HAMPSHIRE County Council’s cabinet heard on January 13 how the authority was pressing forward with its commitment to meet the national target of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.

Deputy leader Cllr Rob Humby, the executive member for the economy, transport and the environment, said: “The county council is committed to establishing a clear action plan to embed carbon-reduction measures across the authority and make Hampshire more resilient to the impacts of a changing climate.

“This strategy sets out targets on both mitigation and resilience for both the county council’s own operations and the wider Hampshire area.”

The action plan covers all direct and indirect carbon emissions from the county council’s own activities, such as fuel, energy and waste.

These activities account for around one per cent of all carbon emissions for Hampshire, so the plan sets a target for Hampshire as a whole which is aligned with the government’s 2050 carbon neutrality target.

The council’s cabinet has agreed all recommendations in the report, including revoking the policy prohibiting consideration of wind turbines on county council land and establishing a programme of tree and wildflower planting on highways land and verges.

Cllr Humby said: “It’s imperative we place climate mitigation and resilience at the heart of our policy and decision-making.

“We need all the county council’s services to contribute to reducing emissions and building resilience – replacing transport fleets with electric vehicles, reducing carbon from street lighting, and maximising the use of recycled materials in highways maintenance, to name just a few areas.

“The county council’s activities account for just a small proportion of the overall carbon emissions in Hampshire, the majority of which come from transport and domestic energy.

“As the highway authority, the county council has a key role to play around transport, and it is clear we will all need to make changes to tackle energy consumption – building on the many instances of successful community energy projects, for example, which demonstrate what can be achieved by direct community action.”

Over the past decade, more than £30million worth of carbon savings have been made from the council’s estate and operations, reducing the council’s carbon consumption by 43 per cent.