Carbon Neutral Council Plan 2022- 2024
Outline costs
The council's Climate Strategy sets out the objectives and 'areas of focus' that are needed to help the council achieve carbon neutrality. The report on the council's pathway to carbon neutral provides additional recommendations that will enable the council to achieve its carbon neutral goal by 2030. Anthesis Report Wiltshire Council (PDF, 4 MB)(opens new window).
Included within the council's approved Capital Programme for 2022/23 is a budget for Property Carbon Reduction Programme projects for £8.976 million, in addition £1.424 million has already been spent in previous financial years. The council also secured funding through Salix grant for Public Sector Decarbonisation Schemes: £4.565 million has already been spent in previous financial years and £72,000 is allocated to projects in 2022/23. The council is developing strategies for Depots and Fleet operations which will aim to help the council achieve its carbon neutral goal by 2030 and clarify and seek approval for the costs of infrastructure and electric vehicles. Resources across the council are contributing to the delivery of the Climate Strategy in addition to the dedicated Climate Team, which has an annual revenue budget of £333,000.
The opportunities for reducing carbon emissions will require costly investment in the short term, but yield savings over the longer-term. The pathways study (see table below, adapted from the study) estimated that an additional £29 million would be needed over the next 8 years for the measures to make the council carbon neutral by 2030, excluding the cost of purchasing electric refuse collection vehicles and any grid upgrades at our depots. The estimated payback for the £29 million investment ranges from less than 5 years to approximately 12 years. These figures are indicative costings.
Measure | Capital cost (£million) | Estimated payback (years) | Included in Approved Capital Programme 2020/21 to 2023/24 | Method Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Heating systems retrofit | 7.35 | 12 | N/A | -Additional heating system retrofits costed according to CCC data and the number of projects in the Stretch pathway |
N/A | -£750,000 was assigned in the PCRP to biomass boilers across six projects; these estimates indicate a similar cost per-project (£120,000 - £150,000) depending on heat pump or biomass installation | |||
Demand reduction measures | 2.64 | 5-10 | 2.64 | -Relates to capital expenditure of all assessed projects for which costings are listed in the PCRP |
BMS upgrades | 0.5 | <5 | N/A | -Estimates derived from the Building Energy Efficiency Survey (BEES) (GOV.UK) (opens new window) study (£ spent/Wh abated) and consumption data |
Behaviour change measures | 0.33 | <5 | N/A | -Estimates derived from Building Energy Efficiency Survey (BEES) (GOV.UK) (opens new window) study (£ spent/Wh abated) and consumption data |
Solar PV, hot water and coating | 1.3 | <5 | 1.3 | -Cost of grid infrastructure not included as part of this figure |
Operational Property Energy Efficiency and Generation | N/A | N/A | 6.111 | Budget not allocated to specific projects as at July 2022 |
Buildings subtotal (£m) | 12.12 | of which PCRP (£m) | 10.051 | N/A |
RCV replacement* | 80.5 | N/A | N/A | -RCVs are not included under Scope 1 emissions |
N/A | -Cost is absolute value of replacement (as opposed to marginal cost over a fossil fuel equivalent) | |||
Vehicle replacement* | 15.1 | N/A | N/A | -Cost is absolute value of replacement (as opposed to marginal cost over a fossil fuel equivalent) |
EV charge points | 1.91 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Switching to biofuels | N/A | Additional 10-15% fuel costs | N/A | - Cost is taken as the additional pump price of HVO fuel over diesel |
Transport subtotal | 97.5 | N/A | 0 | N/A |
Grand total (inc. RCV) | 109.62 | N/A | 10.051 | N/A |
Grand total (excl. RCV) | 29.11 | N/A | 10.051 | N/A |
Breakdown of approximate costs to 2030 to deliver the Stretch pathways for buildings and transport, including the cost to replace refuse collection vehicles. RCVs were not included under Scope 1 emissions.
The study also looked at the potential costs of offsetting the council's carbon emissions and these far outweigh the initial costs required for carbon reduction and are likely to rise as demand increases. To get a sense of the scale of off-setting required, the study estimates that 900ha of trees would need to be planted by 2024 in order to offset the council's emissions on our 'Pipeline' pathway. This would require a capital investment of approximately £7.65 million and be equivalent to covering an area the size of Bradford on Avon (862ha). Developing an offsetting strategy is a key action during the period of this plan.
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