High Peak council publishes first part of climate action plan to become carbon neutral by 2030

Since declaring a climate emergency almost two years ago, the authority and its partners have been developing plans to help the borough make its contribution to addressing the global crisis.

Councillor Jean Todd, executive councillor for climate change, the environment and community safety, said: “I’m absolutely delighted that this part of the action plan has been agreed – it’s a big step forward in documenting the practical measures the council is taking to help achieve the goal of eliminating carbon dioxide emissions across the High Peak.

Part one of the action plan sets out key areas of activity for 2021-22 focus, with a focus on energy efficiency in council housing, heat and power for council buildings, travel and transport for councillors and staff, and emissions associated with products and services bought by the council.

Additional supporting activity includes the development of relevant staff skills; revising the council’s policies and strategies to ensure climate change is always considered as part of the decision making process; creating new green strategies; and putting steps in place to measure and report on performance.

Coun Todd said: “This demonstrates how we’re starting to making a real difference to ensure our operations and the activities within our control aren’t increasing emissions and we’re pro-actively moving towards significantly reducing them.

“Climate change is among the biggest global challenges we face and we owe it to ourselves and future generations to do what we can to mitigate the implications we’re already seeing, and which will only increase, on our lives and our environment.”

Part two of the plan is due to be published before the end of the year and will detail how the council intends to help the whole borough achieve net zero emissions.

Coun Todd said: “We’ve made great progress already but we need to work in partnership with our communities, businesses and organisations. It’s not an easy task but it’s one that we simply cannot afford to ignore.”

To read part one of the plan, go to www.highpeak.gov.uk/ClimateChange.

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