Climate and ecological change: What we are doing as a council

We are committed to reducing Climate and Ecological change by:

Delivering on our statutory duties

Biodiversity

The Environment (Wales) Act 2016 Section 6 places a statutory duty on all public authorities to "seek to maintain and enhance biodiversity”, and in doing so “promote the resilience of ecosystems”.

For more information about our work on protecting and improving biodiversity, please visit:

Carbon emissions

The Environment (Wales) Act 2016 (Amendment of 2050 Emissions Target) Regulations 2021 has set an amended target of reducing carbon emissions in Wales to net zero by 2050.

In 2017, the Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Rural Affairs declared an ambition for the public sector in Wales to be carbon neutral by 2030.

In 2019, the Welsh Government published Wales’ Low Carbon Delivery Plan; Prosperity for All: A Low Carbon Wales (external website) which contained a requirement for “public sector to baseline, monitor and report progress towards carbon neutrality” (policy 20).

Delivering on the actions within our Climate Change and Ecological Emergency Declaration

A working group was set up in October 2019 to encourage and challenge our progress against the actions set out in the Climate Change and Ecological Emergency declaration.

It is made up of 2 representatives from each political party that make up the council’s elected representatives.

View more information about the Climate Change and Ecological Emergency Working Group.

Delivering on our Climate and Nature Strategy (2021/22 – 2029/30)

Since declaring a Climate and Ecological Emergency in July 2019, we have developed plans to become a net carbon zero and ecologically positive council by 2030.

We asked for your feedback on our net carbon zero and ecologically positive goals as well as your ideas on how we can achieve them by 2030. Building on your ideas we worked with Members and Officers from across the council to develop our Climate and Ecological Change Strategy and Action Plan (2021/22 – 2029/30).

View our Climate and Nature Strategy (2021/22 – 2029/30)

Having regard to tackling Climate and Ecological Change in all decisions we make

We are proud to be one of the first councils in Wales to have tackling climate and ecological change as a guiding principle in our decision making process.

Listening to your views

We want to hear your views on what we can do to help reduce climate and ecological change. 

We'll be holding consultations and forums for you to have your say. 

View our consultations page for more information


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