County: Net zero by 2045

The Liberal Democrat-led County Council today passed the most recent version of the County Council’s Climate Change and Environment Strategy at the Environment and Green Investment Committee.

The new Climate Change and Environment Strategy is an ambitious and deliverable plan to address the Council’s climate ambitions. The strategy recommits the council to achieving Net Zero by 2045, including Net Zero in Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030. The strategy also addresses the Biodiversity Crisis by aiming to bring the Council’s important biodiversity sites into positive conservation management status.

Cllr Peter McDonald (Lib Dem – Duxford) spoke about the economic benefits of climate change measures: 

“Green investment brings jobs that just didn’t exist before – with skills that are fit for the future, giving young people apprenticeships and providing work for local companies”. 

Reform and Conservative Councillors failed to support the strategy to deliver environmental and economic benefits for Cambridgeshire.Chair of Environment and Green Investment, Cllr Ros Hathorn (Lib Dem – Histon and Impington) pressed the need for energy and economic security:

“Generating our own energy isn’t just good economic sense – it gives us security. We’ve seen the impacts of sudden unavailability of energy on our bills and that is why we must push forward with these measures.

The Conservatives and Reform UK raised the issue of improving costs in Cambridgeshire, yet continued to vote against measures that reduce costs by tackling climate change and by expanding Cambridgeshire’s successful renewables sector. I am disappointed that they don’t seem to be able to join the dots, even when they’re laid out in the strategy and committee papers. The Liberal Democrats remain committed to achieving Net Zero by 2045, delivering both environmental benefits and long-term cost reductions for individuals and for businesses and larger organisations.”

Cllr Ian Manning (Lib Dem – Chesterton) spoke of the need to tackle the major component of emissions, what is known as ‘Scope 3’:

“We’ve won a large list of major awards for our work so far, leading the country in many places – and now we need to demand more of suppliers in how they calculate their emissions and decide on that basis who to use.

“On top of this we need to consider the impact of generative artificial intelligence, with its huge energy uses – there are benefits but we need to acknowledge the climate change impacts of Gen AI as well”.

The new Climate Change and Environment Strategy will be implemented across Cambridgeshire County Council. It will tackle the Climate and Biodiversity Crises, ensuring that future generations are not left to fix shortsightedness in this generation. It will also address the cost of living crisis. Both of which are in line with the ambitions of the Lib Dem Administration.

Photo by Arnaud Mesureur on Unsplash