Carbon Clever Highlands initiative building momentum

29th October 2013

The Highland Council is to host a major conference early next month to launch its Carbon Clever Highlands initiative which aims to achieve a carbon neutral Inverness in a low carbon Highlands by 2025.

Keynote speakers at the event on Friday 8 November at Council HQ, Inverness, are Connie Hedegaard, the European Commissioner for Climate Action, Scottish Government Minister, Fergus Ewing MSP, and Willie Printie, of LifeScan Scotland.

The conference will bring together a range of public, private and third sector organisations that have an interest in being partners in Carbon Clever Highlands. A series of commitments, projects and actions will be unveiled on the day, and many of the sessions will focus on defining the initiative’s early priorities.

Council Leader Councillor Drew Hendry said: “The Highland region is making progress towards a low carbon future. The Carbon Clever Highlands initiative will package up the excellent work being conducted across the region, lever in additional funding, and accelerate progress towards a carbon neutral Inverness in a low carbon Highlands.

“The targets being set will not be easy, but achieving them will have multiple benefits. There will be less air pollution, we will be healthier, services will be more accessible, growth will be stimulated, we will have an improved infrastructure, and the Highlands will make a significant contribution to mitigate against climate change.

“The Council has a major role to play in co-ordinating Carbon Clever Highlands, but to make the initiative a success will require public bodies, private business, community enterprises, and the residents of Highlands, you and me, to support Carbon Clever Highlands and commit to it.”

The Leader revealed that the Highlands has won 4 out of 6 national awards in the inaugural year of the Scottish National Renewables Energy League for solar, hydro, heat pumps, and biomass. The region has the highest amount of community, council, housing association, and small rural business installations of renewables in the country. Large scale commercial renewables are not included.

He said: “Winning these awards highlights the fantastic work that is going on in the communities across Scotland to take advantage of the wealth of renewable energy that is available in our region. By installing renewables to power our businesses, services, and homes across Highlands we can reduce our energy bills, reduce our carbon emissions, and increase fuel security.

“For its part the Council has installed a range of solar thermal and photovoltaics, air and ground source heat pumps, wind turbines and biomass installed across Council sites saving money and reducing carbon emissions.”

Depute Leader, Councillor David Alston, said: “The facts don’t lie, the physics is proven, and the obligations are clear. We must do all that we can both to reduce carbon emissions and to mitigate against the effects of the changes that our now inevitable. And we must do this using all the technologies at our disposal, rethinking and reimagining what it means to be green. ‘Carbon CLEVER’ means being clear eyed and hard thinking in order to stand on the side of future generations and to stand with our fellow inhabitants of planet Earth.”

Convener Councillor Jimmy Gray said: “The Council actively supports the installation of a variety of renewable energy sources right across the Highlands. The challenge for us all is to make this energy affordable for the people of the Highlands.”

The Highland Council was the first local authority to embrace the Scottish Government’s Biomass Energy Supply Agreement Framework for public and third sector, introduced earlier this year and designed to help achieve the Government’s target of 11% of heat generated through renewable sources by 2020.

These awards recognise the work done by the whole Highland community in installing renewable technologies to generate energy and heat.