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Policy reaffirms County Council’s commitment to climate action
18/11/2022
Action to address the climate emergency is top of the council’s nine strategic priorities
A new policy statement at Oxfordshire County Council puts environmental considerations at the heart of the council’s decision-making process. The climate and natural environment policy statement was approved earlier this week by the council’s cabinet.
It reaffirms the council’s commitment to climate action, adapting to the challenges created by climate change and the importance of nature and the natural environment.
Principles in the statement include bringing Oxfordshire to net zero carbon as early as possible in the 2040s, adapting to the challenges of climate change and being an exemplar for environmental sustainable development. Putting action to address the climate emergency at the heart of its work was already top of the council’s nine strategic priorities.
Councillor Pete Sudbury, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Environment, said: “Our emphasis on climate action, and on improving adaptation and resilience to extreme weather, is not a side project. It needs to steer every decision we take.
“On 19 July this year, Oxfordshire experienced the highest temperature ever recorded in the county – 38.4C. In other parts of the country the temperature reached 40.2C – breaking the previous UK record of 38.7C.
“The impact of climate change is being felt here in Oxfordshire right now and it is accelerating. Under all possible scenarios, Oxfordshire will be increasingly exposed to risks from a changing climate affecting individuals, communities, businesses, and supply chains. Not to mention the natural world which is, ultimately, our life support system.
“Without action, the escalating frequency and severity of extreme weather events – including heatwave, drought, flooding and storms – will pose increasing risks to our services, buildings, and infrastructure. Failure to respond rapidly and at scale would be an act of negligence.”
The policy statement builds on environmental commitments made by the council as part of the Future Oxfordshire Partnership.
The next step will be to shape a new strategic framework for Oxfordshire, alongside partners, to ensure that nature, the environment, and climate action are proactively designed into the policy-making process.
Published: by Banbury FM Newsteam