Action being taken to tackle climate change in Gloucestershire

Its vision for Gloucestershire is that we will have a net zero county by 2045 that provides quality of life now and for future generations.

By 2030, the county council aims to reduce its own carbon emissions, for example in buildings, its fleet and street lighting, by 80 per cent on 2005. It has already achieved a reduction of 76 per cent.

It has a five-year rolling action plan which it began in 2019 and provides an annual update on progress.

A report going to cabinet on Wednesday 31 January says that the long-term trend of reducing emissions in the county is continuing, with emissions now down 34.8 per cent since 2006.

Other achievements include:

·    Introduction of a new tool to measure the ecological and climate change impacts of all cabinet decisions

·    Non-recyclable waste per household dropped by over 3.5 per cent in the last year

·    A total of £48 million has been secured towards active travel projects, including the 26-mile cycle spine that will link Stroud to Bishop’s Cleeve

·    The Javelin Park Energy from Waste facility helped reduce emissions from waste. In 2022/23 emissions from waste at the facility were 2,660 tonnes of carbon, if this waste had gone to landfill it would have been 55,772.4 tonnes. It has also provided enough electricity from waste to power 25,000 homes.

·    Since August, the trial e-scooter scheme in Gloucester and Cheltenham has replaced over 13,000 car trips, reducing CO2 from cars by 4.2 tonnes

The county council’s action plan includes plans to increase building sustainability and generate more renewable energy, work with communities to reduce emissions, decarbonise transport, increase flood resilience, plant trees and continue to reduce waste. The council is also investing in low carbon school buildings and running campaigns to focus on the actions residents can take to reduce their environmental impact. Libraries are creating ‘greener together’ zones to increase access to sustainable literature and staff champions are spreading sustainability messages through communities.

Cabinet is being recommended to note the overall emissions for the county council and Gloucestershire, as well as the progress made so far and approve the five-year action plan.

Cllr David Gray, cabinet member for environment and planning, said: “We are continuing to make good progress towards our aim of achieving net zero for Gloucestershire by 2045. This year we have launched a tool that measures the climate change impact of council decisions, secured more government funding towards the 26-mile cycle spine we are building across the county, and planted nearly 150,000 more trees.

“We will work closely with local communities and our partners to focus on the actions needed to reduce emissions further over the coming year.”

You can read the full cabinet report here.