Progress reported in climate action programme update

A health action plan to support vulnerable residents during heatwaves and the imminent completion of the streetlighting LED replacement programme are among the key points in a new climate action report for Oxfordshire.

Oxfordshire County Council’s cabinet today noted the biannual update on the delivery of its climate action programme.

Councillor Dr Pete Sudbury, Deputy Leader of Oxfordshire County Council with Responsibility for Climate Change, Environment and Future Generations, said: “We choose to lead on climate and to put it at the heart of everything we do because that is what this situation requires.

“Climate change is the greatest threat facing humanity and public bodies need to be on a war footing to tackle it. However, alongside this threat comes the opportunity to do things in a better, more sustainable way – heralding an end to pollution, an enhanced natural world and a fourth industrial revolution.

“We want Oxfordshire to be at the forefront of this because if we can’t make it work, with a world-leading innovation economy and the finest seat of learning in the history of human civilisation, then who can?”

The three pillars of the climate action programme are: becoming a climate active council; decarbonising the council’s estate and operations by 2030; and enabling Oxfordshire’s transition to net zero.

Cllr Sudbury added: “Ending climate pollution and especially fossil fuel use will bring in real benefits. In the last five years, our climate leadership, working alongside committed local partners, has pulled over £210 million of investment into Oxfordshire to make homes more energy efficient, expand electric vehicle charging, reduce waste, promote active travel and invest in electric buses.”

Emissions are being cut by the installation of energy efficient LED streetlighting across Oxfordshire. The project has cost £40m over four years but will reduce the amount of carbon dioxide being produced by 70 per cent and save around £75m in energy costs over the next 20 years.

A scheme to help schools improve their energy efficiency has been extended into 2024-25, and the council has also been providing home upgrade grants for low-income residents.

Another key task is to keep Oxfordshire’s people, businesses and institutions safe from an increasingly chaotic and destructive climate.

The council’s vital community services are directly threatened by more frequent extreme weather, including this winter’s flooding, and heatwaves, as experienced in Oxfordshire in 2022 when temperatures reached a record 38.4C.

Cllr Sudbury added: “We need co-ordinated action, both preventative and reactive, across all our areas of responsibility including emergency planning, highways, fire and rescue, flooding, public health and local nature recovery.

“We’ve been laying the foundations for that resilience with organisations and businesses across the county.”

The report highlights a heat health action plan, which has been developed to support vulnerable residents during possible heatwaves and planning for extreme heat.

The council has also been working with Exeter University on a toolkit, shortly to be released, to help local decision makers improve climate adaptation and resilience, and to develop bespoke climate adaptation action plans for council-maintained schools to reduce flooding and overheating.

The report also measures progress towards enabling Oxfordshire’s transition to net zero by monitoring scenarios in the Pathway to Zero Carbon (PAZCO) document. This is a publication partly commissioned by the council and produced by Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute and the sustainability consultancy Bioregional to provide an evidence base for the transition.

While most of these measures are not within the council’s direct control, it is able to influence a significant number of them. The council wants to work with the government on a to help accelerate decarbonisation for businesses, homeowners and public and voluntary sectors.

Cllr Sudbury said: “None of us are alone in this. There is a huge swell of energy, focus and determination across all sectors of our society to make the fundamental changes needed to survive and thrive, ending the pollution and destruction of the only planet we have.

“We need to work fast and hard and above all we need to work together.”

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