Since the council’s climate emergency declaration in 2019 and the climate assemblies, we have been working towards achieving the net-zero 2030 ambition.
Our climate emergency action plan sets out our pathway to achieving this ambition and we have been awarded Highly Commended in the 2022 LGA awards for our work on addressing the climate challenge. We are also members of the UK 100, which is a membership of local authorities working in collaboration to future reaching their net-zero targets. You can read more about the UK 100 here.
Climate declaration and action plan
Blackpool Council declared a climate emergency on 26 June 2019. In doing this, we recognised the impact of climate change around the world and declared that we must take action in Blackpool.
We are committed to making the council’s carbon emissions net zero and using 100% clean energy across the council’s services by 2030. We have started working with the Carbon Disclosure Programme, as part of our process to improve our approach to the climate emergency and intend to publish our results for the first time in 2023.
The council is responsible for 3% of the total carbon emissions in Blackpool. We need to work with residents and partners across the town to make a real change.
Read the climate declaration
Read the climate action plan
Climate action plan update
The most recent update of our progress on the climate action plan was published on the 8th February 2023, as part of a Tourism, Economy and Communities Sccrutiny Commitee meeting. The minutes from the meeting are available on the council website, as well as the full report on the progress along with the detailed tracker of all actions in the action plan
Out of 126 actions in the climate action plan, we have now concluded 47 actions. Some of which include actions delivered in the last 6 months, such as:
- Establishment of the Climate Action Fund
- Launch of the Blackpool Climate Action Partnership
- Input into the Greater Lancashire Plan
After careful consideration, we decided to alter 5 action, for example:
- Implementation of the Blackpool Digital Connectivity Stratagey changed to, Implementation of district heating network, including development of net zero data centres
Out of 74 'live' actions, 46 are on track and ongoing. While 28 actions are currently 'live', but delayed. Some of the actions are in the process of developing without delays include:
- Development of the air quality strategy
- Tree strategy implementation
- Rollout of the carbon literacy training
If you want to learn more about the progress of the climate action plan, you can read the full report and the detailed tracker.
Strategies and policies
Sustainability considerations are now required to be included as part of project proposals following a review of the council's Sustainability Impact Assessment tool. This tool will be used to assess the sustainability impact of future projects.
Risk register
Currently climate risk is managed under the general Blackpool Coucnil's Strategic Risk Register under risk Number 1d. However the climate team is currently developing an in depth risk register wholly dedicated to climate risk that will inform the climate adaptation plan and improve our resilience to climate change. We are planning to complete the work towards the end of 2023.
Read the risk register