Issue - items at meetings - Letters from Councillors

(i)    Working with the Council’s suppliers to help them reduce the ecological or carbon footprint of the Council’s supply chain. Letter from Councillor Steedman (copy attached).

37(i)   Letter – reducing the ecological or carbon footprint of the Council’s supply chain

37.1       A letter was received from Councillor Steedman regarding working with the Council’s suppliers to help them reduce the ecological or carbon footprint of the Council’s supply chain (for copy see minute book).

37.2       The Chairman stated that the council had already decided to look into the carbon footprint of its key suppliers by signing up to the Public Procurement Programme run by the Carbon Disclosure Project, which had an international track record in the field. This would start shortly with a focus on ten of the council’s very largest contracts, suppliers would be asked to provide detailed emissions information; which would provide a fuller picture by the summer.

37.3       The Chairman confirmed that officers would report back on this at the Sustainability Cabinet Committee as part of the Carbon Management Programme updates for members.

37.4       The Chairman explained that, over time, the council planned to extend this to more and more of our suppliers as part of the programme.  This would be an important but very significant additional burden on suppliers – a substantial proportion of which were local - and one which could not be achieved overnight. Introducing an Environmental Management System would also help us to achieve the goal.  In the meantime, with a recession on, the council could not expect instant change from hard-pressed businesses, and while ecological footprinting was very important, it would not yet be a language that most businesses understood. Improving the specification within the council’s own contracts regarding sustainability, especially by asking for environmental management system accreditation from larger ones and carbon emissions data from many more, would ensure that significant improvements were achieved. The council would also look to work with other public sector partners through the LSP.

37.5       RESOLVED – That the letter be noted.