Category: Cities and local authorities, Emission inventories, Policies and measures

Merton Council Climate Emergency Support

Aether and SE2 supported Merton Council in developing their action plan to meet targets to decarbonise the Council by 2030 and the borough of Merton by 2050

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

 

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Testimonial

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“A heartfelt thank you to all the Aether team for this very comprehensive review – this is certainly turning out to be one of the most beneficial capacity building projects I have ever been involved in.”

Saviour Vassallo, Senior Environment Protection Officer, Malta Resources Authority

“Chris was excellent to work with and always very pro active in making suggestions, taking work forward and applying his considerable technical knowledge in effective ways.”

Robert Vaughan, Defra Air Quality Team

“Professional team and very collaborative communication. Effective result in terms of suggestions for improvement in the quality of the inventory and proposals on how to streamline specific topics.”

Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research

“The team at Aether works very professionally and communicates very well which makes working with them a pleasure. Outputs are delivered on time to high quality. The team brings the rigour of technical knowledge and expertise and finds innovative ways of communicating complex messages. I would be happy to recommend the Aether team to organisations working on analysing and presenting emissions information in the public domain.”

Fiona Glover, States of Jersey

“The Aether team were a joy to work with and I would recommend the consultancy - the service provided throughout the process was exceptional.”

Clare Bayley, Defra

“It is always an absolute pleasure working with Aether. I always know what is expected of me. Their work ethic is of a very high standard and projects are always handled in a very professional manner. I have learnt many skills in terms of project management, quality control and workshop training styles from Aether and I hope to carry these principles forward in my own work. I look forward to collaborating with Aether more in the future.”

Luanne Stevens, Gondwana

“The professional service provided by your company was of very high quality and completed within agreed timelines.”

Matthew Dudley, UNFCCC Secretariat

“If we have a need for any more reports in the future Aether will be first on my list.”

Alan Hardy, Kyson Design

“It has been a pleasure to work with Chris Dore and Richard Claxton from Aether: they did their job in a very professional and timely manner. The workshop was organized and carried out in a cooperative spirit; the information provided to the workshop participants was complete and clear.”

Alina Novikova, UN/ECE Secretariat

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