To assess the impact of targeting an earlier date for net-zero, further work was undertaken to assess how Devon may be able to meet the target by The full Net Zero Plymouth Report can be downloaded here.
Plymouth City Council PCC declared a climate emergency in March , pledging the city to become carbon neutral by and undertaking to prepare a climate emergency action plan. These projections were based on meeting Net Zero by the currently proposed national timeline , so further work was undertaken to assess how Plymouth may be able to meet the target by However, much of the reduction was in the power sector which benefits from national renewable electricity production.
These documents assess and project GHG emissions by sector in the UK to and respectively and these emission reduction projections were apportioned to the equivalent sectors in Plymouth. The inclusion of GHG removal technologies or off-setting would be required to achieve carbon neutrality see graph below. This would require progressive planning policy to bring forward zero carbon standards for new development, and numerous measures to address emissions from existing buildings.
For dwellings, this means providing an appropriate insulation measure for every available loft and cavity walled building 25, new installations , as well as the majority of solid walled buildings 17, new installations.
For non-domestic buildings, including many used for industrial purposes, this means identifying significant energy reduction opportunities, though this sector is more varied than the domestic sector and it is harder to identify specific high level opportunities. In addition to this, the heat supply to buildings will need to be decarbonised.
