The Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) represents the interests of local government and promotes local democracy in Wales. It represents the 22 local authorities in Wales and the four police authorities, three fire and rescue authorities and three national park authorities are associate members.

The WLGA's primary purposes are to promote better local government and its reputation and to support authorities in the development of policies and priorities which will improve public services and democracy.

Originally established in 1996 primarily as a policy development and representative body, the WLGA has since developed into an organisation that also leads on improvement and development, equalities, procurement, employment issues and hosts a range of partner bodies supporting local government.

Councillor Aled Roberts is the WLGA's Environment, Sustainability and Housing Spokesperson and Leader of Wrexham County Borough Council.

Does the 2008 Climate Change Act make any specific provisions for Wales?

"There is clearly a role for the devolved administrations and by implication local government in Wales in delivering upon the ambitions set out in the carbon budgets. We recognise that a range of local authority services are instrumental in this. Planning is a good example where we have a different planning regime to England and we are moving faster on issues such as zero carbon. Certain aspects such as those concerning adaptation plans have also being devolved to the National Assembly.

"The Welsh assembly target of a 3 per cent annual reduction in carbon and GHG emissions from 2011 will obviously impact upon local government in Wales, as will the carbon reduction commitment."

How will these provisions impact the work of the WLGA?

"The WLGA ensured that all Local Authorities in Wales were signatories to the Welsh Declaration on Climate Change which gave a clear signal about the importance placed by us on this issue. This has ensured political consensus for action across local government.

"In Wales, what's important is how the UK Carbon budgets will be turned into a reality, for example, the de-carbonisation of the energy network. We have great potential in Wales over renewable energy and this will clearly impact upon our land use policies across local government.

"There is a real debate to be had to turn widespread acceptance of the need for renewable energy into acceptance of schemes once they come forward. There are also real difficulties with the national grid which must be overcome.

"Much of Wales' contribution to ameliorating Climate Change is through the amount of carbon sequested in our upland peat. We must be certain about what we are doing if we disturb this soil whilst putting in the necessary infrastructure.

"There is also a greater reliance upon private transport in rural Wales which means that new technologies such as electric vehicles running on green energy are essential. Much of rural Wales are also off the gas network and policies are emerging to enable people to access funding for micro renewables rather than the traditional solution of oil fired heating.

"The WLGA is heavily involved in the Welsh Climate Change Commission chaired by Welsh Assembly Government Minister Jane Davidson. This is an effective forum which brings together all the key sectors in Wales to advise the Minister and the Welsh Assembly on the best way to proceed on Climate Change issues. In my role as a Commissioner I also have a part to play in communicating key messages within the local government and National parks sector to ensure that we are all engaged in this debate.

"The Commission is currently looking at the Assembly Government's strategy on Climate Change which will dovetail with the work of the Committee on Climate Change and the UK Government's approach. It also is looking at the potential for an 'Invest to Save' package for local government to stimulate activity in this area. This is obviously extremely positive.

"In our work supporting Local Government and the National Parks in Wales we are supporting Climate Change adaptation specifically through our Changing Climate Changing places project.

"Funded under the Welsh Assembly Government's Capacity Fund, this project has been developed to improve the resilience of local communities in Wales to the impacts of Climate Change. It seeks to improve the capacity of local authorities and partners in Wales to address climate change adaptation.

"This is a collaborative initiative involving: Environment Agency Wales, Countryside Council for Wales, UK Climate Impacts Programme, Science Shop Wales and involves joint working between four local authorities, Cardiff, Flintshire, Gwynedd and Rhonnda Cynon Taff.

"Put simply, the project aims to answer some basic questions; what does climate change mean for our communities? What risks and opportunities does climate change present to services, communities and localities? How can we adapt now and in the future?

"Strategic planning and service delivery will be enhanced by mapping likely climate impacts and their consequences, considering policy responses and by developing and costing adaptation options .

"The four pilot authorities have undertaken a Local Climate Impact Profile, mapping how past weather events have affected communities and services and begun to understand the potential impact of likely future events. Each authority is also reviewing the likely business impacts of climate change on communities and services (using the UKCIP BACLIAT tool) to identify key risks and opportunities. This is helping them to consider how and when to adapt climate change impacts. This allows opportunities such as school re-organization/ rebuilding programmes to be assessed to ensure that appropriate adaptive actions are built-in using evidence to justify the expenditure.

"During the next year this knowledge of risk and opportunity will be integrated into the internal business/service planning and risk management models of each local authority. Flintshire in particular have engaged their LSB partners in developing an approach across all key agencies/partners within their County Borough."

In which major areas of carbon reduction work are members of the WLGA most involved?

"There has been a great deal of activity around mitigation issues where a number of Welsh authorities are partnering with the Carbon Trust to begin to deliver significant reductions. Some are also working with EST (Energy Saving Trust) to provide information for their own workforce. This is important because in many parts of Wales public services are often the single largest local employer, with employees therefore potentially very influential in their own communities. We are encouraging all Local Authorities and associate members (National Parks, Police Authorities, Fire and Rescue Services) to consider how to approach this and enlist the specific help and expertise that Carbon Trust and EST can offer.

"There is also clearly a role in community leadership in demonstrating how these reductions can be pursued. It is often these 'own estate' issues which have risen to the top of the agenda given the volatility in energy pricing over the past twelve months. We have had some controversy over a large rural authority switching off a substantial number of street lights. However, it is just this kind of willingness to think outside conventions and question the status quo that will begin to deliver the scale of change that we need. It is essential that we take the majority of public opinion with us on this, or otherwise we will never have the necessary space to take these kinds of decisions.

"We must also ensure that all of our public-facing services deliver the right message; for example, business support services provide advice and guidance but why not information on how to access funding for energy efficiency or different ways of working such as agile working? Local government must also lead the debate at Local Service Board level with key partners and ensure that this is reflected in the community strategy and Local Development Plan."

Have there been any major achievements in emissions reduction by your members?

"Excellence Wales, the good practice recognition scheme for the wider local government family, identified a range of good and notable practice from applications submitted to the 2008/9 theme "Our Future- Responding to Climate Change". There is palpable enthusiasm and commitment at all levels to the climate change agenda. Councils and Wales' National Park Authorities are taking steps to sustain the environment through a range of policy and service delivery issues, using frameworks such as Green Dragon Environmental Standard to review and implement sustainable actions.

"Councils are working with private sector developers and contractors to ensure that new-builds are environmentally friendly and sustainable. The Dyfi Pathfinder project, delivered in partnership with Powys County Council and the Welsh Assembly, is an outstanding example of achieving low carbon buildings that require minimal energy resources.

"As community leaders, councils are encouraging communities to think and behave in ways that will reduce their carbon footprint. Through art and education, the Oriel y Parc gallery in Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority is an example of the authority's strong corporate commitment to raising public awareness on key environmental issues. Carmarthenshire County Council promotes a greener lifestyle for its communities and with European funding established the Carmarthenshire Energy Agency, which has enabled several community energy-saving projects.

"Initiatives such as these and working with partners Energy Savings Trust and Carbon Trust on home energy efficiency initiatives are helping communities across Wales to beat the economic downturn, offer huge health opportunities and reduce the number of people in fuel poverty.

"Snowdonia National Park Authority was also awarded under the Excellence scheme for demonstrating consistent achievement in responding to climate change. Successful projects and initiatives range from a new travel plan to hydro-electric power schemes that are delivering reductions in carbon emissions.

"All the good and notable practice identified through the Excellence Wales Scheme is shared and disseminated at a learning event and web based case studies. For further information visit: www.wlga.gov.uk/excellence-wales"

How is the economic climate affecting the low carbon push in Wales?

"This is an interesting debate; the development of the green jobs strategy for Wales shows how important the creation of economic opportunity around this agenda is. It is also vital that we begin to live more sustainably and ensure that when we begin to come out of this downturn we do it in a way which doesn't just repeat the mistakes of the past.

"Perhaps we need a paradigm shift in how we think about economic regeneration, how we describe quality of life and indeed what success looks like. It is also vital that we do not lose sight of the issue of equity in all of this. For example, there can be no long term solution to Climate Change without dealing with issues like fuel poverty which has increased substantially in Wales in the last twelve months."

What preparations are being made for carbon trading next year?

"All Welsh local authorities have been busy assessing their own level of energy use and forming a view on whether they will qualify for CRC or not. Many have been monitoring the LGIU carbon trading scheme to understand what lessons can be learnt.

"The WLGA facilitated a session for lead members and officers on Energy and Climate Change at which the LGIU reported on their initial findings. It's interesting because perhaps it will necessitate local authorities to operate in a different way; the possibility of speculation on the price of credits and the activity of the private sector will complicate things. This is where the potential Invest to save scheme will benefit greatly by allowing upfront investment to realise future benefit."

What is top of your in-tray?

"Usually Climate Change Commission papers which, given the complexity of the issues, are normally substantive. However we can't let the 'known unknowns' deflect us from the real need to take action now, both in terms of reducing our own emissions, helping our communities to do likewise and to begin to understand and plan properly for the adaptation that will be required."

Any advice for fellow low-carbon professionals?

"I think on a political level we have to begin to understand how the decisions we take today across all our functions cumulatively impact upon the type of world we will have. Discussion about 2020 targets can seem remote, especially when are struggling in the current economic situation. However we are travelling on a trajectory that each small decision affects.

"We've tried to use techniques such as ecological foot printing to understand that and we have also commissioned some future work under the WLGA's SD Framework. It is essential that the enormity of the task in hand is not an excuse for inaction and that all policy areas understand their impact fully and create the space for innovation."

Carbon Offsetting – Good Practice In The Voluntary Market

Claims about “Carbon Neutral” targets, processes and organisations seem to be everywhere, but what does that comforting phrase actually mean? An answer cannot depend simply on who you ask – agreement is vital if we are all to move together on reducing levels of greenhouse gases.

Scratch the surface of a claim of carbon neutrality and usually – but not always – a carbon offset project or process will be found underneath. In simple terms, these aim to either prevent or safely remove emissions that would otherwise add to the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. In many people’s minds carbon neutrality – zero net emissions – and offsets have become closely linked.

Recently however, some in the offsetting industry have opted to avoid the phrase when describing their own projects. “We don’t use the term. Doubts grew that it isn’t feasible in a scientific sense. It gets down to negative sentiment about the measurements that are possible,” says Edward Hanrahan, Executive Director of JP Morgan ClimateCare.

“In my view ‘Carbon Neutral’ shouldn’t be used to describe offsetting. ‘Carbon Neutral’ must mean precisely that – no footprint at all. If you have offset that’s what it should be called – a carbon offset,” suggests Matthew Sullivan, Chief Executive of the Carbon Advice Group.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the CarbonNeutral Company, one of the longest established in this area, thinks the phrase “Carbon Neutral” still has plenty of useful work to do. “Yes it means something. It’s simple, appealing, and has entered common usage,” says Bill Sneyd, Director of Advisory Services. As well as being a useful tool for communication, what carbon neutrality means is set down in the CarbonNeutral Protocol, developed by the company over more than seven years, he says. “It sets out standards on four main issues – measuring emissions, reducing emissions internally, offset instruments, and communicating and reporting.”

Singing from the same sheet

Wider agreement should be the outcome of a consultation launched by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). Interestingly, DECC notes that this consultation should help the Government set its own house in order. Having announced its own carbon neutrality targets for estate emissions, in-house checks revealed “a high level of inconsistency” in how this was being interpreted. “This encompassed differences in the types of emissions calculated and included in a footprint, in the amount of emissions reduction made and in the means of offsetting residual emissions,” says DECC.

Clarity will also “help protect consumer rights, avoid public cynicism about climate change because of spurious carbon-related claims and help companies get ‘carbon value-for-money’ for investments made to achieve carbon neutrality,” says DECC.

Public suspicion was stoked by media reports of questionable claims made for early forestry projects, but the industry has moved on, says Edward Hanrahan of JP Morgan ClimateCare. “The cowboys have more or less gone away now. But I would debate the point about offsetting being basically about planting trees. We don’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Reforestation and conservation projects have a part to play.

Greater certainty, higher standards

“The media has helped to perpetuate a lot of myths. For most serious buyers of offsets – those with a strategic corporate approach – offsetting is more often about providing finance for wind farms or small hydro projects. One of the main concerns about forestry projects – that measuring the effects is difficult – doesn’t apply to these. It’s very easy to calculate the emissions reduced to by a wind farm, for example.”

Offsetting in general also ran into media hostility on more ideological grounds, says Matthew Sullivan of the Carbon Advice Group. “Early on it was accused of being like ‘Papal Indulgences’ – a way for the developed world to buy its way out of responsibility for polluting. I think that’s a very superficial view. In my opinion one of the really important things that offsetting can do is to divert money to the developing world, enabling them to make the changes needed for a low carbon economy at an early stage. For the developed world these changes are much more difficult to make,” he says.

Winning people over to offsetting has been helped by industry bodies that promote good practice such as the International Carbon Reduction and Offset Alliance (ICROA), and the growth of high quality standards for voluntary offsets.

These include the Gold Standard, developed by WWF in conjunction with NGOs, governments and industry participants. The Gold Standard excludes forestry and land use projects and emphasises sustainable development benefits beyond reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS) was founded by the Climate Group, the International Emissions Trading Association and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. Like VCS, the VER+ standard focuses more on greenhouse gas reductions.

Filling the gaps

While the Government consultation on carbon neutrality should help us talk about offsets more meaningfully, the industry is unimpressed with its plans for a “kitemark” for voluntary offset projects. Such a move could have helped to bring some cohesion to the diverse range of standards in use and also to reflect the innovations in voluntary projects. But in the UK at least the Government has signaled its intention to base its kitemark criteria on those developed for allowances traded in compliance markets such as the EU Emissions Trading Scheme.

Providers of voluntary offsets argue that this is a poor benchmark because the accreditation process is too long, complex and expensive. In any case the markets are significantly different. In the compliance markets the cost of allowances is the key driver, while the voluntary markets tend to deal with small scale projects that often prioritise innovation and high quality results over low cost.

“We would like governments to see the voluntary market as complementary,” says Bill Sneyd of the CarbonNeutral Company. “It makes sense. We can all see that there is a lag between what science tells us about climate change and policy – the compliance market. We can help to fill that gap. Plus, the voluntary market can be a pioneer. Governments should focus on getting the compliance market right. Don’t view us as a threat, see us as a complement,” he says.

Key questions to ask about an offset provider:

•What standards and benchmarks do they use?
•Do they submit to independent audit and professional review?
•What information do they publish about how carbon credits are contracted and retired?