Climate change - the council’s approach
Climate change strategy
We are currently working towards finalising a climate change strategy.
Our objective
To be carbon neutral by 2050
We will achieve this through 4 strategic principles:
Working with partners
Preserving the climate beneficial elements of the COVID-19 pandemic
Working with schools and young people
Preserving the natural environment sustainably in line with the Bracknell Forest Local Plan
Action plan
Our action plan has 2 main strands:
Reduce carbon emissions that are under the council's control
Influence and lead community action against climate change
Currently, we have:
- 42 live projects
- 5 of these projects reflect emissions that the council has direct control over
- 18 of these projects reflect emissions that we can influence within the borough
- 19 of these projects are a combination of direct control and influence
We are planning to publish our climate change strategy early next year (2021) and then will present progress reports on a yearly basis.
Background
Addressing man-made climate change isn’t a new policy area for the council, or the council’s thinking and planning.
February 2007
We signed up to the Nottingham Declaration on Climate Change.
| Attachment | Size |
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 Nottingham Declaration | 140.55 KB |
January 2013
We signed up to Climate Local. This is the Local Government Association’s successor to the Nottingham Declaration on Climate Change.
We issued a Climate Change Action Plan reflecting our commitment under Climate Local. This was revised and updated in 2016.
June 2019
A climate change motion (motion 02/2019) was agreed at council.
This stated that:
“This council strongly believes in the need to continue its work to address the impact of man-made climate change on our local communities. To this end, this council asks the Executive to develop detailed action plans with measurable ambitious annual targets and an annual report to address this pressing matter to ensure that the council meets the government target of eradicating its net contribution to climate change by 2050.”
January 2020
Cllr Paul Bettison, OBE, Leader of Bracknell Forest Council, made a statement on climate change in January 2020.
Our carbon footprint
In 2019, the council commissioned the Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE) Energy to help us calculate our direct (scope 1 and 2) carbon emissions. These represent the emissions which are in the direct control of the council and can be used as a benchmark to measure future progress.
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| APSE Energy carbon footprint baseline report March 2020 | 383.08 KB |