All RDAs across England are closing by March 2012
(see transition and closure section).
With our resources reducing steadily, this page has not been recently updated and the information below may not be current.
If in doubt, please contact us directly.
Low carbon economy
A successful future economy is one that is
both prosperous and sustainable, delivering economic growth within
environmental limits. To realise this, we need to reduce the
economy’s carbon intensity by encouraging projects that have lower
energy and fuel use, higher environmental standards and improved
efficiency.
At the South West RDA, we are working towards
this goal with an ambitious low carbon programme for our
investments. We have set a target to ensure the carbon
emissions of our investment portfolio are "net zero" by 2013.
This means that any carbon generated by our investments will have
to be balanced by carbon savings from other projects in our
portfolio.
Over the last two years we have worked with
the Stockholm Environment Institute and been guided by a panel of
experts to develop an approach for assessing the carbon impact of
our investments and achieving that net zero carbon ambition.
We are now implementing this approach, known as the Carbon
Compass, across our investment portfolio for any project
with a total financial value in excess of £1 million and for all
projects that significantly generate or save carbon.
The Carbon Compass is innovative and more
comprehensive than many other carbon accounting methods. We
are therefore breaking new ground and so expect to adapt this
approach along the way as we realise its potential and share our
learning with partners, stakeholders and government.
You can download copies of the Carbon
Compass documents below.