Climate change

Our world is warming. The world must make deep cuts in carbon emissions this decade to limit global warming to 1.5C and reach Net Zero emissions in time. That means corporations, public bodies and institutions must develop and implement comprehensive strategies to decarbonise emissions.

Carbon neutral

Becoming carbon neutral means that the council will take out as much carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as we put into it. This is also known as 'Net Zero Carbon'.

Carbon neutrality is based on the aim that the sum of all the greenhouse gases put into and taken from the atmosphere will balance out to zero.

The UN provides more information about carbon neutrality and net zero emissions.

Our response

The goal for North Northamptonshire follows the national legal requirement of Net Zero emissions by 2050, or sooner.

The council declared a climate emergency in 2021 and adopted a set of recommendations to:

reduce emissions to lessen the causes of climate change
adapt to the current and future impacts of climate change
raise awareness in communities to the causes and impacts of climate change

alongside our corporate plan, climate change route map and our countywide strategy below.

We have committed to becoming a carbon-neutral council by 2030. The national Net Zero target is 2050.

Carbon Management Plan

The Carbon Management Plan is the first step and sets out how NNC will achieve carbon neutrality by 2030, by establishing its baseline carbon emissions and identifying key areas of focus to ensure the targets are met.

County strategy

Northamptonshire County Council, replaced by North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire Councils, created the following strategy for 2020 to 2023:

Northamptonshire climate change strategy 2020 to 2023

PDF1.23 MB

Sustainable Communities Executive Advisory Panel

The Sustainable Communities Executive Advisory Panel was established to support the creation of climate change policies.

You can also read about the work and view the meetings of the previous panel.

Climate conference

In November 2022, we held our second climate change conference. Three sessions took place virtually: