It’s a decade since the Lake District created one of the first area-based carbon budgets which aimed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1% a year. The fact that this initiative has endured despite other pressures faced by the organisations concerned is a testament to all those involved.
The most recent figures compiled by Small World Consulting show that with the best will in the world the Lake District have only been reducing emissions at the rate of around half of the annual 1% target. As Mike-Berners Lee so succinctly put it, “what we have done so far is only a warm up”.
At the end of March 2019 an event took place to both to review progress and consider future science-based targets in line with the October 2018 IPCC Report.
Emma Howard Boyd, Chair of the Environment Agency talked about the severe flooding that has already impacted so many Cumbrian residents and the improvements in flood warnings that the Environment Agency have put in place. She also impressed upon the audience how we should see transitioning to a low carbon economy and investing in adaptation as two sides of the same coin.
Paul Allen of the Centre for Alternative Technology gave an inspiring presentation about our low carbon future. The modelling that CAT have done shows that with only a few relatively minor lifestyle changes, many of which are positive in terms of our health too, it is possible to match demand with currently available renewable energy and storage technology.
The time to act is now – the science is telling us but so are our young people. As Mike Berners- Lee noted a culture shift is already underway and those in the middle ground will move with it.
The Lake District has committed to become zero carbon by 2030. If you want to contribute towards a low carbon future, contact Simply Carbon Reduction today to see how we can help.
