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Council news  >  Press Releases  >  North-east “global footprint” project leads to action on environmental impact

North-east “global footprint” project leads to action on environmental impact

29/01/07

A groundbreaking project aimed at reducing the North-east’s impact on the environment will reach a major milestone this week.

The North-east Scotland Global Footprint Reduction Report will be unveiled at a special event in Ellon, which is being held to mark the completion of detailed research into the region’s effect on the environment.

The event is the culmination of painstaking work by Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Council officials to measure the effect that human activity in the North-east is having on the fragile global environment.

Data has been collected on energy use, transport, buildings, food habits, waste management and water use – and sent to the Stockholm Environment Institute’s centre in York, which has now provided a detailed picture of the North-east’s environmental “footprint”.

The SEI is an independent, international research institute specialising in sustainable development and environment issues.

Its scientists have calculated that if everyone in the world were to live the North-east lifestyle we would need three Planet Earths to sustain the global population.

The SEI has also worked out that people in both Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire are consuming more resources than the Scottish average.

The average Scot would need 5.37 hectares of land and sea to provide enough energy, food, water and materials to sustain his or her lifestyle.

The average shire resident, however, would need 5.64 hectares and the average Aberdonian 5.8 hectares – an area bigger than the whole of the city’s Victoria Park.

If the Earth’s resources were spread evenly among the world’s population, each person would have just 1.8 hectares each to sustain them.

Speakers at the Ellon event on Friday [February 2] will include Aberdeen City Council chief executive Douglas Paterson, Aberdeenshire chief executive Alan Campbell and WWF Scotland director Richard Dixon.

They will be joined at the Kirk Centre, on Station Road, by North-east Global Footprint Co-ordinator Andrew Win, Ellon and Huntly Community Global Footprint Co-ordinator Steven Gray, and Iain Smithers from Cults Primary School representing WWF’s Schools Global Footprint Project.

Mr Paterson said: “Ecological footprinting is an important tool that will allow us to measure our policies and plans against their potential environmental impact. The city council has made great strides to reduce its footprint and recently achieved a 30% reduction in CO2 emissions. The Global Footprint Project, however, has highlighted that more effort is needed.

“We need to take the right decisions now for our own sakes, for our children and for the sake of generations to come. The Global Footprint tool will allow us to plan sustainably for the future.”

Aberdeenshire Council chief executive Alan Campbell said: “Aberdeenshire Council made a commitment to the Scottish Climate Change Declaration last year and a variety of work is being done which supports its aims. The results of the Global Footprint Project allow us to assess the region’s effect on the environment and take that into consideration when developing policies and plans.

“This groundbreaking project illustrates that we all need to do more to tackle this important issue, which is very high on the global agenda. It will help us to improve on our future level of sustainability.”

WWF Scotland director Richard Dixon said: “We are all becoming more and more concerned about our own impact on the environment here and overseas. We measure this with the ecological footprint, which tells us that we would need three planets if everyone lived like us. Our choices about that we buy, how we get about and how we use energy all make a difference.

“We have been delighted to work with Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Councils to work out how they can help reduce the damage we are all causing to the global environment.”

The research data is now being developed into a computer software programme, which will be used to influence the decision-making of Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Councils. In future, all policies and strategies will be “footprinted” to give councillors and officers a clear understanding of their environmental implications.

The research has already shown that the North-east footprint could be substantially reduced by:

• making a big push on energy efficiency for existing homes and other buildings;
• ensuring new construction is to the highest environmental standards and with efficient heating;
• investing in alternative, sustainable energy sources to power homes, industry and transport;
• developing a new travel culture by providing more affordable, accessible public transport;
• creating communities where workplaces and shopping are nearby, to cut the need for travel.

The main contributors to the North-east’s Global Footprint are: energy use - Aberdeen City 20%, Aberdeenshire 19%; food and drink - Aberdeen City 19%, Aberdeenshire 20%; transport - Aberdeen City 13%; Aberdeenshire 14%.

Aberdeen City Council is developing a Sustainability Code for its six priority regeneration areas. The code will ensure that building refurbishment and new development will be energy efficient to high specifications, and that sustainable communities of homes, shops and workplaces will be created.

Aberdeenshire Council is working with the Carbon Trust on a carbon management programme to pinpoint ways of cutting carbon emissions generated by its own activities, including street lighting, buildings, transport, and energy use. Aberdeen City Council completed its carbon management programme in 2004.

Two North-east communities – Ellon and Huntly – have been working out their own individual “footprints” and aim to use the information gained from questionnaires to schools and community groups to map out ways of lessening their impact.

Pupils and teachers at nine schools in the region have also been calculating how their activities affect the environment and are working on ways of reducing their own impact. The schools are Cults Primary, St Peter’s RC, and Harlaw, Dyce and Hazlehead Academies in Aberdeen, and Keithhall, Inverurie Academy, Fishermoss, Craigievar and Turriff Academy in the shire.

Exhibitions will be set up at the Ellon event to showcase many of the local projects which are already contributing to efforts to shrink the region’s footprint.

Exhibitors at the event will include Aberdeen EcoCity, Aberdeen Forward REAL Food Project, Ellon Landscape and Natural Heritage, Sustec - Sustainable Small Towns, Fairtrade Aberdeen City/Ellon, Scotland Global Footprint Project, Aberdeen Environment Education Centre, the Carbon Trust, and energy-saving advice organisation SCARF.

The North-east Global Footprint Project, launched in April 2004, is funded by Aberdeen City Council, Aberdeenshire Council, the Scottish Executive, WWF Scotland, North Lanarkshire Council, Scottish Natural Heritage, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and Scottish Power.

The North-east and North Lanarkshire pilot projects are the precursors to an overall Scotland Global Footprint Project, which will be launched by the rest of the country’s 32 local authorities at the end of February and managed by WWF Scotland.