URS develops UK's first low carbon regional economic strategy

URS provided a robust evidence base to support the 'low carbon' components of the Regional Economic Strategy for a UK regional development agency.

Advantage West Midlands commissioned URS to produce the UK’s first low carbon regional economic strategy. URS identified the key climate change risk areas, and advised Advantage West Midlands (AWM) on places and sectors in which to focus their time and investment.

The work included developing a robust regional greenhouse gas inventory on the basis of comparative analysis of different applicable estimation and calculation methodologies, which provided a critical knowledge and understanding to AWM. URS also developed a methodology to assess potential carbon savings achievable by the region by 2020, following a detailed review of existing and proposed carbon reduction regulations, as well as regional carbon reduction initiatives.

The project included the following tasks:

• Compilation of a regional greenhouse gas inventory;
• Assessment of potential carbon savings achievable by the region by 2020, and assessment of those carbon savings that can be influenced by the Regional Economic Strategy;
• Identification of economic sectors that may be at risk or could find opportunities from future carbon reduction regulations;
• Recommendations for the relevant regional indicators to measure the success of the low carbon economy;
• Assessment of the potential impacts of climate change on the West Midlands Economy.