Durham plans new green future for the post-covid world

Following the declaration of a climate emergency last year, the local authority has committed to several targets to reduce its carbon footprint.

This included becoming 80% carbon neutral by 2030 and exploring steps to make the county 100% carbon neutral by 2050.

Despite the impact of coronavirus on society and the economy, council bosses have said the pandemic has had positive impacts on the environment.

As the country starts to recover from Covid-19, Durham County Council’s leader, Coun Simon Henig, said it is important to strive for a greener future.

“The coronavirus pandemic has demonstrated that the world can act when there’s a real emergency,” he said.

“In the short term as we all know it has dramatically reduced carbon emissions from air and road transport and brought silence and wildlife back into our streets.

“It’s cut pollution, encouraged people to walk and cycle in their local areas and of course it has also caused death and suffering and demonstrated the inequalities at the heart of our communities.

“As recovery begins, we need to ensure that we don’t just go back to previous habits, we need to create a new business as usual built in on what we have learned from the pandemic to create a cleaner greener world.

“We have just started to explore what this means, especially in the context of the global economic crisis which is going to be another major impact which I think is just becoming clear at the moment.

“What that is likely to mean is that available funding is going to be even more challenging to find but we need to scale up everything we have done to date.

“We’re all in this together and we need to learn from each other.”

Coun Henig was speaking at a virtual meeting this week connecting political leaders from across the globe.

The seminar was hosted by the National League of Cities, a US organisation similar to the UK’s Local Government Association.

How sister cities will respond

Political leaders from County Durham’s sister cities were invited to speak on the subject of carbon neutrality and ‘the way forward after Covid-19’.

Panellists included Coun Henig, Boris Palmer, Mayor of Tübingen in Germany and Christopher Taylor, Mayor of Ann Arbor in Michigan.

Speakers had the chance to share their own climate plans and policies around building greener cities alongside taking questions from an online audience.

In response to a question on creating ‘equity’ in climate reduction plans, Coun Henig added leaders should strike a balance between carbon reduction schemes and economic growth.

“Just in the pandemic in the UK there has been lot of data about the disproportionate effects on areas of deprivation and greater poverty at almost a two to one ratio which really is quite shocking in terms of the impact over the last few weeks and months,” he said.

“In terms of the programmes that we have been talking about tonight I think there’s a real responsibility on us to make sure that this doesn’t have some of these impacts.

“County Durham is an area where there are large areas of deprivation and there clearly is still large elements of poverty and we must make sure that doesn’t become worse as a result of initiatives such as those on carbon reduction.

“I think it adds to the challenge in front of us to do that and certainly it’s a question that I would always ask and pose myself as a challenge in terms of the impact for example on jobs, which are so important.

“We have to keep expanding our economy in County Durham, there are a number of economic challenges and we have plans to increase the number of jobs.

“So it’s really important because it’s in that way we bring ourselves out of some of the issues that we have with deprivation and social inequality.

“The economy remains really important but of course we have to develop it in a sustainable way.”

For more information on carbon reduction in County Durham, visit www.durham.gov.uk/climatechange

Information on the climate change webinar can be found here: www.nlc.org/event/a-carbon-neutral-future-for-cities

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