Environment

The Mayor and Combined Authority activities and policies are already informed by an ambition to tackle climate change; the Climate Action Plan 2022-2025 that was approved in 2022. This was informed by the work of the Independent Commission on Climate that reported its findings and recommendations to the Combined Authority in 2021.

The Action Plan sets out action on mitigation (tackling the amount of greenhouse gases emitted in the Combined Authority area) and adaptation (increasing resilience to the impacts of a changing climate). The Action Plan focuses on collaborative actions involving multiple partners. This recognises that constituent councils on the Combined Authority Board and other stakeholders already have their own climate action plans and are undertaking specific climate actions themselves.

The Mayor and Combined Authority have a potentially very significant role to play in enabling carbon reduction and adaptation to climate change through, for example:

• The implementation of the Local Transport and Connectivity Plan (transport, from all modes, accounts for two-fifths of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough’s carbon emissions)
• Enabling the workforce to have the right skills to support a low carbon economy
• Encouraging business development and productivity improvement (business, including agriculture, accounts for just over a third of local emissions).

The Combined Authority Board agreed in late 2019 to established an Independent Commission on Climate to provide a commanding climate change evidence base that would help the region to direct its focus in terms of climate change strategies and objectives. Their report and background evidence (including an assessment of climate-related risks, and a pathway to Net Zero) can be found here: Independent Commission Report

Read the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough CLIMATE ACTION PLAN 2022 – 2025

Climate Partnership Meeting

• AGENDA PACK: 19th October 2024: Click here to download

Our Environment Projects and Governance

Independent Commission On Climate

The task of the Commission is to provide authoritative recommendations to help the region mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change, enabling us to meet the commitment to eradicating net carbon emissions across the area by 2050.

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The Future Fens: Integrated Adaptation

The Future Fens Integrated Adaptation project brings together many different but key sectors, organisations and people into a partnership that builds on the strategic work across sectors

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Cambridgeshire COP

Cambridgeshire COP is a project which aspires to use 2022 – the year of the UK’s presidency of the COP process – to focus attention on our region which is at the forefront of the UK's efforts to fight climate change. Climate change is an urgent and important challenge for us, so during this year we aim to highlight the work of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough organisations finding solutions to the problems facing the world which are being piloted in the county.

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Climate Partnership Group

The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Climate Working Group brings together representatives of key decision makers across the public, private and third sector to promote and champion collective local action on climate issues, recognising that decisions by one organisation can have impacts for others.

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Climate Summit

The summit, hosted by the Combined Authority, featured a lineup of expert speakers who delved into critical topics aimed at addressing the pressing challenges faced by the region. The discussions ranged from "Adapting for the Future Fens" to "Domestic Retrofitting," "Electric Vehicles: Preparing the Road Ahead," and "Feeding the Future: Sustainable Food Production."

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Local Nature Recovery Strategy

The Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) is a key component of the Environment Act 2021. The aim is to set priorities for nature recovery in the country.

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