This week we published our third Climate and Ecological Emergency Strategy Progress Report, which outlines the progress we are making to reduce our carbon emissions.
In July 2021, we adopted a Climate and Ecological Emergency Strategy (CEES) which set the key ambition of making Dorset Council carbon neutral by 2040.
According to the report, which will be presented next week at our Place and Resources scrutiny committee, excellent progress is being made towards this target and emissions have reduced across all council operations.
Since 2019, our carbon footprint has reduced by 26 per cent and current data indicates we are on track to achieve our interim target of reducing council emissions by 40 per cent by 2025.
We have achieved some of our biggest carbon savings through reductions in; energy used in council buildings, emissions from council fleet vehicles and fuel use for Dorset Travel.
With key programmes of work to reduce emissions currently in delivery or nearing completion, it is anticipated that our organisation’s carbon footprint will continue to reduce over the coming years.
But the race is far from over, as to meet longer-term targets, the report highlights the need for a significant increase in the generation of renewable energy to cover our energy demands as well as nature-based solutions on council land to sequester carbon emissions.
To ensure we remain on track to meet our ambitious targets, a £10 million climate and ecological capital programme has been established. It is anticipated that over five years this funding will help further reduce our emissions and will support:
- An additional 9,000 streetlights to be switched to low energy LEDs
- Further retrofitting of our buildings with low carbon technologies
- Expansion of the electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure on our estate and in public locations
- Electrification of our fleet vehicles
The report also highlights that emissions are continuing to reduce across the county, with the latest national statistics indicating that Dorset wide emissions have reduced by around 18 per cent since we declared a climate and ecological emergency in 2019.
Cllr Ray Bryan, Dorset Council’s Portfolio Holder for Highways, Travel and Environment, said:
‘It is very encouraging to see the progress being made to reduce the carbon footprint of council operations, and the wide breadth of work being carried out to make sure we deliver on our commitment to become a carbon-neutral council by 2040.
‘The scale of the challenge is enormous and requires a concerted effort to move away from business as usual into a more focused and coordinated approach which embeds climate and ecological action at the core of our operations.
‘We also recognise the important role the council must play in helping reduce county-wide emissions, and we will continue to work with partners and residents to help move Dorset towards a greener, cleaner future.’
Although the report focuses primarily on the carbon emissions of the council, work is also underway to tackle the ecological emergency in Dorset and future editions of the report will focus on the steps being taken to increase biodiversity and enhance ecological value in the Dorset Council area.
For a detailed breakdown of our progress in reducing carbon emissions read the Climate and Ecological Strategy Progress Report in full here.
Once reviewed by the scrutiny committee, a finalised version of the report will be uploaded to our website.
You can keep track of the steps we are taking to tackle the Climate and Ecological Emergency (CEE) on our social media pages, and by visiting the CEE section of the Dorset Council website.
I would like to have proof that our recycled waste is never shipped to other countries
June – Have a read of http://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/where-waste-goes
There is a world of difference between being carbon neutral (which could be achieved very quickly by paying to offset your carbon emissions) and being carbon net zero. So is the headline correct?
When referring to ‘net-zero’ and/or ‘carbon-neutral’ we are referring to an activity or operation having no net release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
If this was to be believed, Leakers Bakery would have been given permission for solar panels on their building. A good business has been sabotaged by a lack of imagination.Many structures are still being built without solar panels. Why have you not changed building regulations in line with the times?
Hi Robert – there is nothing on our systems on that address in terms of a planning or listed building consent application, a pre-application enquiry or a permitted development enquiry. So I’m unable to provide a specific comment on your query regarding Leakers bakery.
On a more general note, these decisions are made on a case-by-case basis, balancing our statutory duty to protect our nationally important heritage with our efforts to tackle the Climate and Ecological Emergency. And proposals for renewable energy are encouraged wherever possible, providing that the benefits demonstrably outweigh any harm to listed buildings or other protected interests.
As a local authority, it is not within our power to make changes to building regulations, this lies with central government and is a national policy issue.
Well…..I must observe that there is in this report a measure of smugness . All of these carbon reduction measures are funded from public money. It would be of value to hear what individual council employees are contributing to carbon reduction (as employees in other workplaces are being exhorted to do). Many individuals are ready and would like to contribute to the effort- the cost deters them.
Easy to be in the vanguard of this approach if it is funded by council and income tax contributors.
Hi Charles – we recognise that workforce behaviour change plays a key role in reducing the emissions of organisations. Please read the ‘Making it Happen’ section of our climate & ecological emergency strategy for more information on how we are working to improve the awareness, engagement and knowledge of our staff and service providers through staff awareness campaigns – Climate and Ecological Emergency Strategy.
We are also working in partnership with other organisations and communities to drive change across the county and put in place larger programmes and projects to help the county meet the national target to reach net-zero by 2050 set by Government. Please check out the climate and ecological emergency pages of our website for more information on how we are working towards this: https://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/emergencies-severe-weather/climate-and-ecological-emergency.
For advice and support on what individuals can do to tackle the emergency please visit the ‘How you can help’ page of our website.