Sustainable Development: Strategy & Policy
The Regional Economic Strategy sets out what the NWDA needs to
do to support communities in the Northwest.
Regional Economic Strategy
Everything we do is set out in the Regional Economic Strategy.
The NWDA is responsible for turning the strategy into reality,
which is a complex task. We need to be clear what the strategy is
for and to make sure it fulfils its aims.
To make our job more manageable, the strategy is split up into
bite-size chunks: Business, Skills & Education, People &
Jobs, Infrastructure and Quality of Life. The information relating
to Sustainable Development cuts across all five sections.
The NWDA has a clear view on the direction we want to go in as a
region, including influencing and guiding Government policy on
sustainable consumption &
production, climate
change and energy. The Northwest is
determined to demonstrate real progress in this area, becoming a
champion for activity to support and promote sustainable
development with the region’s economy and businesses.
Lead RDA for the Department of Energy & Climate Change
The NWDA is lead RDA for the Department for Energy and Climate
Change (DECC), providing opportunities to promote the work of the
RDA network in this area and support the development of national
Government policy. A Strategic Partnership Agreement has been
signed between the Regional Development Agencies and DECC setting
out our shared priorities and how we will work together to address
them.
The NWDA is also The
Northern Way energy lead.
Sustainable Growth
The Northwest has a large ecological footprint which the work of
the Regional Spatial Strategy aims to address. The strategy
stresses the need to reduce and where necessary adapt to the
effects of climate change.
The strategy also states we must also deal with dereliction;
improve air and water quality; manage the fabric of towns and
cities and sensitive coastal and rural landscapes; protect
wildlife; increase tree cover; and find more sustainable ways of
dealing with waste.
These elements of the Regional Spatial Strategy will be
important foundations of the SR2010 and will form part of the
Sustainability Appraisal of RS2010, which the NWDA is
undertaking.
The NWDA’s work is also based on the Government’s Sustainable
Development Strategy: Securing the Future.
Regional Waste Strategy
The Regional Waste Strategy promotes and encourages sustainable
development of the Northwest by encouraging waste management
systems that will: reduce waste generation; lessen the
environmental impacts of waste production; improve resource
efficiency; stimulate investment; and maximise associated economic
opportunities.
Sustainable Energy Strategy
The Sustainable Energy Strategy demonstrates how different
sectors across the region can act to address this challenge head
on, whilst also achieving wider economic, social and environmental
objectives. Specific guidance is offered to local authorities, the
private sector and the construction industry.
Energy & Environment Investment Framework
The investment framework provides regional leadership on:
energy; climate change; sustainable production & consumption;
environmental technologies sector development; and environmental
quality through the development of appropriate strategies and
policies.
The framework focuses on: increasing energy security; reducing
greenhouse gas emissions and business risks; increasing the
sustainable use of resources; developing the region’s Energy &
Environmental Technologies sector; promoting strategic land
regeneration.
The framework considers environmental sustainability issues for
energy, waste, air, land and water quality, balancing the need for
resource efficiency, carbon reduction and climate change adaptation
with wider environmental, social and economic implications and
impacts.
Sustainable Building & Infrastructure
Sustainable consumption and production issues need to be at the
forefront of decisions regarding the development of the region’s
infrastructure.
Building developments impact on the environment both directly,
in terms of generating carbon emissions and using natural
resources, and indirectly, by affecting the lifestyle decisions of
its communities. The NWDA’s approach to sustainable buildings
focuses on both sets of impacts.
The NWDA has a Sustainable
Buildings Policy for all funded projects. Sustainable
Buildings Northwest offer support and awareness-raising on
achieving the standards set out in the policy.
Climate Change Action Plan
The Northwest Climate Change Action Plan focuses on the twin
objectives of reducing regional greenhouse gas emissions and
adapting to those effects of climate change which are now
unavoidable. The NWDA is lead on the Climate Change Partnership,
which drives and supports the implementation of the Action Plan.
The Partnership has produced an Action Plan Progress Report.
The NWDA hosts and has representatives in the Climate Change
Unit, which is responsible for the delivery of the Action Plan.
Northwest Energy Council
The Northwest Energy Council is a high level strategic advisory
body which develops policy and strategy for the NWDA interventions
in the energy sector and highlights the need for funding allocation
to energy projects. The Council has no full time resource and its
members commit their time on a voluntary basis.
Regional Equality & Diversity Strategy and Single Equality
Scheme
The NWDA is responsible for delivering the "Economic
Participation for All" strand of the Regional Equality &
Diversity Strategy. We do this through our Single Equality
Scheme.
To tackle equality and economic inclusion issues, the NWDA has
developed a Single Equality Scheme, which is our framework for
mainstream equality and diversity for our projects, programmes,
policies, processes and procedures as well as our behaviours. It
covers: race; disability; gender (incorporating transgender); age;
sexual orientation; and religion or belief.
Strong Evidence Base
A strong evidence base better informs policy development and
implementation decisions through: undertaking primary research and
feasibility work; analysing and reviewing existing data; and
engaging with key stakeholders.
The sustainable consumption and production evidence base focuses
on research in the areas of: resource efficiency, corporate
responsibility, waste management and procurement. These research
areas were identified following consultation with key regional
partners to understand where current gaps in knowledge exist and
where further evidence would assist the progress of sustainable
consumption and production support in the region.
The NWDA commissioned a report on the Environmental
Considerations in Achieving Sustainable Economic Growth (ECOSEG),
the results of which were published in January 2009. The report
evaluated the potential environmental capacity issues arising from
the growth of the region’s economy.
The climate change evidence base is published on the Climate
Change Northwest website. The energy & environmental
technologies evidence base scoping studies are published on the
Envirolink Northwest website.
The environmental quality evidence base is undertaken by the
Natural Economy Northwest partnership. The research focuses on the
economic benefits of healthy ecosystems, such as a review of roof
greening, and the linking of green infrastructure with grey
infrastructure.
Sustainability of the NWDA: Environmental Management
Accreditation
We achieved ISO 14001 environmental management accreditation in
November 2007 and are audited every six months to ensure we are
still complying with the standard as well as to guide the process
of continual improvement.
Sustainability of the NWDA: Environmental Policy
Our environmental policy, guides our delivery of sustainable
economic development. It is reviewed on an annual basis, as
required by the ISO14001 standard.
Through our Environmental Policy we are committed to:
- Reducing our environmental footprint
- Reducing our contribution to climate change
- Continual improvement of our environmental performance
- Conducting our own activities and operations to reflect best
environmental practice
Sustainability of the NWDA: Carbon Reduction Strategy
We are currently in the process of producing a Carbon Reduction
Strategy to address our corporate
social responsibilities. The strategy will set out
realistic short, medium and long-term goals which address the
objective of achieving our corporate carbon reduction target of 5%
year on year.