Tackling climate change will remain at the forefront of work and decisions undertaken by the Isle of Anglesey County Council for many years to come.
The Full Council declared a climate emergency back in 2020 and yesterday (Thursday, March 10th) its members unanimously adopted Anglesey’s ambitious new roadmap towards becoming a carbon neutral organisation by 2030.
The Towards Net Zero Plan 2022-2025 will provide a co-ordinated Council response to climate change whilst promoting a cultural shift to ensure that services minimise all greenhouse gas emissions as far as possible.
Anglesey’s Climate Change Champion, Councillor Dafydd Rhys Thomas, said, “Climate change affects us all and the actions we take now will define the lives of future generations.”
“The County Council is committed to becoming a net zero carbon organisation. Achieving net zero carbon status by 2030 will certainly be a challenge, prioritisation, tough decisions, and trade off’s will be essential. However, we can achieve this target by working effectively with residents, staff, elected members and visitors. The new Towards Net Zero Plan will provide the focus needed to ensure a proactive and concerted effort to achieve our targets on behalf of generations to come.”
The County Council has already been working pro-actively over a number of years to meet its climate change commitment. Projects already bearing fruit include:
- its Energy Efficiency Strategy 2017-22 which has achieved an 18% reduction in energy use across the building’s estate
- a ReFit Scheme which has seen the Council’s largest investment (£2.4m) to date to reduce energy use by installing solar panels, LED lighting and upgrading heating systems on its buildings
- starting to convert its petrol and diesel fleet to electrical vehicles
- converting and adapting 96% of street lighting to use LED lamps and reducing energy use
- appointing a Climate Change Manager and a member of the Executive as a Climate Change Champion
More projects are in the pipeline, and earlier this week, the Council’s Executive adopted a new long-term Electric Vehicle charging plan to provide charging infrastructure for the Island help to reduce carbon footprint. Anglesey already has one of the highest number of EV charging points per head of population in Wales; and wants to build on this when new funding becomes available.
Anglesey’s Climate Change Manager, Rhys Williams, added, “The Towards Net Zero Plan represents an integral development in the Council’s net zero journey. As well as building on recent successes and co-ordinating schemes now in place, it will help deliver new projects to reduce our carbon emissions. We also want to see children and young people become an integral part of this important work and will be partnering with schools to inform young people and benefit from their enthusiasm.”
Other new schemes currently under development include £3.1m programme to deliver energy efficiency and decarbonisation measures across 36 of its sites after securing a 0% loan from the Wales Funding Programme.
A low carbon heat grant of £1.1m from Welsh Government will also allow decarbonisation works at the County Offices in Llangefni and at Ysgol Gymuned Moelfre. This grant will enable the replacement of fossil fuel heating systems at both sites with new low carbon heating sources.
Ends 11.3.22