East Cambridgeshire District Council is among the top 30% of district councils in the country when it comes to taking action against climate change.
A report published by Climate Emergency UK ranks the council 43rd out of 164 district councils.
Our overall points score was up 1% on the previous results of 2023 and, due to a time lag in processing the data it means the latest scorecard has not taken account of the council’s decision to move its refuse collection vehicles away from diesel to HVO fuel, which has generated significant carbon savings in the past year.
Cllr Julia Huffer, district councillor for Fordham and the district council’s environmental champion, said: “For such a small council, I am extremely proud of our performance. Ensuring we do everything in our power to reduce climate emissions and enhance our natural environment is a top priority of East Cambridgeshire District Council.”
In addition to swapping to more environmentally friendly fuel, over the past year the council has undertaken various other activities to reduce its impact on the environment. These include:
- adding solar panels to The Hive
- launching a very successful ‘Net Zero Villages’ scheme helping village halls to install solar panels to help save 20 tonnes of CO2e a year
- helping over 100 East Cambridgeshire householders install substantial energy efficiency retrofit measures, including solar panels, heat pumps, batteries and insulation
- helping 31 community groups benefit from grants to help transform a local area for the benefit of both nature and people. The scheme has resulted in animal boxes, tree planting, green space creation, flower planting and pond rehabilitation projects spread right across the district
- delivering Carbon Net Zero training to nearly two thirds of its staff
The council’s overarching aim is that by 2030/31 its carbon emissions will be 80% lower than they were 2019/20 (its baseline year).
Future actions are likely to include:
- delivery of new wildlife friendly management plans for our own parks and open spaces such as leaving patches of grass uncut for longer, creating a haven for invertebrates and the animals which feed on them such as hedgehogs
- working with landowners and developers to make sure that habitats for wildlife are left in a measurably better state than they were before new development - this is known as biodiversity net gain.
- installing an electric cremator at its new bereavement centre at Mepal. The cremator will be one of only a handful in the country to run on electricity, meaning it will be able to utilise cleaner energy from the National Grid, rather than using gas
Julia added: “Tackling climate change is never an easy task. Some of what we had planned to do can no longer be achieved – largely for reasons beyond the council’s control. But that is no reason to give up. If we are to be successful in combatting climate change, we need to focus on what we can achieve and constantly continue to look for improvements to how we operate. Whether that is small measures – like reducing paper use in our offices – to larger initiatives like retrofitting homes. There are lots and lots of ways we can all reduce our impact on the environment – and like the climate around us, we have to constantly change and adapt.”
You can read the council’s Climate and Nature Strategy on our website.