Agenda item

Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan

Decision:

The Executive RESOLVED that the Climate Change Action Plan, as set out at Annex A to the agenda report, be agreed and Surrey’s Climate Change Strategy be endorsed.

 

Minutes:

Following the declaration of a Climate Emergency in October 2019, a Climate Change Working Group had been set up by the Executive.  A key action of this Group was the development of a Climate Change Action Plan, to set out the aims, objectives and actions for delivery in the Borough to support achieving the 2030 carbon neutral target.

 

The Executive was asked to agree the Surrey Heath Climate Change Action Plan which would sit within the broader framework of the Surrey Climate Change Strategy, which the Executive was also asked to endorse.

 

The Action Plan included a total of 65 Actions across 6 key themes, with actions prioritised for delivery, based on feedback from the Climate Change Working Group. It set out specific actions, whilst recognising the importance of partnership working to deliver these actions. The Action Plan was proposed to be a living document, which would be reviewed and updated and would feed into customer friendly webpages forming the basis for ongoing public engagement on Climate Change.

 

The Leader and other Members paid tribute to the dedication and hard work of the cross party Climate Change Working Group Members and the officers involved.

 

The Leader suggested that consideration be given to an addition to the Action Plan, at B16, indicating that “This Council divests of and refrains from investing in carbon intensive industries and companies and encourages others within the borough to do the same.”  The Chairman of the Working Group, whilst acknowledging that the Action Plan indirectly referred to this issue in several actions, agreed to ask the Working Group, at its next meeting, to consider the inclusion of more specific wording as suggested.

 

RESOLVED that the Climate Change Action Plan, as set out at Annex A to the agenda report, be agreed and Surrey’s Climate Change Strategy be endorsed.

 

 

Supporting documents: