Buckinghamshire Council commit to reach zero emissions by 2050
The cabinet have agreed their climate change vision
Last updated 16th Feb 2021
The cabinet committed this lunchtime to take action against climate change and determine the next steps towards zero emissions by 2050.
The Climate Change strategy contains actions worth nearly £10 million working at a local level to tackle environmental damage and improve the air quality right across the Buckinghamshire Council area.
The strategy looks at a range of emission sources and how they can be controlled including, the Councils emissions, work in the community with suppliers and partners and how they can work to control non council sources across Bucks such as transportation and new developments.
The strategy provides milestone targets to be achieved by 2030 and 2040 on the way to reaching net zero no later than 2050 for their direct emissions.
Cabinet Member for Environment and Climate Change Bill Chapple OBE, said:
“The challenge is to set out the long-term vision when there are so many ‘unknown’ factors at play. At present, the short and medium term impacts of the Covid pandemic are largely unknown. No-one really knows what the future may look like or whether we will return to something closer to pre-Covid normal - for example, travel and commuting patterns may or may not continue or return to pre-Covid levels across Buckinghamshire.”
Large-scale tree planting was also agreed today which will help absorb carbon whilst providing additional environmental benefits.
Other actions to be taken by Buckinghamshire Council include installing renewable energy systems on its buildings and reducing emissions from its fleet by using electric and low emission vehicles and continuing to upgrade street lighting to LEDs.
The Council is also committed to supporting each of the 16 local community boards serving local communities across the county in their local climate control initiatives which can deliver practical carbon reduction actions at a grass roots level.