Councillors in Blaenau Gwent today declared a Climate Emergency for the county borough, whilst approving a new Plan which will see the authority reduce its carbon footprint over the next decade.
Cllr Dai Davies, the Council’s Deputy Leader and Executive Member for Regeneration & Economic Development said:
“This is a global issue and it’s absolutely vital that we act now to protect our environment for the well-being of future generations.
“I’m delighted that councillors in Blaenau Gwent recognise the importance of this issue and have today given their unanimous support to our new ‘Decarbonisation Plan’. I have no doubt that this Plan is one of the most important pieces of work that we will endorse in our lifetime as councillors, and is a pledge to the generations to come after us that we care now about the world they will live in. We have agreed a very clear direction for the way forward and how we will work to achieve our ambition to become a carbon neutral organisation. I’m very excited and proud to be a part of this work.”
Today’s decision supports the Welsh Government’s ambition for the public sector in Wales to be Carbon Neutral by 2030. Their plan ‘Prosperity for All: A Low Carbon Wales’ calls for public sector organisations to understand their carbon emissions, and develop ways in which to reduce this.
Michelle Morris, the Council’s Managing Director, said:
“Whilst all our intentions have quite rightly been focused on Covid over recent months, there’s no doubt that climate change will be a far greater crisis in the future. We’re already taking a number of actions to reduce our carbon impact such as improving the energy efficiency of our schools; our public buildings and our street-lighting and also reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill. This Plan will see us take a more strategic approach towards achieving carbon neutrality and will help us to prioritise work in a number of key areas of our operations which, with some changes, can make a significant contribution towards our carbon neutral aim.
“In responding quickly to the Covid-19 emergency we have proved that we can work in different ways, including working remotely thanks to technology, to achieve many of the same outcomes. Working from home has meant we currently have far less staff travelling into the office which will have a positive impact on carbon emissions, and it is things like this that we will continue to build into our plans going forward.”
The Council’s work will focus around a few main themes, including:
• Transport & Travel
• The procurement goods & services
• Electricity consumption
• Heat
• Sequestration
• Waste
A Climate Emergency is a situation in which urgent action is required to reduce or halt climate change, and avoid potentially irreversible environmental damage resulting from it.