Climate change
What the council is doing
Local authorities are directly responsible for between two to five per cent of their local area’s emissions. However, councils have many levers that can be used to deliver wider local action to reduce emissions and prepare local areas for a changing climate.
In July 2024 the Council approved the Swindon Plan that sets out three long-term missions, including one to build a greener Swindon:
Fully playing our part as a council and a town in combatting climate change. Working with communities to find new ways of doing things that help, not hinder, the natural environment.
The mission is supported by four themes (the dark green layer of the diagram below), which each link to a number of objectives (outer layer):
Theme 1
Leading the way towards a net zero borough by 2050
Objectives
- Engage with residents and businesses to deliver a greener Swindon
Theme 2
Greener planning and transport
Objectives
- Enable a lower carbon Swindon through planning and travel
Theme 3
Protect the environment
Objectives
- Resilience to severe weather and climate change impacts
- Protect and enhance biodiversity
Theme 4
Keep on track for a net zero Council
Objectives
- Reduce carbon from council assets
- Transitioning our fleet and depot to net-zero carbon operations
- Optimising waste management and recycling initiatives
An accompanying performance framework (PDF) sets out the action we will take to progress each objective over the next three years and how we will measure progress.
A report commissioned by the Committee on Climate Change explains more about the role of local authorities in supporting local and national efforts to reduce emissions.
The UK was the first major economy to create a legally binding target to bring greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050. In October 2021, the Government published a Net Zero Strategy setting out policies and proposals for decarbonising all sectors of the UK economy to meet this target.