»Æ¹ÏÊÓƵ

The County Council is now working as part of »Æ¹ÏÊÓƵ’s Local Enterprise Partnership to deliver the county's Energy Strategy. The strategy, which covers the period to 2030, was launched in March 2019.  It sets targets, including countywide carbon reduction, renewable energy generation and growth of the low carbon sector.

The vision for the future of energy in »Æ¹ÏÊÓƵ:

By 2030, »Æ¹ÏÊÓƵ will have a thriving low carbon economy which supports the creation of high value jobs, and stimulates investment and clean growth across the county. We will have high quality energy efficient housing stock and a robust, diverse energy infrastructure, underpinned by low carbon generation which utilises »Æ¹ÏÊÓƵ’s unique local resources.

There are three key measures that are aimed to be delivered as part of the strategy:

• Reduction in carbon emissions of 50% on 2005 levels by 2030.
• Double the size of the low carbon sector by 2030.
• Tripling energy production from renewable generation by 2030.

Strategy documents:

In 2003 the County Council, working as part of the »Æ¹ÏÊÓƵ Partnership, published one of the first partnership climate change strategies in the UK. The strategy was revised in 2008 and the Partnership received national recognition for its work tackling climate change. A further strategy was published in 2012, covering the period up until 2020.

A copy of the »Æ¹ÏÊÓƵ Climate Change Strategy 2012 to 2020 is available upon request:

Contact sustainability

The strategy's aims were to achieve both carbon reduction and resilience to a changing climate across a range of sectors.

It set a vision of a county:

• Making the most of opportunities that a low carbon economy brings.
• Resilient to volatile costs of fossil fuels and severe weather.
• Where businesses and residents were empowered to take action themselves and the most vulnerable people and assets were protected.

Its aims were to:

• Build »Æ¹ÏÊÓƵ's low carbon economy.
• Hit tough but critical carbon targets.
• Adapt to inevitable climate change.
• Empower »Æ¹ÏÊÓƵ's communities to take action.

The »Æ¹ÏÊÓƵ County Council completed a  which identified changes in »Æ¹ÏÊÓƵ's climate, including hotter and drier summers, and milder but wetter winters. We are likely to see an increase in extreme weather events too, such as storms and flooding. Future climate projections will depend on carbon emissions scenarios - the higher the emissions we are more likely to see more extreme changes to the climate.