Library
Our library contains documents held on the Improvement Service site together with links to documents held externally. A list of websites which also hold publications and information useful to those working in local government is available in our Information Sources section.
Users of the IS site are invited to submit documents that they think will be of value to other site users. Please note that you must be a registered user of the Improvement Service website and logged in if you wish to submit a new document. Documents submitted will not appear on the site immediately but will be subject to approval by our editorial team.
If you need any guidance or help please read our 'How to use this site' document.
Environmental Sustainability and Climate Change
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This report summarises the findings of an audit of the extent to which sustainable development and environmental issues are being addressed in the 32 Single Outcome Agreements (SOAs)dated 2009 onwards in Scotland. It seeks to highlight the ways in which the SOA process and any successor arrangements can more effectively address sustainable development and environmental priorities. It looks at the number of SOAs that include outcomes and/or indicators for ten key topics: biodiversity; climate change; ecological/carbon footprint; waste; sustainable development education; historic environment; landscape; activity/health; recreational access; transport; and water. It identifies some gaps in the coverage of environmental issues in SOAs, including climate change mitigation, climate change adaptation, landscapes, the historic environment and the sustainable management of water resources, and sets out recommendations for policy makers and CPPs.
This document sets out the strategic measures and actions planned by Glasgow City Council to address the serious challenges the organisation faces as a result of climate change, focusing on the key themes of education and awareness, energy, resource management, transport, sustainable procurement, cultural and natural heritage, water, and planning and the built environment.
The Footprint calculation provides information for councils and community planning partners to measure and reduce their area's environmental impact, including greenhouse gas emissions. This is a step by step guide for climate change and sustainable development practitioners to using the Footprint approach . It explains the background to the Local Footprints project (a WWF/Sustainable Scotland Network project) and looks at its application to local authority and community planning partnership duties, policies and services.
This Audit Commission report considers what councils can do to reduce domestic CO2 emissions in their areas. It outlines the the challenges of climate change and the national context for action on tackling it. It provides practical examples of how some councils are tackling emissions and provides suggestions on how councils could achieve more and secure greater value for money.
The brief for a study undertaken by the Glasgow and Clyde Valley Green Network Partnership relating to the local authorities' environmental data needs for biodiversity, access, green space and its management. Looking at the data and systems that already exist, the gaps, and identifying a range of costed solutions to the problems identified in the study.
The aim of this is to identify the necessary steps to mobilising the appropriate data, in user friendly formats, that will support better decision making. This in turn will help to deliver economic growth in the area, at the same time as identifying and strengthening the Green Network them in the Joint Structure Plan.
Study due to complete end of April 2008.
The report identifies priority services areas that local authorities need to address to achieve the Government's national ambition to reduce Scotland's carbon dioxide emissions by 80% by 2050.
Local Footprints produced this report to help local authorities understand how services and policies influence people's every-day decisions and behaviour, as well as their Carbon Footprints. It complements other area-wide indicators, like the Ecological Footprint, as well as estate emissions indicators and carbon management plans
Press Release to accompany the launch of Scotland's Climate Change Declaration, a declaration of intent by Scotland's local authorities to tackle the causes of climate change.
An overview of activities relating to environmental protection and enhancement that are currently being carried out by Glasgow City Council. It puts the activities into a strategic context to produce an Action Plan with quantifiable targets.
As part of Scotland's Climate Change Programme, the Scottish Executive and Scotland's local Authorities have developed a common declaration of intent on climate change to which local government and other stakeholders can commit. This declaration includes commitments to prepare and publicly declare a plan, with targets and timescales, to achieve a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from local authority operations including energy use, transport and waste, and to publish an annual statement on progress in addressing climate change.
A study of Cardiff's ecological footprint - relating to sustainable development and Best Value matters.
A review of literature on sustainable development
