presented to the Improvement and Scrutiny Committee in July 2024

Working together with other local councils

Our climate action is aligned with the East Midlands County Combined Authority (EMCCA)’s net zero area of focus.

To strengthen our climate action, we've worked closely with the district and borough councils in Derbyshire to develop a joint Derbyshire Climate Change Strategy (2022 to 2025). You can find this attached to this page.

This joint strategy aligns with the aims of our Climate Change Strategy but focuses on how Derbyshire's councils can work together on a common vision, along with central government, businesses, communities, and residents across the county, to reduce carbon emissions.

We also work together to reduce air pollution in Derby and Derbyshire through a joint air quality strategy and through the Health and Wellbeing Board, which includes supporting communities to be resilient and independent.

You can also find out what we've done so far to help cut carbon emissions in our timeline.

Find out how you can get involved.