Corporate climate change strategy

As a result of the council’s work under the Councils for Climate Protection (CCP) programme, an inventory of the emissions of key greenhouse gases in Shropshire has been completed.

Shropshire’s greenhouse gas emissions for the calendar year 2000 were estimated to be 2.3% lower than in 1990. However this decrease is entirely due to the ‘dash for gas’ – the move away from coal to gas as a fuel for power stations - and the economic recession in the early 1990s. The second half of the 1990s has generally seen a rise in equivalent carbon dioxide emissions in Shropshire. The trend is currently upwards. In comparison, Shropshire County Council’s emissions have been reduced by 38% since 1990 (by 2006).

The study has also identified key actions that need to be taken by the council and the community in Shropshire in order to achieve emission levels within acceptable limits on an appropriate timescale. These were presented to the County Council’s Sustainable Development Policy Commission (SDPC) as four scenarios for reductions in greenhouse gases from the county of Shropshire. The SDPC resolved that a strategy aimed at a 10% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions for Shropshire should be developed. A list of actions required and barriers to change has been formulated. These include:-

• Improving the energy efficiency of Shropshire’s homes.
• Increasing the quantity of waste recycled and reducing the amount of waste going to landfill.
• Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from transport.
• Increasing the amount of renewable energy produced and used in Shropshire.
• Improving the energy efficiency and competitiveness of Shropshire businesses.

The programme’s results demonstrate that a positive approach to combating climate change could play a major part in regenerating and revitalising Shropshire’s rural and urban communities, ensuring a robust, prosperous, vibrant and sustainable local economy.

Clearly Shropshire County Council will not be able to implement such a challenging programme alone. It will therefore be necessary for new partnerships and methods of working to be developed encompassing the public and private sectors and local communities.

Shropshire Climate Change Strategies

There are two separate but interrelated climate change strategies for Shropshire.

1. A Climate Change Strategy for the activities of Shropshire County Council.
2. A Community Climate Change Strategy for the county of Shropshire as a whole (draft stage).

The strategies will be attached to this page in the near future.

The greatest opportunity to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases comes from improved energy efficiency and this is a focus of both strategies.