Lyme Regis town councillor Belinda Bawden feels the Impact Carbon Footprint Toolkit could be a significant help to town and parish councils as well as business and community groups trying to plan for net zero carbon futures. The toolkit shows the main sources of local emissions so local action can be directed effectively. For example, housing accounts for almost half the territorial emissions in Lyme Regis with transport the second largest contributor.

Consumption emissions per household in Lyme Regis compared to Bridport
Once the effect of consumption is taken into account, however, the housing contribution is reduced to the fourth largest, with the emissions caused by the consumption of goods and services; travel; and food & diet categories exceeding those from housing.

The scale of the consumption-based emissions seems daunting but there are personal and family-based Carbon Footprinting Toolkits, for example, Giki Zero (see Local News for Corfe Castle’s initiative with Giki Zero) which are fun as well as functional to use.

Using the Impact Toolkit at a community level alongside encouraging households to adopt small lifestyle changes (with Giki Zero) can create genuine community engagement as individuals realise the impact their personal consumption habits can have in the overall carbon footprint of their towns and villages.
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The Impact Toolkit also allows comparisons with national and county averages, as well as other towns. A preliminary analysis of neighbouring and similar towns in Dorset seems to show that towns with more balanced reliance on local and visitor services have lower carbon footprints than those more dependent on the visitor economy. 

This is from their recent publicity:

Giki Zero Toolkit Pilot. -  Did you know according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) everyone in the UK has on average a carbon footprint of 9 tonnes per year. The WHO calls for a target limit of approximately 2 tonnes per person per year.

The Giki Zero toolkit is a step-by-step guide to a sustainable life; allows people to understand their environmental footprint and then find steps to lighten it and provides personalised steps to suit each person’s lifestyle and budget to help them find their path to Net Zero.

The Pro version of Giki Zero means the Parish Council can look at data sets from the community which means it can identify the barriers to progression. There are also monthly promotional resources community groups can access to help promote and maintain interest in the Giki Zero toolkit.
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With this is mind Corfe Castle Parish Council have set up a pilot for 50 people to join Free of Charge Giki Zero Pro. If you’d like to join, please contact the Clerk on 01202 670105 or email corfecastlepc@aol.com  

In light of the 2030 ban on sale of petrol and diesel vehicles, City Science has recently published a white paper to help local authorities understand actions they can take to support the transition to electric vehicles. In addition to personal vehicles, the white paper also covers critical considerations around decarbonisation of buses and freight. The white paper makes 10 key recommendations, including setting goals within a wider strategy and adopting  "whole system" thinking.

Read more: The City Science White Paper
                   The Department for Transport's report Decarbonising Transport: Setting the Challenge
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Should we ask our councils to undertake these actions? Let us know if you have knowledge to share.

Net Zero Climate has links to dozens of tools for individuals, SMEs, corporates, councils, NGOs and other bodies on a whole range of topics, including:
Carbon Footprint Audits
Pensions
Declaring a climate emergency
Energy efficiency for commercial landlords
Food waste
Car fleet management
Supply Chains
Offsetting
Packaging
Climate Action
 
Read more at the Net Zero Climate website

Giki Zero is a personal carbon footprinting tool to help you understand, track and reduce your carbon footprint and build your personal path to Net Zero. Here's what they say:

"Giki Zero helps you understand your personal footprint which is an important first step in discovering way to reduce it. It does this by guiding you through a series of easy to understand questions that will estimate the overall impact that you have where you can provide as little, or as much, information as you want.
You will then be able to see your environmental footprint and understand how your home, transport, food, purchases and services all contribute. You can also see how planting trees can give you a boost as you look to reduce your footprint over time.
With better information about your footprint you can then choose the steps which suit your lifestyle and budget to help reduce your impact over time. Decide on the steps you want to take, rated on impact and ease, and Giki Zero will help you turn those commitments into climate positive changes."
Visit the Giki site

The Centre for Sustainable Energy (CSE) and the University of Exeter have developed a tool that will enable parish councils and local communities to estimate baseline carbon emissions for their area. This is calculated using information about energy use, travel behaviours and the consumption of goods and services modelled at household level and scaled up to better reflect individual communities.
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The tool will enable the development of meaningful and locally appropriate carbon reduction strategies by parish councils that allow them to support their district and county councils with well-targeted activity that focuses on big-emissions sectors rather than spending time on well-meaning but low-impact activities. 

This is part of a broader set of tools and training offered by the two organisations.
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Read more about the footprinting tool for parish councils and communities at the CSE website
See the collection of climate tools at University of Exeter website
Read more at the CSE website

Pledge To Net Zero – a relatively new initiative tackling greenhouse gas emissions within the UK’s environmental services sector – has formally joined the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s Race to Zero campaign.

Race To Zero is a global campaign to rally leadership and support from businesses, cities, regions, investors and universities for a healthy, resilient, zero carbon recovery that prevents future threats, creates decent jobs, and unlocks inclusive, sustainable growth. All members are committed to the same overarching goal: achieving net zero emissions by 2050 at the very latest.

It mobilises a coalition of leading net zero initiatives, representing 23 regions, 454 cities, 1,397 companies, 569 universities, and 74 investors, alone making up over 12% of the global economy. This coalition across economic sectors joins 120 countries in the largest ever alliance committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050 at the latest.

Pledge To Net Zero was launched in late 2019 to convene fast climate action in the UK’s environmental sector. It requires signatories to commit to deliver a greenhouse gas target in line with either a 1.5°C climate change scenario, or well below 2°C.

So far, 73 firms and institutions have joined Pledge To Net Zero, covering around 80% of the UK environmental consulting market and 60,000 UK employees.

Read more from IEMA website