We can tackle the causes of climate change be reducing greenhouse gas emissions. There are six greenhouse gases, of which carbon dioxide is the most significant. The County Council is taking steps to monitor and reduce its own carbon footprint, as well as acting to reducing carbon dioxide emissions across the county.
The Council has already made public commitments to carbon reduction by:
| 2002 |
Signing up to the Nottingham Declaration on tackling climate change |
| 2005 |
Publishing the Council's first Climate Change Strategy |
| 2008 |
Adopting a revised Climate Change and Environment Strategy which includes a target to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 2% a year. |
| 2009 |
Participating in the Carbon Trust's Local Authority Carbon Management initiative, resulting in the adoption of the Council's Carbon Management Plan, which includes a target of reducing the Council's emissions by 30% by 2014. |
Measuring our carbon emissions
In 2010-11, the Council's total carbon footprint was 84,000 tonnes carbon dioxide. This includes emissions from the electricity and heating in our buildings, business mileage, fleet vehicles, streetlights and traffic signals, as well as contracted services.
In 2008, the new Local Government Performance Framework required us to start monitoring our carbon emissions, through National Indicator NI 185. All the Council's functions and services were included, even if provided by outside contractors. This year, the scope has changed to align with the Government's guidelines on emissions' monitoring for businesses. If you would like to know more, please see the Department for Energy and Climate Change website (DECC).