Mole Valley District Council took a step in a new direction at an Extraordinary Council Meeting on Tuesday 18 June when it declared a “Climate Emergency” and committed to do everything in its power to play its part in the global environmental initiatives and become carbon neutral by 2030.
 
In adopting this approach, the District Council committed to review the way it, and those who provide services on its behalf, operates as the world strives towards achieving carbon neutrality.
 
It will now drive ahead with policies and programmes that will ensure that our area plays its part in delivering effective measures to help safeguard our world from the damaging effects of global warming.
 
As first steps, the District Council has started investigating a number of practical measures, including:

• obtaining green energy supplies for all council consumption;
• assessing the emissions from Council buildings and ways to reduce them;
• considering how the council and its contractors can stop using glyphosate;
• bringing smart travel to the district, engaging with Surrey County Council to achieve this; and
• developing new web pages of practical advice for residents on how to reduce their own carbon footprint.

It will also be seeking to provide more electric car charging points in the area in order to promote the take up of electric cars amongst Mole Valley residents and will be looking to reduce the use of single use plastics in Mole Valley through the introduction of drinking water dispensing points where reusable water bottles can be refilled.

Overall, we plan to lead the District Council in finding real life practical solutions to mitigating the effects of modern consumer living. We believe that people are becoming increasingly aware of the imminent threat of climate change and we aim to encourage Mole Valley residents to support and join us in this critical endeavour.

We understand that climate change is a global emergency. We cannot just sit by and let it happen. We can be a leader in the fight against climate change, and to do this we have to act now to create a clean, green and carbon-free Mole Valley.