Policy context

Climate change is a complex issue and responding to it requires the planner to navigate the rapidly evolving landscape of information, advice, policy and legislation. By providing context and background, this section of the toolkit will help you make informed decisions about developing and implementing policy in this area.

The Climate Change PPS

The Climate Change PPS “sets out how planning, in providing for the new homes, jobs and infrastructure needed by communities, should help shape places with lower carbon emissions and resilient to the climate change now accepted as inevitable” (Paraphrased from www.communities.gov.uk/publications/planningandbuilding/ppsclimatechange)

It also states that, where there is any difference in emphasis on climate change between the policies in the Climate Change PPS and other planning policy statements in the series, the former takes precedence.

The Climate Change PPS represents a key strand in the national approach to both mitigation and adaptation. As such it should be the principal reference for policy makers in this area. It states that ‘mitigation and adaptation should not be considered independently of each other’, although the current emphasis is on mitigation and the content of this section of the toolkit reflects that. As national policy in this area develops, adaptation is likely to play a greater role.

This section provides an introduction to adaptation planning policy and drivers for action alongside the incentives, legislation and key strategies for mitigation.

Introduction to mitigation

Key incentives
This section discusses the incentives which are likely to have the most direct affect on your policy making around sustainable energy. Much of what is discussed here will be of direct relevance in your considerations of future policy making and delivery.

Key legislation
This section sets out the key legislation and targets applicable to climate change mitigation, and summarises the impacts of each of these on sustainable energy policy making.

Key strategies
The information here is included principally to provide context for your policy making and contains useful summaries of the key national strategies currently in place.

Introduction to adaptation

Planning policy
This section sets out the various other planning policy statements and guidance which may be relevant to your thinking around adaptation.

Drivers for action
This section sets out the key national, regional and local drivers around adaptation.

This policy context section of the toolkit also helps you to consider what sorts of policies you should consider as a result of the Climate Change PPS and what sort of policies you might want to consider which are encouraged by the Climate Change PPS. It’s worth noting that using a combination of ‘Should do’ and ‘Could do’ actions and policy approaches may well bring about the most significant benefits. See What policies to consider and the accompanying Shoulds and Coulds diagram for more details.

This section also discusses briefly the emerging national policy landscape in the Emerging Policy section.