Somerset leads the way on climate action

SOMERSET County Council has been ranked as the top county council in the UK when it comes to taking a lead on climate change. 

Climate Emergency UK has ranked all 409 local authorities, scoring them against nine categories, including how well councils’ plans would mitigate the impact of climate change locally, whether the climate and ecological emergency was integrated into existing policies, community engagement, climate education, scale of emissions targets, and commitments to tackle the ecological emergency.

A report in The Guardian also recognised the Somerset Climate Emergency Strategy, developed jointly by Somerset County Council, Mendip District Council, Sedgemoor District Council, South Somerset District Council, and Somerset West & Taunton Council; as well as highlighting Somerset Waste Partnership’s Recycle More campaign which is seeing hundreds of tonnes of extra recycling collected each week.

Somerset County Council’s cabinet member for climate change, cllr David Hall, said, “We’ve set out ambitious plans to help Somerset become carbon neutral by 2030, and we’re delighted to see this work being recognised nationally.

“We know there is a lot to do and we can’t do it alone, so it is great to see Somerset’s District Councils recognised too. 

“Tackling the climate emergency is at the forefront of our decision making at Somerset County Council and we are determined to build on the good work done so far across Somerset.”

The county council continues, “Somerset County Council has made significant investment to combat climate change, alongside the joint work being carried out with District Councils as part of the Climate Emergency Strategy. 

“Initiatives include the £1.5m Climate Emergency Community Fund, which has been used to help develop community projects which share the council’s vision of working towards a climate resilient Somerset. So far 44 projects have been funded, ranging from installing Solar PV panels on community buildings to supporting community vegetable growing projects. 

“Somerset County Council has also been busy working to ‘decarbonise’ a number of buildings owned by the Council including a number of libraries, Glastonbury Hub, and County Hall in Taunton. Early estimates indicate that the delivery of the various schemes could reduce the Council’s non-schools estate carbon output by around 27% – around 400 tonnes of carbon per annum. All the remaining projects aside from County Hall are due to be complete by March 2022. 

“A ‘Cut the Carbon’ campaign this month by Somerset County Council to encourage Somerset residents to take small steps to reduce their own individual carbon footprints. This includes premiering a series of short films to highlight how communities are already doing amazing things to cut the carbon.

To keep up to date with latest information about tackling the climate emergency in Somerset, visit Climate Emergency (somerset.gov.uk).