Local Government ExplainedSustainable asset management: Case studies and resources for local government
Sid Hayward, LGIU
Curated case studies on how local authorities around the globe are building more sustainable and climate resilient asset pools, plus resources on climate resilience at the local level. Examples this week come from the UK, Thailand and the U.S.
Curated case studies on how local authorities around the globe are building more sustainable and climate resilient asset pools, plus resources on climate resilience at the local level. Examples this week come from the UK, Thailand and the U.S.
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Policy innovation and inspiration examples from the local government sector
USA: Solar “resilience hubs” launched by Minneapolis
In a bid to safeguard the city from power outages and boost its environmental credentials, authorities in Minneapolis have launched new “resilience hubs” across three of its neighbourhoods. The hubs contain new rooftop solar panels and battery storage units, which are hoped to provide much-needed backup electricity in the case of a natural disaster. The hubs are also designed to act as cooling and food distribution centres during heat waves and similar emergencies. The hubs are set up at two minority-led non-profit community centres and another around three public school buildings.
Grist
UK: North East Derbyshire upgrades council homes to lower emissions and fuel bills
North East Derbyshire District Council is retrofitting some 427 council-owned properties across ex-mining communities to lower emissions and help tackle fuel poverty. These social houses were deemed “hard to treat” in terms of improving their energy efficiency and keeping residents warm, with residents at high risk of fuel poverty. The council worked with expert partners to install external wall insulation, with the scheme expected to deliver carbon savings of 425 tonnes a year and resident cash savings of hundreds of pounds per household, while also giving council properties a minimum additional lifespan of 30 years through repairs.
Friends of the Earth
UK: Leeds electrifies its council vehicles
Since 2015/16, Leeds City Council has been working to convert their fleet to electric vehicles. Now, the council has the largest electric vehicle fleet of any local authority in the UK, with 335 EVs in operation on top of 119 depot charging points and 95 chargers in employee homes. The council has since 2021/22 been working to transition its refuse collection fleet, with the construction of a new waste depot that will be home to 50 electric refuse collection vehicles. In addition, the council’s “grey fleet” – staff owned vehicles used for council services – is also under review. The approach will save an expected 1,274 tonnes of CO2 between 2018 and 2025.
Friends of the Earth
Thailand: Centenary park acts as an urban forest to prevent flooding
Bangkok, Thailand, is sinking by two centimetres each year. Its Chulalongkorn Centenary Park acts as a lifeline in the face of flooding, seasonal rains and the urban heat island effect. The park can hold up to a million gallons of water, with wetlands and sloped green roofs that direct unwanted rain into retention ponds.
The Guardian
Explainer: Climate-Resilient Infrastructure
This webpage from Infrastructure Pathways explains the concept of climate-resilient infrastructure in depth, touching on lifecycle phases, resilience value, resilience and systems thinking, and other concepts connecting to sustainable assets and their resilience.
Report: Infrastructure for a Climate-Resilient Future
Developed by the OECD, this report offers an overview on how climate change impacts our infrastructure. It highlights key policy areas that must be considered by planners and other stakeholders to develop more resilient infrastructure. It considers how climate risk awareness and understanding can be boosted, and in turn become a norm for all financing and planning decisions.
Case study: Increasing resilience to climate change in the Western Sydney region: an analysis of local council strategies for climate, health, and wellbeing
The critical challenge of climate change is most acutely felt at the local level of government, as councils not only manage their assets and infrastructure, but support their communities during and after disasters and periods of extreme weather. This research, based on the 10th State of Australasian Cities National Conference, focuses on the Western Sydney region, containing eight council areas. It asks how these eight councils have addressed climate risk and resilience.
Case study/report: Weathering the storm
This report by Infrastructure Victoria, Australia, highlights how the state’s infrastructure is at to fail more often without action to adapt to climate change, with climate related damage costs in Victoria potentially reaching $115 billion by 2030. It argues that while governments can’t completely eliminate the risk of climate-related infrastructure damage, it’s possible to mitigate it. Targeted, cost-effective adaption solutions, like more robust construction materials, can reduce costs of recovery. It also argues that local analysis is critical, and asset managers should focus on local conditions to understand how specific assets will be impacted.
Report: Climate resilience in local plans: Adaptation and mitigation in local development
The research involving 88 local council plans, all adopted after 2018, provides examples of where climate change impacts have informed a local authority’s development strategy, either in a background or a primary manner, and how this has informed adaptation or mitigation strategies.
Case study: Biodiversity in cities: How natural asset mapping helps cities protect livelihoods and address climate change impacts
This case study outlines the approach that nine cities (specifically in this study Dar es Salaam, Tanzania) took with ICLEI to map out their natural assets.
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