With climate change, decarbonisation and the green economy top of the agenda in Surrey, the county council is looking to work more closely with businesses with environmental priorities in line with its “Greener Future” strategic priority.
As part of this, the next “Spotlight on Surrey” event on July 14 will focus on climate change and the environment.
Cabinet Member for the Environment, Cllr Marisa Heath (Con, Englefield Green) said that Surrey County Council is aiming to lead by example and is examining every element of its operation to become carbon zero by 2030.
“We are not a huge carbon emitter but we will be looking at everything from schools and all our other buildings to how staff travel to work.
“We know there is some confusion out there and while there might be a willingness to adopt new greener practices, people aren’t always quite sure what to do. Our role is to help people to make those changes and our priority is to get partnership engagement,” she said.
Michael Coughlin, deputy CEO at Surrey County Council says the online seminar will be an opportunity to share best practice and hear from businesses about what they are doing to reduce their carbon footprint.
“At the first Spotlight on Surrey event I was interested to hear Ben Osborn, MD of Pfizer UK, talk about how seriously his company is taking the whole question of environmental impact. The county council have made it a key strategic priority and we want to work with and support businesses with their green initiatives,” he said.
SCC has identified four key priorities that are all intertwined with a concern for the environment. They are:
Speakers at the event will include Kate Norgrove, executive director Advocacy & Campaigns – World Wildlife Fund, Steve Sharratt, CEO – DBE Energy and Dr Kat Bruce, chief technical officer & founder – Nature Metrics.
Kate Norgrove said: “Businesses depend on a stable climate, predictable supply chains and functioning ecosystems for their ongoing and future viability. You can’t do effective, profitable long-term business on a dead planet.
“Business has an incredibly important and transformational role to play in tackling the climate and nature crisis.”
Tickets for the virtual event are free to businesses based in Surrey and can be booked via this link https://bit.ly/2Uvxigc
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Sue Reeve
July 14, 2021 at 4:26 pm
If the green economy is top of the agenda why are any new houses that are being built are still being fitted with gas boilers?
Surely all houses and buildings should aim to be carbon neutral and fitted with electric or air/ground source heating from now on. All boroughs should have planning policies that dictate this “top of the agenda”.
Ramsey Nagaty
July 15, 2021 at 11:23 pm
I too query the lip service given to the green economy and carbon-neutral claims from SCC and some political parties.
There is no point in declaring a “Climate Emergency” and then approving planning applications with gas-fired boilers which will need to have heat pumps or hydrogen boilers retrofitted. Retrofitting heat pumps is five times more expensive than fitting them in the first place.
It is equal folly to allow developments that will rely on the car passed with a small payment towards a single infrequent bus service and partial cycle lanes that do not actually lead anywhere.
With high temperatures and fires in the USA and Canada and flash floods in London and Germany surely we must start to demand better, truly sustainable policies and development standards.
Ramsey Nagaty is a GGG borough councillor for Shalford.