A council has set out its plan to become carbon neutral in the next six years.

West Sussex County Council will be enacting a raft of measures to reduce emissions in the county as set out in the first three-year phase of the climate action and adaptation plan.

Steps include switching corporate vehicles to electric, investment in LED street lighting and transitioning council buildings away from gas.

The council has also set out its three guiding aims, which are “climate mitigation”, which is about reducing greenhouse gas and offsetting emissions, “climate adaptation”, about preparing assets and communities for the impact of climate change, and “responsiveness and climate equity”, on changing the way it works to reduce environmental impacts.

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In 2019, the authority passed a motion pledging to try to become carbon neutral by 2030. 

A climate change strategy was adopted in 2020, which the council reports has reduced its carbon footprint. According to the authority, its operational carbon emissions have been cut by 11.4 per cent.

It has also installed 2,500 solar systems in residential homes and hundreds of electric vehicle charge points.

Councillor Deborah Urquhart, cabinet member for environment and climate change, said: “Protecting the environment underpins everything we do and all the priorities in our council plan.

"Through this plan and our climate change strategy we have made a commitment to be carbon neutral and climate resilient in the county council’s own operations by 2030.

“We have already made significant progress, we’ve helped to install 2,500 solar systems in people’s homes, and generated almost 17 million kWh of renewable energy last year from our solar farms and solar panels installed on our buildings.

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“Climate change is one of the biggest challenges we will ever face so it’s important we do all we can to protect our environment.

“The significant changes we are now seeing in our climate are not only presenting difficulties for our communities, but also the work we do as a council to support them.

“It’s vital that we take steps now to address our carbon emissions and ensure we are ready to cope with the impacts of our changing climate.”