What are we doing to tackle climate change?
Summary
As estate managers, major service providers and community leaders, local authorities have a major role to play in tackling climate change.
We have targets to:
- Reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from our own activities;
- Reduce CO2 emissions from households, businesses and road transport within our district;
- Prepare for the impacts of climate change.
This section explains what we are doing to meet our targets.
Downloads
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Download our report on greenhouse gas emissions [PDF, 53 Kb]
Further information
Emissions from our own activities
Reducing carbon emissions from our own activities shows that we are leading the way in tackling climate change. We own a number of properties in the district, including our head office at Long Stratton, three leisure centres and our waste and recycling depot at Ketteringham. We also own a range of vehicles to deliver our services such as collection of refuse and recycling, grounds maintenance and street cleaning. Finally, our staff use their own vehicles to make trips for business. These activities all emit carbon dioxide.
During 2009/10 South Norfolk Council has worked with the Carbon Trust on their Local Authority Carbon Management Programme. Through this programme we have identified a range of projects and initiatives to work towards reducing our carbon emissions by 20% by 2013/14.
The breakdown of all greenhouse gas emissions from South Norfolk Council's operations in 2010/11 is available to download here. This report shows the reduction in emissions that has been made since 2009/10 and summarises how this has been achieved.
Emissions from our district
According to the latest data, 1,000 kilo-tonnes of carbon dioxide are produced every year from domestic housing, businesses and road transport in South Norfolk. Road transport is the biggest source of emissions:
We have a target to reduce emissions in South Norfolk (from measures that we can influence) by 2.8% by 2010. This target is in the Norfolk Local Area Agreement and South Norfolk Council’s Sustainable Community Strategy.
Preparing for the impacts of climate change
Regardless of any success in reducing emissions, our past actions mean that some degree of climate change is now inevitable. Preparing for climatic changes is therefore vital. Potential impacts include flooding, water shortages, positive and negative changes in biodiversity and habitats, heatwaves and increases in pests and diseases. There are also potential opportunities for tourism and agriculture. We will need to minimise the risks of climate change to communities and individuals, and to the economy and environment in South Norfolk.
Norfolk Climate Change Strategy
Tackling climate change requires working with other organisations. We have been working with Norfolk County Council and other local authorities in Norfolk to produce a Climate Change Strategy for the county.
The strategy was launched on 6 February 2009 and the strategy itself and presentations from the launch are available here.
Related pages on this website
External links
- Norfolk Climate Change Strategy The Norfolk Climate Change Strategy is available to download from the Norfolk County Council website.
Contact us
| contact officer/team: | Environment Strategy Officer |
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| web: | online enquiry form |
| email: | ketteringham@s-norfolk.gov.uk |
| telephone: | 01603 819999 |
| minicom/textphone: | 01508 533622 |
| address: | South Norfolk Council South Norfolk House Swan Lane Long Stratton Norwich NR15 2XE |
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Last updated on: 13 December 2011