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Council steps up on its green commitments

Swansea Council's determination to be a net zero organisation before the end of the decade is set to take an important step forward next week.

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The council has reduced its carbon footprint by more than 60% in the last decade and it intends to go even further over the coming years, setting an example to communities and businesses across the city and beyond.

Now it is refreshing its corporate plan to put its response to the climate and nature emergencies at the forefront of its work.

Rob Stewart, Leader of the Council said the corporate plan lists the council's six top priorities and provides a practical route map that ensures the way the council delivers our services matches those ambitions and the ambitions of the people of Swansea.

He said: "Our priorities are to safeguard people from harm, improve education and skills, tackle poverty, transform our economy and infrastructure and transform the council to ensure it meets the needs of residents today.

"Now the council has declared both a nature and a climate emergency, we are looking to amend to reflect this new reality and the work we need to do to protect biodiversity and tackle climate change."  

Andrea Lewis, joint deputy leader and Cabinet Member with responsibility for steering the council's response to climate change, said the council has already been playing a leading role in dealing with the issue.

She said: "We've got the biggest electric vehicle fleet of any council in Wales and we've cut the amount of energy we use in our buildings and on our network of street lights.

"On top of that we're working hard to both protect and promote biodiversity across the city alongside community groups and businesses.

Cllr Lewis said: "Alongside the five other priorities, the new objective will be 'Delivering on Nature Recovery and Climate Change'.

"It's more ambitious than the previous objective 'Maintaining and enhancing Swansea's Natural Resources and Biodiversity', and is a clearer call to action about what want to happen."

She said: "Hitting our target of being a carbon net zero council by 2030 is very ambitious and there's still a lot of work to do. But by setting an example to our communities we're determined to see the whole city be net zero by 2050."

A meeting of full council on July 7 is being asked to agree the change to the corporate plan.

 

 

 

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Last modified on 01 July 2022