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12
Jul 2021
County council publishes new plan to cut emissions
North Yorkshire County Council's three-year plan to help the organisation become net carbon neutral by 2030 includes adding more solar panels to its buildings, cutting down on staff travel and reducing waste.
Senior councillors on the Conservative-led authority are expected to rubber-stamp a draft carbon reduction plan tomorrow that lays out how it plans to reduce emissions across its offices, libraries and care homes.
However, it has been criticised by local environmental group Zero Carbon Harrogate who says the measures don't go far enough.
The council says it's aiming for net carbon neutral by 2030, which means it won't reduce carbon dioxide emissions entirely but will offset the remainder of any emissions through carbon sequestration programmes and tree planting.
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The report says the authority currently spends £1.8m a year on energy bills but this figure does not include schools.
It also highlights a recent project to replace its 50,400 street lights with more environmentally friendly LED bulbs.
The report suggests that covid has forced the council's hand in reducing emissions as around 40% of the estimated reduction is due to changes in working practices, such as working from home.
Zero Carbon Harrogate said the report contains many "appropriate and prudent" initiatives but questioned how they will be monitored and delivered.
It also said NYCC could go further than what it proposes in the report to tackle transport emissions:
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