Climate Change Action Plan
In 2019, Cirencester Town Council declared a Climate Emergency; this is because the Council acknowledged that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a special report in October 2018 on the subject of ‘Global Warming of 1.5°C’.
The report stated that:
• human activity has already caused 1°C of warming to the earth;
• to limit warming to 1.5°C, it will be necessary to halve global carbon emissions by 2030 and to achieve near-zero net emissions by 2050;
• the consequences of 2°C warming are significantly worse than 1.5°C warming across all areas considered in the report.
Extreme weather events happening now can be attributed with confidence to warming at this scale, and the impacts of climate breakdown are already causing serious damage around the world. The UK faces damaging local impacts related to extreme heat, water shortages, sea level rise, and global impacts such as food price shocks and greatly increased migratory pressures.
The Climate Change Advisory Group has already made good progress in starting to audit and benchmark the Council’s carbon footprint, the leasing of vehicles and equipment, banking arrangements and investments and switching energy tariffs.
We have also significantly minimised the number of in person meetings and have introduced flexible arrangements for working from home, reducing the need to travel. Our Council and Committee meetings are now streamed live via YouTube, reducing the need for members of the public to physically travel to our meetings.
We are also printing less and using less plastic; thinking more about how we can re-use, re-purpose and recycle. Our open spaces are also important for bio-diversity as well as contributing positively to the climate, this means less manicuring and more appropriate management with partners such as the Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust.
The Group has recently published an action plan, see below, and lead officers supporting the Group are currently undertaking a carbon literacy course.
