West Devon Climate Change and Biodiversity Newsletter

Climate Change and Biodiversity Emergency

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December 2021

Reducing our Carbon Footprint and increasing Biodiversity

Thank you for subscribing to this newsletter. This is a place for us to update you on what we are doing at West Devon Borough Council and what things are going on around the Borough. It will tell you what's going on nationally and things you, our residents and businesses, can be doing to reduce your carbon footprint and manage your land to improve the environment and its biodiversity.

If you have anything you would like to include in this newsletter then contact our Climate Change Specialist by email here and follow us on Twitter and Facebook.


New Bus Service Launched to Connect with Okehampton Rail Services


bus

Devon County Council have launched a new bus service to coincide with the re-opening of the railway line at Okehampton. 

Service 118 will link Tavistock to Okehampton, via Mary Tavy and Lydford, to provide an integrated connection to the rail services between Okehampton and Exeter during the day.

As the 118 runs hourly and the rail service approximately every two hours, buses which operate in between the rail service times won’t serve the station, but instead will stop nearby in West Street and Fore Street in Okehampton.

The only rail services which will not have a connection with the bus service will be the evening journeys, due to the 118 finishing around 6.00 p.m., the last bus journey from Okehampton Rail Station leaves at 5:55 p.m.

A maximum fare of £3, single or return, is being introduced for passengers on the 118 who have a valid rail ticket. There will also be a flat fare of £1 for those travelling from Okehampton town to the rail station. The new service is operated by Dartline and fully funded by Devon County Council.

From Sunday 12 December, there will be a minor change to both the rail and bus timetables on Saturdays and a new Sunday and Public Holiday service will be introduced.

One journey on the latter will continue through to Gunnislake to make a connection with the Tamar Valley line. The £3 maximum fare for rail travellers will also apply on Sundays, including those travelling to and from Gunnislake.


Greenway Project Feasibility Study


bike

The outcomes of a feasibility study by Sustrans for the Greenway Project is now available., The Greenway project is a traffic free multi-use route between Moretonhampstead and Chagford.

The study and supporting documents are available on the links below:


Survey - Making Devon Homes Net-Zero Ready


insulation

On behalf of the South West Energy Hub and Devon County Council, Regen is carrying out a study into householder attitudes to energy efficient home improvement, and would like your help via their online survey.

Currently our homes use 35% of all the energy in the UK and emit 20% of the carbon dioxide emissions, and 19% of Devon’s total emissions. For the UK government and Devon to deliver their targets of a 68% emissions reduction by 2030, and net zero by 2050, household emissions need to be addressed.

In partnership with expert home-retrofit analysts Parity Projects, Regen have identified the likely cost and improvements required to reduce carbon emissions from the housing stock in rural Devon.

This building-by-building research has been incorporated into the survey to show the typical ‘retrofit plan’ (measures and costs) for the 12 most common housing types present in rural Devon.

In order to inform the development of the market for retrofit in Devon, Regen are looking to understand householder attitudes to these plans by surveying an identified group of households.

They are also making their survey available online and inviting widespread participation; it should take less than five minutes to complete.

You can respond to the survey by clicking here.


Available Funding


Farming in Protected Landscapes - Apply between: 1 July 2021 and 31 January 2022

Funding for farmers and land managers with projects that support nature recovery, tackle climate change, provide opportunities for people to discover nature and support sustainable farm businesses.

www.gov.uk/guidance/funding-for-farmers-in-protected-landscapes

Circular Innovation Fund - Application deadline: 9 January 2022

In partnership with Hubbub, the John Lewis Partnership is launching a £1 million fund to support trailblazing ideas and innovations that can accelerate the transition towards a more circular economy.  

The fund will provide grants between £150,000-£300,000. If you would like to be involved, then complete your application by 9 January 2022.

eCargo Bike Grant - Application deadline: 14 December 2021

£400,000 has been made available by the Department for Transport in 2021/22 for the purchase of ecargo bikes, to support businesses switching to a sustainable transport solution.

Funding covers up to 40% of the total cost of an ecargo bike, up to a maximum of £2,500 for two-wheel models and £4,500 for three-wheel models.

You can apply for up to five ecargo bikes per organisation.

Limited companies, sole traders, partnerships, charities and not-for-profit organisations are all eligible to apply. Public, community or third sector organisations can apply provided they are legally constituted and have the appropriate formal structure.

To apply and find out more information, click here.


Get Involved


winter wheelers

Love to Ride Devon Winter Wheelers

Winter Wheelers is a cold-busting campaign designed to make bike riding a year-round activity!

Throughout December, Love to Ride is challenging you to 'wrap up and roll out' to win some great prizes.

All you have to do is register for Winter Wheelers and log your rides, that’s it! 

Every day you ride is a chance to get a dose of fresh air and fun and you could even win a brand new bike on Christmas Day.

To find out more, click here.


Tools to Help

cdp

Tool launched to help small to medium businesses to measure their own direct emissions.

CDP and the SME Climate Hub have launched a new framework to help SMEs measure, report and reduce their climate impacts. The tool is called the SME Climate Disclosure Framework and will help SMEs in all sectors to measure and report their own direct (Scope 1), power-related (Scope 2) and indirect (Scope 3) emissions.

The tool is modular, meaning that you can complete as many or as few sections as you want. 

To find out more and to access the tool, click here.


New Research and Publications


Glasgow Climate Pact

cop26

The Glasgow Climate Pact is a UN deal reached at the end of COP26 last month reiterating the urgency of the climate emergency, and stressing the importance of ramping up climate mitigation and adaptation efforts.

The key policies include;

  • Countries must accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels, as coal is to be 'phased down'
  • Calls for climate adaptation to be integrated into local, national and regional planning
  • Asks that parties strengthen 2030 commitments
  • Urges countries in the Global North to help developing countries by providing climate finance, technology-transfer, and helping them adapt to climate change
  • Commits to achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement

You can read the full document by clicking here.


Quality of Life Increases When We Live, Eat and Travel Energy-Efficiently

Dartmoor Shepherd

Research carried out by a team from 17 countries and published in the journal, Nature Climate Change, reveals that limiting global heating as agreed in the Paris Agreement requires "demand-side climate solutions", primarily aimed at the consumption of energy in private households.

The potential is often overlooked but the emissions savings are large and can vary between 40 and 80 percent in the buildings, transport, food and consumer products sectors.

Furthermore, the demand-side solutions do not require suffering or hardship and often improve quality life. The study also tackles the belief that demand-side climate solutions ultimately depend on the individual’s personal initiative. Instead, policymakers are just as challenged here as they are on the supply side with the expansion of renewable energies for instance. Behavioural changes depend very much on infrastructure and new services.

To read the article in full, click here.


Future extreme rainfall more extreme than first thought

met office

A new analysis of the latest climate science shows that future extreme rainfall could be more extreme than previously thought.  

The calculations used the latest UKCP Local projections which were funded by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

This is the first time national climate scenarios have been provided at a resolution on a par with weather forecast models. The UKCP Local projections provide new capability – allowing us to look at changes in local weather extremes over the coming decades.

Met Office climate scientist, Professor Lizzie Kendon, said: “Recent developments in high resolution climate projections are letting us examine changes in future extreme rainfall in unprecedented detail. We’re seeing that extreme rainfall events are being made both more frequent and more intense as a consequence of human induced climate change.

Recent flooding events around the world show the devastation that intense rainfall can cause. By reducing our greenhouse gas emissions, the worst impacts can be avoided, but organisations and individuals need to be resilient to the changes in our weather that we’re already committed to.”

To read more, click here.


IEA - Renewable electricity growth is accelerating faster than ever

wind turbine

according to a new report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) The growth of the world’s capacity to generate electricity from solar panels, wind turbines and other renewable technologies is on course to accelerate over the coming years, with 2021 expected to set a fresh all-time record for new installations.

Despite the rising costs of key materials to make solar and wind turbines, the additional renewable energy capacity of this year is expected to rise to 290 gigawatts. “The growth of renewables in India is outstanding, supporting the government’s newly announced goal of reaching 500 GW of renewable power capacity by 2030 and highlighting India’s broader potential to accelerate its clean energy transition,” said Dr Birol. “China continues to demonstrate its clean energy strengths, with the expansion of renewables suggesting the country could well achieve a peak in its CO2 emissions well before 2030.”

To read the report in more detail, click here.