Intelligently Green Plan 2020 - 2030

Page 2 of 13: Summary

Summary 

Since the industrial revolution, global temperatures have increased by one degree Celsius resulting in damaging climate change, the impact of which is already being felt across the world.

We recognise the need for urgent action to tackle the climate crisis at global, national and local levels.  This Intelligently Green Plan is our response to the climate emergency. 

The plan builds on our already strong leadership on carbon reduction and environmental stewardship and highlights what we’ve done to reduce carbon emissions over the last decade or so. 

The plan sets out what we will do during the next ten years to reduce our own emissions and how we will encourage businesses and residents to reduce their emissions. 

Our vision is to lead the Wychavon district to be carbon neutral as quickly as possible and by 2050 at the latest.

We want to make the most of the opportunities that tackling climate change presents to further strengthen and grow our local economy.  We also want to increase and improve a range of habitats across the district to support carbon capture and biodiversity.

We’ve set a target to significantly cut our own greenhouse gas emissions and four district wide targets aimed at reducing carbon emissions generated by homes, businesses and travel.

Target 1: Reduce our own greenhouse gas emissions by at least 75% by 2030

Target 2: Halve district wide carbon emissions by 2030

Target 3: Double the size of Wychavon’s low carbon economy by 2030

Target 4: Treble renewable energy generation in the district by 2030

Target 5: Capture at least 500 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year by 2025

The plan contains four priorities. These are energy, low carbon travel, natural environment, and policy and resources. For each of these, we highlight some of the things we have already done and commit to a series of actions aimed at reducing carbon emissions.

We will monitor and report progress on the plan’s actions every six months as part of our Signals of Success performance reports. 

We will use the following success measures to assess progress towards our vision and targets:

• Our own greenhouse gas emissions.
• District-wide carbon emissions (under scope of influence of local authorities).
• Size of the low carbon economy.
• Amount of renewable energy generation across the district.
• Amount of carbon captured through council action.

At the end of each financial year we will produce a short annual progress report for our Executive Board.  We will publish this on our website. We will review and refresh the Intelligently Green Plan actions in 2025.

 We know that we cannot achieve a carbon neutral district on our own.  While there is much we can do, significant government intervention is going to be crucial in enabling us to meet our own targets.