Wokingham Council: Behavioural Change– Market Engagement Event

<p>Wokingham Borough Council (WBC) declared a climate emergency in July 2019, committing itself to playing as full a role as possible in achieving a carbon neutral Wokingham Borough by 2030. The Climate Emergency Action Plan (CEAP) was adopted in January 2020 and a detail report published.</p>
<p>Overall, the CEAP aims to deliver &ldquo;warmer homes, cleaner air, better health, more green spaces and support green job opportunities &ndash; as well as reduced emissions&rdquo;. However, even with the Councils best efforts, delivery of many of the outcomes of the CEAP rely on factors that are outside the Council&rsquo;s control. The effective delivery of this action plan therefore depends on the influence and support from the local community.</p>
<p>Tackling the climate emergency in Wokingham will need active participation from its residents, who must be consulted and involved in the big changes that will affect the way they live their lives. Long term behavioural change has been identified as one of the optimal strategies for delivering this transition.</p>
<p>Indeed, behaviour change is the most important aspect the council can act on right now to reduce emissions. Hence, WBC are looking to start behavioural change initiatives quickly, beginning as soon as early 2022, with a program of other initiatives following up on this agenda.</p>
<p>While great progress has been made to engage the community in this agenda, there remains a number of key areas WBC are looking to expand upon in order to challenge the remaining long term, entrenched and currently accepted behavioural norms.</p>
<p>These are understood to remain with residents and businesses for a number of reasons, primarily being that little to no incentive has been provided to encourage/motivate this transition for the specific behaviours, be it financial, personal or educational, as many may simply not be aware of the impacts their everyday actions can translate to on the environment.</p>
<p>Therefore, it is clear more steps need to be taken in order to achieve our net zero goal; the key issues WBC aims to address through engagement actions are:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Drive less</strong> &ndash; reducing car ownership, modal shift to public transport, walking and cycling more, transitioning to electric vehicles</li>
<li><strong>Energy</strong> &ndash; reduce energy consumption by adopting better behaviours, improving our homes, adopting green technologies</li>
<li><strong>Waste</strong> - reduce the amount of waste generated and improve our recycling behaviours</li>
<li><strong>Food</strong> - eat less meat and dairy products, consume seasonal produce</li>
<li><strong>Conscious consumption</strong> - shop local, use less plastic, avoid fast fashion, staycation</li>
<li><strong>Support biodiversity</strong> - plant or adopt a tree, support local gardens, give home to nature</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Residents, businesses</strong> and <strong>schools/young people </strong>are the key audiences we want to capture, as they have different motivations and will require different approaches to encourage behavioural changes.</p>
<p>We would like to hear supplier views on what the council should consider with regard to encouraging these behavioural changes for each topic and audience, in terms of analysis of the current situation and methods for engaging with residents to deliver these changes, along with examples of projects you are currently undertaking and any specific tools or services which are currently available for this task.</p>
<p>Following this event, WBC will be looking to procure a pilot behavioural change scheme, based on this information received. This would be with one or a number of suppliers who match our ambitions and can best deliver on them through their reach and viable solutions. The relevant information obtained as part of the market engagement events will be carefully collated and incorporated into the subsequent tender documents.</p>
<p>The council are open to all methods, areas of expertise and any new opportunities for innovation which will optimally deliver these changes. Therefore, this process is open to all companies with experience in delivering behavioural change, even if not previously from a climate standpoint. WBC aims to be a flagship authority in addressing climate change issues, so is ambitious in improving in these areas and therefore are open to any new options which can deliver on this goal.</p>
<p>Depending on the number of interested suppliers, we will either host a number of supplier events with interested parties, or we will set up meetings with interested parties on a one-to-one basis, in the weeks following the closing date. This will be done in October online due to the unpredictability of the current COVID-19 situation.</p>
<p>Suppliers expressing interest will be asked to complete and submit an Attendance Form to indicate area of interest.</p>