UK100 has asked member authorities to:
• Devise plans to achieve 100 per cent clean energy by 2050;
• Work to bring the private and public sector together;
• Collaborate and learn from each other; and
• Work together to influence national policy
We've pledged to use 100 per cent clean energy by 2050.
Today, the council signed up to the UK100 campaign, ensuring that its energy will come from renewable sources such as wind, water and solar power and not from fossil fuels.
It's joined more than 80 local authorities across the country with similar ambitions, including Leicester City Council.
Climate change is an issue globally and we have a responsibility to ensure that we do all that we can to tackle the problem.
Pledging our support to the campaign means we can work with communities and businesses in the county to change to a low carbon economy, which will help to secure an environmentally sustainable future.
Person:Council leader Nick RushtonCity Mayor Peter Soulsby signed up to the UK100 on behalf of Leicester in 2016.
He said: “Leicester’s target for a 50 per cent reduction by 2025 was an ambitious aspiration for the future when it was set back in 1990. I am very proud that we are now very much on track for not just achieving that goal but exceeding it.
“By working with other cities through UK100 we are determined to extend that ambition and move towards clean energy by 2050.
“As a city, we cannot do this alone and I am delighted that Nick Rushton and the county council have joined us and others in signing up to the UK100 pledge.”
The county council already has a number of plans and strategies in place which has reduced its carbon footprint. They include:
- Carbon dioxide emissions in 2016/17 reducing by 37 per cent against the 2008/09 target;
- Gas usage in council buildings decreasing by 24 per cent; and
- Street lighting energy consumption decreasing by 24.7 per cent as a result of replacing them with energy-saving LEDs.
The authority is also supporting the Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership (LLEP), to develop a Local Industrial Strategy (LIS). The LIS will set out how the local area will promote ‘clean growth’, one of the four grand challenges set out in the Government’s Industrial Strategy.
Nick Rushton added: “Through the Local Industrial Strategy and our pledge to UK100 we’ll have the opportunity to support the development and expansion of low carbon businesses and make clean energy more economical and reliable.”
Watch our video below where Nick Rushton explains more: