Climate change

Climate change and carbon management

Our government accepts climate change is happening and man-made emissions are the main cause.

Slough has to respond to this and in the coming years and decades it is projected that:

  • temperatures will rise
  • winter rainfall will increase
  • summer rainfall will decrease 
  • heat waves, droughts, storms and floods will become more frequent and more severe.

These changes will have a major impact on the people, businesses and infrastructure of Slough.

This gives many challenges and opportunities. It's not possible for one group or organisation to address all of these issues on their own. It's important that local groups work in partnership to:

  • share information, ideas and best practice
  • develop joint action plans to deal with the many challenges ahead.

In October 2020, Cabinet agreed the Carbon Management Plan 2020-30.

The four outcomes of the plan are: 

  1. A 10% reduction of CO2 net emissions per annum of all Council operations by 2029/30, relative to 2018/19. 
  2. A 100% reduction of CO2 net emissions by 2029/30 against the 2018/19 baseline. 
  3. A reduction of 10.5 tonnes CO2 to 0 tonnes per Full Time Equivalent Employee (FTE) by 2029/30. 
  4. A revenue saving of 10% over lifetime of the plan against 2018/19 baseline operating costs for the Council.

Its key priorities are to:

  1. Reduce CO2 emissions from energy consumption across all Council operations
  2. Reduce energy consumption revenue costs across all Council operations
  3. Embed carbon management in the Council’s policies and procedures
  4. Raise awareness of carbon management among staff through the Environmental Strategic Board to reduce carbon emissions and energy consumption
  5. Incorporate high standards of energy efficiency into new buildings, equipment and contracts
  6. Key actions - Incorporate carbon intensity into the procurement of goods and services