Cardiff Council and its partners must work together to tackle climate change and improve the capital’s sustainability performance.
Leader Rodney Berman (pictured) today underlined the Council’s commitment to achieving Carbon Lite city status for Cardiff and called on public, private and voluntary sector partners to build on key achievements that have already been delivered to deal with this global issue on a city-wide basis.
Speaking at the Proud Capital conference at City Hall, Cllr Berman launched the Carbon Lite Cardiff Action Plan which includes challenging objectives that will continue to progress sustainable development in all aspects of city life such as the further reduction of energy use in existing and new buildings, increasing recycling and composting and increasing the use of sustainable modes of transport.
Cllr Berman said: “There is already a huge commitment to partnership working in Cardiff and our achievements over the last decade can be attributed in no small part to this collaborative approach.
“The Council recognises that climate change is one of the greatest threats to environmental, social and economic sustainability facing the world today and the effects will be felt in Cardiff, across Wales and the UK.
“We need to be thinking longer term in relation to issues such as climate change and how we adapt as a city. This is particularly challenging when we all have so many immediate demands on our resources. But as “Team Cardiff”, I know that we can once again respond to the challenges ahead.”
Cllr Berman told the conference about the landmark achievements delivered by partnership working since the 2007 launch of the Proud Capital Community Strategy, which set out priorities for improving the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of Cardiff.
Those accomplishments include establishing Cardiff as the first Sustainable Travel City in Wales, achieving Healthy City Status through the World Health Organisation, becoming one of the safest cities in the UK for students with a 65 per cent reduction in all crime since 2003 and the development of the Carbon Lite Action Plan.
Cllr Berman also announced to partners that Cardiff has become the first city in Wales to sign the EU Covenant of Mayors agreement. The Covenant of Mayors is a commitment by signatory towns and cities to go beyond the objectives of EU energy policy in terms of reduction in CO2 emissions through enhanced energy efficiency and cleaner energy production and use.
Cllr Berman continued: “The EU Covenant of Mayors agreement commits us to meeting ambitious objectives but we will not reach our carbon reduction targets by working independently of each other. Only by focusing our efforts and resources on priority activities within our Carbon Lite Action Plan can we make the progress needed to address the challenge of climate change.
“We are taking this challenge very seriously and there are already some examples of good work being achieved by several Council service areas. This is about going beyond what the Council itself can do to cut carbon emissions and finding a way forward for the whole city to participate in cutting carbon emissions.
“By working together we can make a real difference for the citizens and communities of Cardiff in tackling this issue.”
