Cheltenham's response to the climate emergency 

Cheltenham Borough Council voted on 9 July 2019 to declare a climate emergency. The motion had three main pillars:

• To declare a climate emergency in the borough of Cheltenham
• To set a target of a carbon neutral town by 2030
• To call on the government to devolve resources and powers to support local efforts

Climate emergency action plan

Our climate emergency action plan: Pathway to Net Zero sets out our aim to achieve the 2030 target by acting holistically as a town, not just as a council working in isolation.

There are a number of different areas of action already underway to tackle the climate emergency and increase biodiversity in the services we deliver for the community and as an organisation.

Climate emergency declaration - more information

The motion to declare a climate emergency was proposed to full council on 18 February 2019 and called on the cabinet to:

• declare a ‘climate emergency’
• pledge to make Cheltenham carbon neutral by 2030, taking into account both production and consumption emissions
• call on Westminster to provide the powers and resources to make the 2030 target possible;
• work with other governments (both within the UK and internationally) to determine and implement best practice methods to limit climate change to less than 1.5 degrees centigrade
• continue to work with partners across the town, county and region to deliver this new goal through all relevant strategies and plans
• report to full council within six months with the actions the council will take to address this emergency

The motion received unanimous support and a climate emergency was officially declared by the council’s cabinet on 9 July 2019.

In declaring a climate emergency, the council joined over 300 district, county, unitary and metropolitan councils and combined authorities/city regions (as of October 2020) with similar ambitions to become carbon neutral.

Following the declaration, the council engaged a leading expert in the field of climate change and sustainability, Simon Graham, Head of Innovation at De Courcy Alexander, to develop a roadmap for eliminating Cheltenham borough’s carbon footprint. The Carbon Neutral Cheltenham report was approved by the council in autumn 2019.

The leader of the council also wrote to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy calling for:

• access to sustainable funding
• a mechanism to enable easy and timely access to government funding streams
• a favourable financial landscape which supports zero carbon investment
• devolved powers to enable the council to set standards and requirements appropriate for our area and which may exceed those expected at a national level
• the introduction of national policies to support faster local climate change action

In February 2020, the council allocated £425,000 to begin the task of meeting the climate emergency challenge. 

Reporting our carbon emissions

Our commitment to becoming a net zero council means that our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions will need be reduced to almost zero. The primary focus is the reduction of scope 1 and 2 emissions.

Currently, there is no requirement for local authorities to report on their organisational carbon footprint. However, we are committed to our net zero aims and the actions detailed in the Climate Emergency Action Plan. An important part of this is publishing our annual carbon footprint to inform progress towards our target. Our climate emergency action plan was updated during 2024.

A key way to ensure our progress towards net zero is continuing to develop our plan to 2030 to include clear costs and milestones:

• for reducing our remaining direct emissions
• for managing any emissions that cannot be avoided

The plan should also set out an approach for tackling emissions that are part of our wider supply-chain.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are the primary driver of global climate change. There are several less well-known greenhouse gases such as methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). These various greenhouse gases have different global warming potentials in the atmosphere which, for ease, are converted into a single metric of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e). This unit of measurement is used throughout the action plan.

In line with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ, 2023) reporting guidance, the collated emissions are categorised into Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 emissions as detailed below:

Table 1: Definition of scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions.

Category	Description	Source
Scope 1	Direct emissions as a result of burning fossil fuels	Gas usage within council, Ubico, Cheltenham Trust sites, additional council properties and vehicle fleet gas/fuel use
Scope 2	Indirect emissions from purchasing energy for operations	Metered electricity use for council, Ubico, Cheltenham Trust sites and miscellaneous properties
Scope 3	All other measurable indirect emissions for an organisation	Staff commuting and business travel, water usage, procurement, 50 percent of airport electricity and ground operations, transmission and distribution of electricity

The council and its buildings

Cheltenham Borough Council owns a diverse range of properties. Cheltenham Trust sites include Cheltenham Town Hall, Pittville Pump Room, Leisure at Cheltenham, Prince of Wales Stadium and The Wilson Art Gallery and Museum. There are approximately 5,000 properties within the social housing stock. Smaller sites in our portfolio include public toilets, pavilions, car parks, fountains, and other miscellaneous properties.

The energy use in these buildings contribute towards the council’s carbon footprint. This means when considering our net zero by 2030 ambitions, we need to reduce our carbon footprint and adapt through improving our infrastructure and moving to low carbon systems.

There are several previous, current and ongoing projects support our work towards decarbonising our portfolio. Progress continues to be made as technical and funding opportunities are identified.

We are currently commissioning decarbonisation plans for the major buildings, which will provide a strategy and associated costs to get our buildings to net zero.

 

 

Related Pages

• Climate emergency action plan - pathway to net zero
• Local climate changes
• Climate change - together we can make a difference
• Climate change toolkit