Council Stays Focused on Carbon Neutral Goal Despite Progress

The council saw a big drop in emissions last year. They cut carbon dioxide by 4.6 million tonnes. That’s about a 5% decrease from the year before. A council member praised staff for their work, saying it helped meet decarbonization goals. The council wants “net zero” emissions by 2030.

The council says they’re not relaxing their efforts and plan to keep cutting emissions. They need more people to know what’s happening, including both the public and council members. A report showed mixed progress toward goals, with around one in seven goals seeing “poor” progress.

A committee talked about the report at a meeting on Tuesday, February 11. One member said they need to hire more staff to focus on climate change. The council should address vehicles idling, too.

Another member questioned the 2030 carbon neutral goal. A council head said the Welsh government set that target. They are still figuring out how to calculate emissions, but will try their best to meet the goal.

The cost of decarbonization matters to the council. The head said money can achieve anything. The council says it’s hard to know the total cost because becoming carbon neutral by 2030 is difficult to price. Figuring out the costs is a priority for the next year.