Leading Action on the Climate Emergency in North Somerset
North Somerset Council declared a Climate Emergency in February 2019 as part of a motion proposed by LibDem Group Leader Mike Bell and part of that motion included reporting to Council every six months on progress.
In November 2019, the council published the Climate Emergency Strategy and Action Plan and in February last year, the Corporate Plan 2020-24 choosing the term 'greener' as one of three key themes. This means that the council will include climate change as a deciding factor in all policy and strategy decisions going forward.
The council have produced a comparison of emissions for April-September 2019 and 2020 to reflect the drastic changes to the way we are now working. This comparison included emissions for energy consumption in buildings (includes some schools) and streetlighting; business travel and commuting. It shows a dramatic decrease of 29 per cent, meaning a reduction of over 1,000 tonnes of CO2.