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The challenge
Merton Council declared a climate emergency in July 2019 and set carbon reduction targets to decarbonise the Council by 2030 and the borough of Merton by 2050. Merton has a history of taking strong action in this area and has had a climate strategy since 2009. However, unprecedented change will be necessary going forward. Merton Council contracted Aether, along with SE2, to provide support in the preparation of Merton’s climate action plan. The challenge was to identify and quantify a range of actions that Merton might undertake to achieve the decarbonisation targets.
The solution
To underpin the development of Merton’s Climate Strategy & Action Plan, Aether supported Merton Council by:
- Establishing the scope of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to be included in the inventories and net zero carbon targets
- Developing GHG inventories for the borough and council
- Modelling decarbonisation pathways to reach the targets
- Identifying and costing the range of actions that may be required
- Identifying means to track progress towards the targets.
We partnered with SE2 to deliver two workshops; a small initial session with council staff focusing on the scope and principles of the targets, and a larger workshop with local stakeholders and interest groups to discuss the key actions that should be included in the decarbonisation modelling scenario.
Our modelling used the Carbon Scenario Model (CSM), an Excel based tool to develop decarbonisation pathways for the council up to 2030 and the borough to 2050, including individual GHG savings and costs of actions.
The result
Merton Council now has a greater understanding of the actions that are required within Merton to meet their decarbonisation targets. The actions identified and cost estimates have been used in the preparation of the new Climate Strategy & Action Plan.
Find out more about how Aether is supporting local authorities with Climate Emergency declarations here.
Chris Dore
Director
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