Progress on ambitious climate emergency action plan given seal of approval

The ambitious Climate Emergency Action plan, which outlines a collection of actions and policies to reduce greenhouse admissions and actively address climate challenges in Wokingham Borough, is making good progress and it was given the seal of approval at last month’s meeting of Council.

Wokingham Borough Council is working towards achieving a carbon neutral borough, and these plans are crucial in tackling climate changes. And that’s why every year progress against these actions are reported at full council and published.

Key successes  

This past year has seen a number of successes including:

• The Local Plan Update, which includes progressive policies including minimum energy standards in future developments
• Confirmation of the grid connection in 2026 for Barkham solar farm, which is projected to reduce nearly 6,000 tonnes of carbon annually
• The implementation of the Waste Strategy which, based on initial data showing increased local recycling rates, is expected to save 2,415 tonnes of carbon per year 
• The Solar Together scheme which helps residents purchase solar panels. The scheme recorded the highest number of installations across Berkshire, with nearly 300 Wokingham Borough residents installing solar panels through this scheme 
• A draft electric vehicle strategy has been developed and is currently being consulted on. It will help support the transition to a cleaner, more sustainable transport future

Working together to drive change 

The council recognises that for the borough to become carbon neutral it cannot do this by working in isolation.  The community including businesses, residents, voluntary and community organisations, educational organisations, to name just a few, must come together locally to build the momentum for change and drive actions towards a more sustainable and resilient borough. 

During the past year the council has worked in collaboration with a number of partners including: 

• As part of the prosperity board, a net zero workstream has been established with climate officers from across the six Berkshire authorities and discussions have begun in identifying opportunities to work together in specific challenging areas 
• Delivering joint workshops with the University of Reading to schools across the borough to support them in developing their climate action plans, which has been driven by the Department for Education’s sustainability strategy 
• Climate workshops and presentations which have been delivered by the climate emergency team to charity and voluntary organisations, residents and parish and town councils

The Climate Emergency Action Plan 

The CEAP is a living document which is regularly updated to ensure the council is taking into account global and national progress, policy changes and the latest technological developments. The latest CEAP, which summarises the borough’s current carbon profile and the council’s performance for the last accounting year, as well as a simplified snapshot of the CEAP is available on the Climate Emergency Hub on the council’s website.

Facing a challenge 

Cllr Stephen Conway, leader of the council and executive member for housing, partnerships and the local plan, said: “Our Climate Emergency Action Plan reflects the large amount of work that is being undertaken across the council to become carbon neutral by 2030. However, achieving this by 2030 is going to be challenging ,especially as the UK is not on track to meet its 2050 target of net zero (Climate Change Committee, 2024).  Funding from national government and stronger policies will be needed in key areas such as transport and retrofitting buildings, amongst other areas to support our targets within the Climate Emergency Action Plan.

“We have ambitions for a carbon neutral Wokingham Borough. We know that we cannot achieve these goals on our own and we must all do what we can. We all have a part to play, regardless of how small or big our contribution is, to create a low-carbon future. We have made significant progress in the past 12 months, and this has been down to lots of collaborative work. We have strengthened existing relationships and built new ones which have contributed to this success immensely and is the foundation for future working as we all tackle our climate emergency together.”

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