Report of Director, Manchester Climate Change Agency and the Deputy Director of Public Health

In 2022, the Manchester Climate Change Partnership, supported by Manchester Climate Change Agency, updated Manchester’s five year Climate Change Framework (2020-2025) to provide more granular targets for staying within our carbon budget and to highlight the co-benefits of climate action, including tackling health inequality.

The Making Manchester Fairer plan was developed alongside the Framework refresh and so is aligned to it.

The Committee considered the report of the Director, Manchester Climate Change Agency and the Deputy Director of Public Health that described that in 2022, the Manchester Climate Change Partnership, supported by Manchester Climate Change Agency, updated Manchester’s five year Climate Change Framework (2020-2025) to provide more granular targets for staying within our carbon budget and to highlight the co-benefits of climate action, including tackling health inequality.

The Making Manchester Fairer plan was developed alongside the Framework refresh and so was aligned to it.

Key points and themes in the report included:

·         Providing an introduction and background to the Climate Change Framework;

·         Describing the purpose of the 2022 Climate Change Framework Update;

·         An overview and update on the city’s direct emissions;

·         Discussion of the city’s indirect, or consumption-based, emissions;

·         An overview of work by Manchester Metropolitan University and Manchester’s Climate Change Partnership Adaptation and Resilience Advisory Group;

·         Health and wellbeing, noting the link between health inequalities and climate change

·         The Making Manchester Fairer plan was developed alongside the Framework refresh and so is aligned to it; and

·         Recommended actions and key messages of the 2022 Update.

Some of the key points that arose from the Committee’s discussions were: -

·         Noting the impact poor air quality and pollution had on health;

·         Was air quality monitored;

·         Noting the importance and relationship between active travel and health outcomes;

·         The need to ban single use vape pens;

·         Was the NHS considering their carbon footprint and taking actions to reduce these; and

·         Noting the heatwave experienced in 2022 consideration needed to be given to providing cool banks, especially for older residents noting the impact that extreme heat had on health outcomes.

The Deputy Director of Public Health commented that the Making Manchester Fairer approach involved a collaborative approach across all directorates and partners, noting the consideration given to health outcomes that informed the Draft Active Travel Strategy. Members were advised that the Environment and Climate Change Scrutiny Committee would be considering the Draft Active Travel Strategy at the meeting of 9 February 2023. The Chair requested that the Scrutiny Support Officer circulate this report to Members of this Committee for information.

The Deputy Director of Public Health acknowledged the comments made regarding clean air and stated that there was a range of work to address this, especially working with schools and young people via the Neighbourhood Teams. In regard to the issue raised regarding cool hubs she advised that she would feed these comments back to the Health Protection Team.

The Director, Manchester Climate Change Agency advised that air quality was monitored in Manchester and actions around this specific issue were included in the Framework. She further stated that the relationship between health outcomes and active travel was fully understood and again was included in the Framework. In response to the comments made regarding Making Manchester Fairer when considering the previous agenda items the need for a just transition was fully understood and included in the Framework.

The Director, Manchester Climate Change Agency stated that the NHS were looking at their carbon footprint and devising and implementing plans to reduce this across a range of activities.

The Committee welcomed Councillor Shilton Godwin, Chair of the Environment and Climate Change Scrutiny Committee. She thanked the Committee for considering this important report. She commented that the acknowledgement and recognition of the relationship between health and climate change was increasingly recognised and informed the responses to this.   

The Chair advised that the Committee would continue to schedule items on health and climate change in the new municipal year, with the scope of these items to be determined. The Chair noted that this work would also be reflected in the Making Manchester Fairer work that would be reported to the Committee. 

The Executive Member for Healthy Manchester and Adult Social Care paid tribute to the response of the Public Health Team during the unprecedented heatwave that Manchester experienced in 2022. He advised that the learning from that experience would inform future responses.

Decision

To note the report.