THE FIGHT against the climate emergency moved ahead when Rugby Borough Council’s Cabinet green-lit new measures at a meeting on Monday (February 3) – recommending £500,000 be set aside to help the council become carbon neutral by 2030.
The Cabinet approved the recommendations of its cross-party Climate Emergency Working Group in full, and will ask councillors to endorse the plans at its next ordinary meeting.
The working group’s recommendations include working out how much carbon the council and the borough emit, and how to bring this to net zero by the end of the decade.
It also identified changes that will accelerate the council’s progress, recommending setting aside £500,000 to fund the work.
The work will be split into six workstreams, to include a full appraisal of all of the council’s activities, providing community leadership on climate change, and identifying and implementing measures to respond to climate change.
The recommendations were put together after the council unanimously declared a climate emergency last July, committing to become carbon neutral by 2030.
Council leader Coun Seb Lowe said: “The scientific consensus points towards the climate emergency being a real and significant threat. Communities, the environment, and the economy may be severely affected without significant changes to the way we live, work, and move around.
“I am grateful to the climate emergency working group for their initial work. There is still much more to be done before we start to make real progress but by adopting these recommendations we will have set the foundations for an action plan that will see zero net carbon emissions by 2030.”
The council’s environment spokesman Coun Howard Roberts, who chairs the cross-party group, said: “The unanimous declaration of a climate emergency in July has set the tone for the cross-party work that we have been doing.
“The Working Group acknowledges that building the effects of climate change into the council’s decision-making will have implications for the council’s budget, but a £500,000 kickstarter fund will help projects get off the ground during the initial phase should it be needed.
“There is a significant appetite among our staff and communities to get involved, and we look forward to making the most of this enthusiasm as work gets underway.”
Visit www.rugby.gov.uk/carbonneutral for more information on the council’s work towards becoming carbon neutral.
