Council invited to join UK100 forum

Bridgend County Borough Council has been invited to become a member of UK100, cementing its commitment to tackling the climate emergency.

The UK100 is billed as a forum for the ‘most ambitious local leaders across the UK’ and runs campaigns around climate change, clean air and green finance.

Currently boasting 60 members – including Cardiff Council, City of Edinburgh, Bristol City Council and Birmingham City Council – the UK100 uses the collective voice of their members to advocate for changes that are necessary to make the transition to net zero.

They work with the most ambitious members – the Net Zero Local Leadership Club – who are doing everything within their power to get their communities to net zero as soon as possible, and by 2045 at the latest.

Joining the UK100 would also help the council capture a range of benefits from the transition to net zero for communities, residents and businesses in Bridgend County Borough including job creation, improvement of air quality, energy security and better quality homes.

While we are showing national leadership in our drive to become carbon neutral by 2030, the council is not yet a member of the recognised forum for local leaders on climate action.

We are committed to coordinating action to help other areas of the economy make a decisive shift towards decarbonisation, by engaging in collaboration with other public sector organisations, academia, industry and the third sector.

Becoming a member of UK100 would allow us to share knowledge between members and facilitate dialogue with national politicians and senior officials with the amplified voices of local leaders.

Council Leader Huw David

While the local authority has been invited to become a member of UK100, it must sign and adopt the net zero pledge which contains the following three commitments:

• Have set ambitious net zero targets for greenhouse emissions of 2030 for council operations and 2045 for areawide emissions at the latest.
• Report carbon emissions annually for scope one and scope two, for council emissions and areawide emissions.
• Commit to limiting the use of offsets and if used to be as local as possible.