Plan 2030. Accelerating action for a net zero 2030: A report for South Gloucestershire Council

Achieving net zero in 2050 is enshrined in UK law. The first three national carbon budgets have made an impressive start on the UK decarbonisation journey but the challenge of implementation facing the fourth, fifth and sixth budget is significant. The Net Zero Strategy is an impressive outline of good intention and proposed actions to build on progress but urgent action is needed to meet the UK commitment to achieve net zero by 2050. Equally, urgent action is required across South Gloucestershire, including the Council itself, to meet the Climate Emergency declaration by 2030. South Gloucestershire Council’s Climate Emergency Declaration pledges to provide the leadership to enable South Gloucestershire to become carbon neutral by 2030. The Climate Emergency Strategy and Action Plans interpret this as leading, enabling and inspiring climate action across the area recognising that the Council does not have the powers and resources to require climate action of residents and enterprises.Territorial emissions of CO2 in South Gloucestershire are estimated at just over 1,137 kt for the year 2019. Council direct emissions are approximately 1% of the total emission. Adaptation measures and resilience in the face of a changing climate requires enhanced attention and the implications for South Gloucestershire of the UK’s Third Climate Change Risk Assessment are discussed in this report. Whilst the focus of this report is to review progress and steps required to achieve net zero, the South Gloucestershire Climate Emergency declaration also sets out commitments to restore nature and double tree canopy cover across the area, which plays a key role in plans for adaptation, resilience and other benefits across the Council’s priorities. South Gloucestershire as an area will, on current estimates, have a residual CO2 emission of some 5-600kt in 2030. The vast majority of this residual comes from territorial emissions from industry, transport and the domestic sector. In the absence of any further local action to reduce territorial emissions over and above national actions South Gloucestershire will need to determine how this residual is to be managed through compensation actions such as offsetting. Land will need to acquired and long term funding for the ongoing management of the offset secured. Scope 3 emissions defined in the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (including those from construction, waste, water, commuting, travel, food and procurement) require further attention in the discussions and actions of the Council and of key employers across South Gloucestershire. The rate and scale of decarbonisation activity can be enhanced by actions undertaken by the Council, especially through leadership. As the national target is net zero by 2050 and South Gloucestershire has set a 2030 target there is a disconnect between the delivery actions nationally and locally. In order to meet its ambitions South Gloucestershire Council will need to be more innovative and potentially disruptive in its actions and to support this recommendations are provided covering 20 areas of action to enhance the scale and accelerate the rate of decarbonisation within South Gloucestershire

The domestic garden: its contribution to urban green infrastructure

Domestic gardens provide a significant component of urban green infrastructure but their relative contribution to eco-system service provision remains largely un-quantified. ‘Green infrastructure’ itself is often ill-defined, posing problems for planners to ascertain what types of green infrastructure provide greatest benefit and under what circumstances. Within this context the relative merits of gardens are unclear; however, at a time of greater urbanization where private gardens are increasingly seen as a ‘luxury’, it is important to define their role precisely. Hence, the nature of this review is to interpret existing information pertaining to gardens /gardening per se, identify where they may have a unique role to play and to highlight where further research is warranted. The review suggests that there are significant differences in both form and management of domestic gardens which radically influence the benefits. Nevertheless, gardens can play a strong role in improving the environmental impact of the domestic curtilage, e.g. by insulating houses against temperature extremes they can reduce domestic energy use. Gardens also improve localized air cooling, help mitigate flooding and provide a haven for wildlife. Less favourable aspects include contributions of gardens and gardening to greenhouse gas emissions, misuse of fertilizers and pesticides, and introduction of alien plant species. Due to the close proximity to the home and hence accessibility for many, possibly the greatest benefit of the domestic garden is on human health and well-being, but further work is required to define this clearly within the wider context of green infrastructure

Bi-allelic Loss-of-Function CACNA1B Mutations in Progressive Epilepsy-Dyskinesia.

The occurrence of non-epileptic hyperkinetic movements in the context of developmental epileptic encephalopathies is an increasingly recognized phenomenon. Identification of causative mutations provides an important insight into common pathogenic mechanisms that cause both seizures and abnormal motor control. We report bi-allelic loss-of-function CACNA1B variants in six children from three unrelated families whose affected members present with a complex and progressive neurological syndrome. All affected individuals presented with epileptic encephalopathy, severe neurodevelopmental delay (often with regression), and a hyperkinetic movement disorder. Additional neurological features included postnatal microcephaly and hypotonia. Five children died in childhood or adolescence (mean age of death: 9 years), mainly as a result of secondary respiratory complications. CACNA1B encodes the pore-forming subunit of the pre-synaptic neuronal voltage-gated calcium channel Cav2.2/N-type, crucial for SNARE-mediated neurotransmission, particularly in the early postnatal period. Bi-allelic loss-of-function variants in CACNA1B are predicted to cause disruption of Ca2+ influx, leading to impaired synaptic neurotransmission. The resultant effect on neuronal function is likely to be important in the development of involuntary movements and epilepsy. Overall, our findings provide further evidence for the key role of Cav2.2 in normal human neurodevelopment.MAK is funded by an NIHR Research Professorship and receives funding from the Wellcome Trust, Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital Charity, and Rosetrees Trust. E.M. received funding from the Rosetrees Trust (CD-A53) and Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity. K.G. received funding from Temple Street Foundation. A.M. is funded by Great Ormond Street Hospital, the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), and Biomedical Research Centre. F.L.R. and D.G. are funded by Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre. K.C. and A.S.J. are funded by NIHR Bioresource for Rare Diseases. The DDD Study presents independent research commissioned by the Health Innovation Challenge Fund (grant number HICF-1009-003), a parallel funding partnership between the Wellcome Trust and the Department of Health, and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute (grant number WT098051). We acknowledge support from the UK Department of Health via the NIHR comprehensive Biomedical Research Centre award to Guy's and St. Thomas' National Health Service (NHS) Foundation Trust in partnership with King's College London. This research was also supported by the NIHR Great Ormond Street Hospital Biomedical Research Centre. J.H.C. is in receipt of an NIHR Senior Investigator Award. The research team acknowledges the support of the NIHR through the Comprehensive Clinical Research Network. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR, Department of Health, or Wellcome Trust. E.R.M. acknowledges support from NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre, an NIHR Senior Investigator Award, and the University of Cambridge has received salary support in respect of E.R.M. from the NHS in the East of England through the Clinical Academic Reserve. I.E.S. is supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (Program Grant and Practitioner Fellowship)

Independent review of the sustainability of the YTL Arena, Bristol

UWE Bristol has been commissioned to undertake an independent review of the sustainability credentials of the proposed YTL Arena, Bristol and to offer judgment on the rigour and robustness of the sustainability assessment undertaken by YTL’s consultants. The client brief specified an independent review of that work plus, where needed, the specification of proposals for further steps that might be taken by YTL Developments to enhance the sustainability of the scheme. The purpose of the review is to testi) The claim that the Arena development will be an exemplar of sustainable development and ii) Assess the sustainability credentials of the proposed scheme against those of the previously proposed city centre Arena location. Nine documents were supplied for assessment. These were a mixture of internal documents and selected documents submitted as part of the planning application.These have been reviewed against the brief and a series of observations and issues about the scheme in its entirety identified. A number of specific issues have also been identified in relation to individual documents

Review of year two of the climate emergency action plan. Report for South Gloucestershire Council

https://beta.southglos.gov.uk/static/5e5bdbd83f51c0169af668c38fd5cd27/Appendix-6-Review-of-Year-2-Climate-Emergency-Action-Plan.pd

South Gloucestershire Council climate emergency declaration review of year one of the Climate Emergency Action Plan

A critical review of South Gloucestershire Council's Climate Emergency Year 1 Action Plan. A review undertaken by the University Advisory Group supporting South Gloucestershire Council in the implementation of their Climate Emergency Strategy

Education for sustainable development guidance

This is the second edition of the QAA/Advance HE Education for Sustainable Development Guidance, the first having been published in 2014. The guidance is intended to be of practical help to higher education providers (HEPs) working with students and staff to foster their knowledge, understanding and skills in the area of sustainable development (SD). It recognises that there are many ways in which this may be achieved and is not prescriptive about delivery. Instead it offers suggestions to inspire, inform and enable Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) to be facilitated as central to curricula and part of a whole-institution approach to Sustainable Development (SD)

Climate action toolkit for the higher education sector

The HE Climate Action Toolkit, produced by the Climate Commission for UK Higher and Further Education, identifies critical elements to climate action across 5 themes: leadership, teaching, research, community engagement and campus management. These elements support institutions to reach net-zero targets, prepare students and staff with skills and attributes for a changing world, protect biodiversity and worktoward climate justice.The purpose of the Toolkit is not to act as a roadmap or definitive list of actions for your institution, but rather to support your institution in developing your journey to advance sustainability and to signpost resources and examples of best practice

A rapid assessment of the opportunities presented by the BEIS energy white paper and the UK Government's Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution

A rapid assessment of the opportunities for Bristol presented by the Energy White Paper and 10 Point Plan. Report prepared by a sub committee of the Bristol Advisory Committee on Climate Change