Cardiff Council cuts carbon emissions by 13%
Councils across the UK have committed to taking steps to limit their own impact on the environment and Cardiff is no exception.
Now it’s been announced that the council has cut emissions by 13% since 2019/20 when the local authority first declared a climate emergency.
Carbon dioxide emissions stood at 26,118 tonnes CO2e at this time but have reduced to 22,695 tonnes CO2e in 2020/21 according to a review.
Cabinet Member for Climate Change, Cllr Caro Wild, said: ‘These figures demonstrate the significant steps the Council are already making towards our ambitious aim of achieving carbon neutrality by 2030.
‘Responding to climate change is at the heart of our agenda and no area of the council will remain untouched, but this is an emergency, so it’s vital that we focus our efforts on the areas that deliver the biggest carbon reductions possible in the shortest space of time.
‘Whilst we have a clear responsibility to ensure the council reduces its own emissions, we also have a leadership role in reducing emissions across the city and One Planet Cardiff includes updates and ambitious targets showing we are taking meaningful actions.’
A key focus of the council is to decarbonise its supply chain, an issue highlighted earlier in the year in research by Oxygen Finance, which found council supply chains in 2020/21 were responsible for 43.7m tonnes of CO2.
Cardiff Council is also improving the energy efficiency of council buildings, through measures like LED lightbulbs, which has reduced emissions by 22,000 tonnes.
Nature solutions are also being incorporated into policies – the Coed Caerdydd project has planted 20,000 trees since it’s launch, while a 2023 scheme to strengthen river defences will protect against one in 200 flooding events.
A £2.5 million project in partnership with Monmouthshire Council and Cardiff Capital Region is also developing solutions to the local food economy. A planned pilot will test how underused plots of land can be used by local community groups for low carbon food initiatives.
Photo by Nick Fewings