Cllr Steve Jarvis, North Herts District Council's executive member for environment, explains what the council is doing to protect the climate.

While last week’s IPCC report was shocking it really only reminded us what we already know: it is vital that we all take action to cut our carbon emissions and limit the amount the earth’s temperatures rise over the rest of the 21st century.

That is why North Herts District Council has declared a Climate Emergency and adopted a climate change strategy to reduce the council’s contribution to global heating and that of the whole district.

The first part of our strategy is to cut the council’s own emissions to net zero by 2030. As a start we have switched to renewable electricity and green gas, installed swimming pool covers to cut heat loss, switched to ultra-low emission vehicles and adjusted heating systems to save energy.

We are investigating how to keep the environmental benefits of home working and remote meetings as life returns to something nearer normal. We have planted more than 1,000 trees which will offset some of the continuing emissions as well as improving biodiversity.

The second part is to cut the effect of the council on resident’s emissions. We have provided an incentive for low emission taxis and are working on plans to require the highest possible environmental standards for new houses built in the district. Where the council owns the land, we will do better than this requiring zero carbon development wherever possible.

The final part of our strategy is to encourage everyone in the district to reduce their own emissions. Apart from setting an example by cutting the council’s emissions we have set up an Environment Panel where we engage with local people to explore how we can all do better.

We are also planning to help people measure their own carbon footprint and find savings and are giving away 10,000 trees for people to plant.

Over the coming years we will do much more - switching to zero emission vehicles, installing PV panels on council buildings, using heat pumps rather than gas to heat swimming pools, planting many more trees and identify different ways of working to cut our carbon impact.