Our choices and actions impact on the environment in many ways, including the effect our activities have on climate change.

The Council has a Climate Change Strategy, Carbon Neutral Plan and Environmental Policy to manage environmental and sustainability issues. You can take actions to reduce your environmental impact in the workplace and at home.

What is sustainability?

Sustainability creates and maintains the conditions under which humans and nature can exist in harmony, and which fulfil social, economic, environmental and other requirements of present and future generations.

One key element of this is being prudent with the resources that we use, together with an understanding that some cannot be replenished.

Sustainability is concerned with the growth of a society where the costs of development, for instance - air pollution, are not transferred to future generations, or at least an attempt is made to compensate for those costs.

Why be sustainable?

We use so much of the Earth's resources and emit greenhouse gas (including carbon dioxide), that our current lifestyles are unsustainable.

We need to reduce our consumption if future generations are to enjoy lifestyles in an environment equivalent to ours today.

If everyone in the world consumed natural resources at the same rate as the UK, we would need three planets to support us.

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Last updated: Thu 23rd February, 2023 @ 16:05