Reversing the destabilisation of our climate and ecosystems will be the great challenge of this century.
We need to make positive changes that secure a clean, safe, and sustainable future for our residents and people around the world.
H&F has a direct stake in halting the climate and ecology emergencies, with unprecedented floods and heatwaves having caused damage and disruption to the borough since we declared a climate emergency in 2019.
Local impacts alone include over 1,000 properties being flooded in recent years, and record temperatures causing damage to public infrastructure. Extreme rainfall and summer daytime temperatures are projected to rise significantly without rapid action.
Climate change impacts fall disproportionately on people who are less financially resilient.
Our Climate and Ecology Strategy was rated one of the top climate plans in London, and targets net zero carbon emissions for the borough by 2030.
We're radically adapting our buildings, resources, and strategic partnerships to meet this ambitious target.
We've introduced new cycleways and 20mph limits across the borough and we're supporting active travel through cycle hangars, free maintenance, and a try-before-you-bike scheme. We've also installed the largest concentration of air quality monitors anywhere in Europe.
Our ambition
Our ambition is to realise a clean, safe and sustainable future that works to benefit all people and the environment, led by our target of achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
We want to ensure that residents, infrastructure, and nature are resilient to climate risks, and that our transition to net zero and adaptation of the public realm improves the life chances of everyone, and that its benefits and costs are shared justly.
Short term goals
In the short term, we will:
- tackle fuel poverty and climate change in private homes with our Winter Ready Homes grants and our work with landlords
- support local organisations through our Climate Alliance and energy grants
- build industry leading Passivhaus homes
- host one of the densest electric vehicle charging networks in Britain and transition our own fleets to low-carbon vehicles
- continue to deliver and enhance our low-carbon procurement policy
- launch our new £5m investment offer to fund local climate and ecological projects, the largest ever by a local authority
- develop proposals for a service to collect garden waste as a separate waste stream in the future for recycling from 2024.
Long term goals
In the long term, we will:
- deliver our retrofit programmes to upgrade our council homes and non-domestic buildings with energy efficiency and low-carbon heating
- identify opportunities for new heat networks in our Clean Heat Plan
- help to launch H&F's first Community Energy co-op
- continue to expand our active travel infrastructure
- undertake a full climate risk assessment of the borough and continue to deliver sustainable drainage that increases our resilience to the changing climate
- renew our Air Quality Action Plan in consultation with residents and cut air pollution through field-leading projects and partnerships
- publish a new Climate Change Supplementary Planning Document.
