A Merseyside council has set a target to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2030.
Wirral Council made the pledge to become carbon neutral as an organisation as part of its action plan, following the authority’s declaration of a climate emergency in July last year.
Between then and now, the authority has approved a new 10 year strategy for managing trees and woodland and put energy efficient LED lanterns into 10,000 streetlights.
Cllr Liz Grey, chair of the council’s environment committee, said the plan furthers the fight against the loss of biodiversity and the “climate crisis”.
She added: “Whilst it sets some ambitious goals, including our target to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2030 – earlier than both the targets set by the Cool Wirral Partnership (2041) and the government (2050) – it is a path that we must follow to protect our environment.
“This plan will ensure the council leads by example in encouraging everyone to play their part in the fight against the environment and climate emergency.”
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To achieve net zero, Wirral’s plan sets out to reduce the energy use for its buildings, transport and any events it hosts.
As well as this, the council will increase tree planting to improve carbon capture across the borough, continue to prioritise ‘active travel’ methods such as cycling and walking, and improve its efficiency in reducing, reusing or recycling waste.
The plan also commits the council to invest in measures to adapt to climate change such as flood walls. These will be needed to help protect the borough against some of the impacts of climate change which the council says are already unavoidable.
At last night’s meeting of the environment committee, Conservative councillor Tony Cox said he understood the council’s focus on active travel and public transport but said there will always be some journeys which must be taken by car due to people working night shifts for instance.
Cllr Cox said he wanted to know what Wirral Council was doing to make it easier for people to use electric vehicles in the borough, adding that he had not heard much about this from the authority.
Mike Cockburn, head of service in the council's environment and climate change team, said the authority has successfully applied for funding for more electric vehicle charging points in Wirral and was identifying sites for them based on demand.
He added that a fellow council officer will be able to update the committee on the progress of this in the near future.
Green councillor Chris Cooke said a much more difficult aim than getting the council to become carbon neutral was achieving this throughout the borough as a whole, asking how Wirral Council proposed to make that aim a reality.
Mr Cockburn acknowledged that this would be difficult, but said the authority will work with residents to achieve carbon neutrality and it was important for the council to start by getting its own house in order.
