Cumbria striving to become Britain's first zero-carbon county

A new report released by climate change partnership, Zero Carbon Cumbria (ZCC), has shed light on the county's current greenhouse gas emissions and the actions that need to be taken.

The report identifies the main sources of the region's greenhouse gas emissions.

These include home and business heating, transport, goods purchasing, land management, and food and drink production.

The analysis, undertaken by Small World Consulting, has provided critical information which is now being acted on by ZCC.

David Murphy, Associate Professor of Sustainability and Collaborative Leadership at the University of Cumbria, and co-chair of the ZCC partnership, said: “This analysis is vital in informing the work of the ZCCP, to plan how we increase both action and the speed at which we need to implement change. Having this baseline information will enable us to monitor our progress on this vital task and help us reach our aim of a zero carbon county by 2037.”

The analysis has been derived from national and local data.

Karen Mitchell, Chief Executive of the county’s climate change charity, Cumbria Action for Sustainability and co-chair of the ZCC Partnership, said: “In our rural county, the impact of climate change is already being felt with more frequent extreme weather, so it’s in all our interests to reduce our emissions in order to protect our homes and livelihoods.”

The report, available on the Zero Carbon Cumbria website, will be launched at a free online event on October 4 at 2pm.

Bookings can be made at www.cafs.org.uk/events.