Environment Agency Expression of Interest for Reducing Carbon Emission from the FCERM Capital Program

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On the 1st May 2019 a Climate Change Emergency was declared by Parliament, Scottish and Welsh governments followed suite along with many Local Authorities. There is also a growing awareness and appetite for action across industry (e.g. CIWEM and ICE) and society (e.g. (Extinction Rebellion). At the Environment Agency we have an 'E:mission sustainability strategy' which sets out how we and our supply chain will reduce our carbon footprint, this strategy is currently being and will commit us to becoming a Net Zero Carbon organisation. Many other Flood Risk Management Authorities (RMAs) are also declaring Climate Change emergencies, and setting ambitious carbon neutrality targets. Reducing our carbon footprint - moving toward a goal of Net Zero Carbon is very relevant to all FCERM RMAs because we own, manage and maintain assets and infrastructure which produce operational carbon. We also develop and deliver new schemes which produce both operational and embodied carbon. To move towards Net Zero Carbon we first need to understand what Net Zero Carbon means to our organisation and FCERM. Then we need to understand our baseline - to set out how much Carbon our current Capital and Maintenance programmes emits and from there establish how to reduce it.