The climate emergency

Climate change is happening due to human activity with global warming now bringing greater risks of flooding, droughts and heat waves. The UK has already been affected by rising temperatures with ten of the warmest years occurring since 2003.

Severe weather events in the borough have shown that the global issue of climate change is also a local problem. We need plans to tackle emissions and reduce our impact on the climate.

Our declaration and targets

A climate emergency for the borough was declared at a meeting of Cabinet on 10 September 2019, with councillors unanimously supporting the motion.

To guide our action on climate change, we have set ourselves two ambitious targets: to be a carbon-neutral council in December 2025, and to work with communities and partners towards a net zero carbon borough by 2045.

Shaped through public consultation and adopted in March 2021, our Climate Change and Air Quality Strategy sets out our approach to lead by example as we enable and inspire change, challenging and working with our partners, businesses, communities and others to cut emissions across the borough.