Sustainable development

Sustainable development may sound complicated, but it’s based on a simple idea: that we should meet our needs without creating negative impacts environmentally, socially or economically.

Put simply, it is about living our lives in a way that looks after places, people and pockets, especially those most in need.

Sustainable development is relevant to everyone’s lives and we must all do our bit and take responsibility for our own actions. The Council has produced a Sustainability and Climate Change Framework (SCCF) to set out a strategic approach for delivering environmental, social and economic benefits in a joined-up way, helping us to meet local, national and international obligations and offering opportunities for efficiency and cost avoidance. The SCCF was amended in 2019 to reflect key changes in the policy landscape.

The following 'headline commitments' were also agreed in 2019, to act as a steer for future work related to the SCCF:

• The Council will set a date by which we will reach net-zero emissions, including interim annual targets
• The Council will report on how our spending plans and our procurement activities align with our agreed emissions targets
• The Council will report annually on progress towards achieving net-zero emissions.

The SCCF replaces ‘A Sustainable Development Strategy for East Dunbartonshire’, which was launched in 2004. An accompanying action plan, which sets out how our strategic commitments will be delivered, was approved by Council on 19 December 2019 and updated in September 2021. A progress report on the delivery of the SCCF Action Plan between December 2019 and March 2021 was approved by Committee in September 2021.

The SCCF has been subject to the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) process; the SEA Environmental Report can be viewed on the Strategic Environmental Assessment webpage.

While the emerging Climate Action Plan (CAP) is under development, the SCCF and its Action Plan are the Council’s current policy provision for working towards net zero emissions and climate change adaptation. The CAP will take forward the three ‘Headline Commitments’ which were added to the SCCF in 2019 to help the Council progress towards achieving net zero carbon emissions, in line with new requirements:

• The Council will set a date by which we will reach net-zero emissions, including interim annual targets
• The Council will report on how our spending plans and our procurement activities align with our agreed emissions targets
• The Council will report annually on progress towards achieving net-zero emissions.

The SCCF also contains a wide range of strategic commitments beyond climate change and will continue to exist as the Council’s strategic driver of sustainability ambitions.