… at the local level. As a District we need to act now to reduce direct and indirect carbon emissions to net zero. We need to prepare and adapt to deal with the inevitable impacts of climate change. We recognise that achieving our vision will not be easy. There are entrenched market and wider forces that will support existing fossil-fuel dependent, consumption-based systems. We will need to show…
… neutral. It was adopted in August 2020 and is intended to be reviewed and updated every year. In line with the UK Government’s commitments under the Climate Change Act1, this Action Plan is the first major step we are taking to deliver our commitment to achieving net-zero carbon emissions across the Council’s operations by 2030 and carbon neutrality across the district by 2050 if not sooner…
… of comprehensive actions to reduce our carbon emissions, with the headline being to hit the net zero target by 2030 for the Council’s activities. In simple terms, this document: Establishes a framework for reducing carbon emissions Sets out what our current ‘baseline’ carbon emissions are (or ‘carbon footprint’), so we know where we are starting from and can set meaningful targets…
…. This is the ‘Greenhouse effect’. Simply put, human activities are carbon positive. The burning of fossil fuels for electricity, heat and transport has increased the amount of Carbon Dioxide and other greenhouse gases therefore trapping more heat and increasing global temperatures. Carbon neutrality, or having a net zero carbon footprint means having no net release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. We…
… can achieve net zero emissions by balancing carbon emissions with carbon removal (often through carbon offsetting) or simply eliminating carbon emissions altogether from those activities that release it such as transportation, energy production, agriculture, and industrial processes. Renewable energy sources such as wind, water and solar are said to be carbon neutral whereas fossil fuels…