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Climate emergency

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Climate Emergency

The Council declared a climate emergency in 2019. On declaration of a climate emergency, an LA is affirming that it will place the Climate Emergency at the centre of its decision-making process.

We aim to reduce our carbon emission by 50% by 2030 and achieve Net Zero by 2040.

We have adopted a carbon reduction strategy and developed an action plan as our route map to deliver our aims. We recognise that our actions can have impacts outside of our own boundaries and as such, where appropriate, we aim also to influence the reduce of carbon emissions outside Council activities

Carbon Reduction Strategy Implementation Plan

What you can do

Here are some simple steps on energy, travel and waste to reduce your climate impact and combat climate change.

When you do one small thing, it's not much, is it? But down your road that's 10 small things, and 1,000 more across your town. Nationwide, it's 1,000,000 small things. When we all make small changes, big things happen.

Your Energy Use

  • Insulate your home well. You might be eligible for grant funding to get insulation.
  • Use efficient LED light bulbs
  • Turn things off when they’re not in use: lights, TVs, phone chargers, etc.
  • Use 'smart' or timed plugs to automatically turn off sockets at times you set.

  • Choose at least A-rated appliances only
  • Choose ‘smart’ appliances you can easily control, such as thermostats you can turn on and off remotely.
  • Choose an air source heat pump instead of a gas boiler

  • If you get your electricity from renewable sources, then it takes less carbon to generate the electricity you use in your home - and you increase the demand for renewable energy too, helping to drive more investment in more renewable energy.
  • For maximum effect choose a contract that's 100% from renewable energy, or a supplier that only provides 100% renewables.

There is professional advice available to you right now at no cost. See Yes Energy and the Energy Saving Trust.

Your travel

It takes energy to move, and much of the energy required for travel is carbon-heavy. Nonetheless, there are simple things you can do to reduce how much carbon your travel generates.

Once you start walking more, you’ll find yourself doing it more often, for further, and for more reasons.

  • Can you make that journey by train, bus, bike or on foot?
  • Share journeys and lifts to reduce mileage
  • Maintain steady speeds. As simple as it sounds, maintaining speeds creates far less carbon than accelerating!
  • Turn off engines – idling unnecessarily creates avoidable carbon

Using an electric vehicle creates significantly less carbon than using a vehicle with a combustion engine.

Demand for fast, convenient air travel drives an aviation industry that produces vast carbon emissions. Air has by far the highest carbon cost of any available transport choice and travelling by rail, sea or road are significantly

Less unsustainable options

Your waste

Everything takes raw materials to create, energy to produce, transport to move, and then has to be dealt with at the end of its life. For this reason, 'reduce, reuse, recycle' is the three-step waste mantra worldwide. Reduce your carbon:

  • Do you really need it? How much do you want it? The lowest-carbon decision you can make is not to buy it at all.
  • Choose sustainably-manufactured products that are made to last, to avoid waste. Cheap alternatives may only be 'cheap' because you’ll soon be buying another one, or because proper environmental care has been skimped on.
  • Single use plastics are an easy thing to cut down on when out and about. Use your own refillable bottle for water and check out the Refill Scheme to find local places to fill up!
  • Have a look at lots of other ways you can cut down on waste, from using zero waste shops

  • When buying, choose reusable or non-disposable over one-use or disposable
  • Has it got any life left in it? How could you reuse it? Could it have a new lease of life? Could you pass it on to someone who might use it? Here are some tools for reusing things.

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