Climate Change Strategy

The Climate Change Act 2008 introduced the UK's first legally binding target to reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions by 2050 to at least 80% of levels in 1990. Progress has been made between 1990 and 2017 with the UK reducing its emissions by 42% whilst the economy has grown by more than two thirds.

Government has recognised the need to go further and on 27 June 2019, the UK government amended the Climate Change Act to set a legally binding target to achieve net zero Greenhouse Gas emissions from across the UK economy by 2050.

Climate change has dominated the headlines in recent times and there has been a notable shift in public concern over the environment, accelerated by the COP26 hosted by Glasgow in October 2021. The establishment of impartial committees such as the United Nations (UN) Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the UK's Committee on Climate Change (CCC) play a key role in publishing data on climate change and the environmental impacts and the forecast for carbon budget expenditure and progress against national and global targets and commitments.

The councils climate change programme is supported nationally through different legislation and national strategies including:

• a Green Future: Our 25 Year Plan to Improve the Environment
• the Clean Growth Strategy
• the Clean Air Strategy
• the Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution
• net Zero Strategy: Build Back Greener
• the Environment Act 2021.

Following the UK's re-emergence from the coronavirus (covid-19) lockdowns, the government has published new policies to not only Build Back Better but also to Build Back Greener for the economy and the environment. The Environment Act 2021 which received Royal Assent on the 9 November 2021, introduces new legally binding targets, many of which will come through secondary legislation to follow in due course.The Act is expected to be enforced through within the next 2 to 5 years.

Our climate change strategy fully takes account of the emerging national policy and legal context.

Time scales

This Chorley climate change strategy covers the period 2022 to 2024. It is accompanied by an action plan which contains short, medium and longer term actions, and it will be reviewed bi-annually to ensure the aim of the strategy and its actions are compliant with changes in national and international agreements/legislation in this area.