Declare

Local Council Climate Emergency Declaration

Originally published <month, year> To be reviewed annually


Declaration of a Climate Emergency


Contents

  1. Climate Emergency Statement

  2. Community Engagement

    • The Great Collaboration

    • Communication

    • Monitoring

  3. Community Carbon Calculating

    • Introduction

    • Methodology

    • -specific data

    • Annual Review

    • Recording our Starting Point

  4. Accessing Support for our Actions


Climate Emergency Statement

believes that:

  • All governments (national, regional, and local) have a responsibility to limit the negative impacts of climate breakdown. This statement acknowledges that responsibility within .

  • Local governments should not wait for national policies but act independently and encourage local and national Government action through this commitment.

  • For the residents of and the UK, councils must aim for carbon neutrality as quickly as possible, and by 2050 at the latest, in line with Committee for Climate Change recommendations.

  • Preventing global temperature rises above 1.5°C must be our top priority, influencing all decision-making.

  • Climate action can yield economic benefits, job creation, financial savings, and well-being improvements. Early action will reduce long-term costs and suffering.

agrees to:

  • Collaborate with local partners to produce an annual set of Carbon Reduction Actions across council strategies, detailing specific actions for the coming year.

  • Allocate resources for Carbon Reduction Actions.

  • Publish a Carbon Reduction Impact Report annually to show progress against these actions.

  • Seek approval for the Carbon Reduction Actions and Impact Report at the Annual Meeting of .

  • Promote The Great Collaboration (https://greatcollaboration.uk) to engage the community, inspire individual climate actions, and use local action data for council decisions.


Community Engagement

The Great Collaboration

will use The Great Collaboration website as a primary tool for engaging the community in climate action, providing over 60 climate actions across 7 categories for individuals and businesses.

will structure its actions to support community goals defined by The Great Collaboration, aligning council and community efforts.

Communication

will promote The Great Collaboration through:

A central marketing campaign for The Great Collaboration provides social media posts and marketing assets, which will share and repost.

Monitoring

will monitor Carbon Reduction Actions by including an annual agenda item at council meetings. The discussion will focus on:

  • Progress on Carbon Reduction Actions

  • Resident and business actions taken, informed by reports from The Great Collaboration


Community Carbon Calculating

Introduction

Effective carbon reduction requires understanding our current footprint and tracking improvements. A carbon footprint measures the impact of human activities in terms of greenhouse gases produced, measured as carbon dioxide units.

will initially use the IMPACT Community Carbon Calculator, developed by the Centre for Sustainable Energy with Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy support.

Methodology

IMPACT presents two footprint types: territorial and consumption-based, both of which are complementary for assessing local action areas.

  • Territorial footprint includes emissions generated within a defined area (industry, agriculture, transport).

  • Consumption-based footprint includes emissions from residents’ consumption (manufactured goods, food, transport) regardless of emission location.

For further methodology details, see the methodology paper linked within the IMPACT tool.

-specific data

Data for can be accessed here: .

Annual Review

IMPACT updates data annually, funding permitting. New carbon calculators and improved methodologies are anticipated, and will review options yearly to select the best tool.

Recording our Starting Point

Baseline images from the IMPACT tool as of provide a reference for our journey toward net-zero carbon.


Accessing Support for our Actions

Local support is available through the Herefordshire Green Network (HGN), an alliance of over 80 Herefordshire groups and businesses sharing best practices for environmental action. Other resources will continue to emerge, and we aim to remain open to new support options.


Signed and Agreed by:

Cllr Chair, on behalf of

Date:


Template document provided by The Great Collaboration, funded by MCS Charitable Foundation

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