The climate crisis is the biggest threat facing our planet and requires immediate action to mitigate. Young people have been at the forefront demanding faster climate action to reduce emissions and build a fairer, more sustainable future. Proposals are now being put forward by local authorities on how to reduce emissions, and it's vital that the views of young people are taken into account in the implementation of these plans.

One of the best ways to communicate our views is to respond to public consultations. Even better, consultations at the local level where the changes could improve our neighbourhood and daily life- in addition to tackling the climate emergency.

Edinburgh Council aims to make Edinburgh a Net-zero city by 2030 and has published a Draft 2030 Climate Strategy, which sets out how they will achieve this. The draft strategy is currently open to consultation and it’s important young people engage with this process to make our views heard. This will ensure a broad range of thinking is considered when implementing policies that will change the way we live (hopefully for the better).

You might not have time to fill out the full Draft 2030 Climate Strategy consultation, and that’s where the 2050 Climate Group’s policy team comes in. We are surveying young people in Edinburgh to aid our official response to the Draft 2030 Climate Strategy consultation (here). We have whittled down the original consultation into bite-sized sections which can be filled out quickly and will help us communicate the views of Edinburgh’s young people in our response.

Below is a summary of the key points in the Draft 2030 Climate Strategy.

Summary and key points

The City of Edinburgh Council has declared a climate emergency and is seeking to become a net-zero city by 2030, 15 years before the national net-zero target. This means that by 2030 greenhouse gas emissions within the territorial boundary of the city, including the five key sources in figure 1, will be balanced out by the greenhouse gases removed from the atmosphere, so the “net” effect is zero emissions.

Figure 1: The five key emission sources in the territorial boundary of the City of Edinburgh (source)

The Draft 2030 Climate Strategy lays out how The City of Edinburgh Council will enable, support, and deliver action to make Edinburgh a net-zero city. They plan to do this by working with leading strategic partners in Edinburgh, and by highlighting actions citizens, communities, and the wider business community could take to drive down emissions. The remainder of emissions will be offset using technologies that remove carbon from the atmosphere.

The Draft 2030 Climate Strategy has the following Visions, Principles, and Actions:

Visions:

Neighbourhoods have access to green spaces and are filled with energy- and heat-efficient homes.
Local services are coupled with safe and attractive active travel routes and public transport systems to reduce travel and make essential travel greener.
Car use is reduced but EV charging is accessible if required.
Edinburgh is a hub for net-zero innovation, focussing on sustainable jobs creation and skills development.
Our city is cleaner, healthier, and greener, with natural habitats helping to protect the city from flooding and other climate change impacts.

Principles:

Ensure a just transition to net-zero.
Prevent future emissions and adapting Edinburgh to the unavoidable impacts of climate change.
Create 20-minute neighbourhoods.
Improve the energy efficiency of Edinburgh’s buildings.
Ensure Edinburgh’s energy infrastructure can support an increase in demand to the city’s electricity supply.
Support citizens and businesses to make sustainable choices at home and work.

Actions:

Bring city partner Chief Executives together in a Climate Delivery Group to unlock collective net-zero action.
Partner with SP Energy Networks to deliver a city-wide heat and energy masterplan by 2022.
Coordinate the retrofit of city buildings with public sector organisations.
Expand the City Climate Compact to support business to transition to sustainable businesses practices.
Run a series of citizen awareness campaigns on sustainability and work with young people to embed a legacy of change from COP26.
Create EV charging hubs for public service vehicles, and make them available to residents.

2050 Climate Group want to hear the views of Edinburgh’s young people on five key sections of the draft strategy. These are engaging and empowering citizens, net-zero & climate resilience, net-zero energy generation, business and skills, and carbon offsetting.

Below is some of the key information outlined in these five sections of the Draft 2030 Climate Strategy to help inform your response.

Engaging & empowering citizens

The Draft 2030 Climate Strategy highlights:

At present, over half the city’s emissions come from its residents - 32% from car use and 61% from heating and powering homes.
Citizens must be able to contribute to a fair and just transition and recognise the significant power they have over the future of Edinburgh.
Sustainable choices must be easier to make for individuals and the council will support citizens to accelerate action.
Start an open and frank dialogue with citizens that will seek to design solutions together, creating net-zero communities.
The council will encourage citizens to demand change, support city climate action despite necessary temporary disruption, and to act now to plan for the future.

Net-zero & climate resilience overview

The Draft 2030 Climate Strategy highlights:

The population of Edinburgh is likely to increase by 6% in 2030. This demands high-quality affordable housing and new local services and facilities.
These needs must be met in a sustainable way managing demand for land and infrastructure such as roads
New housing, and current housing, must be resilient to the impact of climate change e.g. flooding, coastal erosion, and frequent severe weather.
In developing the city sustainably there is an opportunity to ensure investment in infrastructure which delivers social, climate, and economic benefits.

Net-zero energy generation overview

The Draft 2030 Climate Strategy highlights:

61% of the city’s emissions come from the energy we used to heat and power Edinburgh’s buildings.
Burning natural gas alone accounts for 35% of Edinburgh’s emissions
At present electrical heating is significantly more expensive than gas heating
Edinburgh has a high proportion of older buildings that need to be retrofitted to become energy efficient and resilient to the impact of climate change
Only 15% of homes in the city are owned by the local authority or housing associations. This means businesses, owner-occupiers, and private landlords need to invest in buildings to reduce the city emissions and ensure climate resilience.
Many Edinburgh residents will require financial support to meet retrofitting costs if they are to get to a point where non-gas heating is affordable.

Business and skills in a net-zero economy overview

The Draft 2030 Climate Strategy highlights:

For businesses, becoming net-zero can improve resilience, open new markets, lower costs, increase productivity, and meet growing consumer demands for zero carbon, zero waste options.
A net-zero economy takes advantage of the growing UK business opportunities of moving to a low carbon economy, consumer demands for zero carbon/zero waste options, and ensuring that Edinburgh businesses retain their share of the growing green pound.
Ethical consumer spending and finance in the UK was estimated at £98bn in 2019, more than double the level recorded in 2010.
The council wants businesses and institutions to embrace the shift towards circular economy business models where materials are recovered and reused with little waste.

Carbon Offsetting overview:

Carbon offsetting, and its role in tackling the climate emergency, is a contentious issue. That’s why we want to hear your views on the matter. The Draft 2030 Climate Strategy highlights:

Edinburgh council states that even with a radical shift in the way we live, to reduce emissions, it is unlikely the city can reach absolute zero carbon emissions.
Scotland’s target is a “net-zero within boundary” target, meaning that the Scottish government will not use international offsets. Local projects and regional projects ensure money is spent locally and can deliver co-benefits.
Offsetting is technically complicated and is currently lacking defined quality principles and verification standards.
At present individual parties decide whether to offset and what approach to take.
For the city as a whole to meet net-zero there will need to be a means of verifying offsets purchased by city partners.
Agreeing on a city-wide offsetting approach would allow city partners to develop a set of principles for offsetting and agree to a common approach.
There may be scope to develop a city scheme for offsetting funds which partners pay into, to facilitate local off-setting. Membership of any scheme could be conditional upon taking action to reduce emissions as a priority before offsetting.
The draft presents a range of negative emission technologies (figure 2) and advocates for a portfolio approach where multiple technologies are used.

Figure 2: possible negative emission approaches highlighted in Edinburgh’s Draft 2030 strategy

Edinburgh's Draft 2030 Climate Strategy