Emissions from human activities such as driving cars, industry, energy use and farming practices trap heat in our atmosphere, unnaturally warming the planet. This is causing global temperatures to rise, resulting in the polar ice caps and glaciers melting – leading to rising sea levels. Also increasing extreme weather events, affecting us all as a global community and impacting us on a local level.

In the borough, the impacts of climate change are being felt through incidents of increased flooding, storms and heatwaves and, most notably, the flooding which has directly affected so many local people.

The importance of this issue to our community can be illustrated by the Council’s 2020 Residents’ Survey, which found that the majority of Telford and Wrekin residents were concerned about climate change. Residents were asked to rate how concerned they were about climate change on a scale of 1 (not concerned at all) to 10 (extremely concerned).

Around 25% of residents were extremely concerned, whereas only 6% were not concerned at all. On the scale of 1-10, 74% answered 6 or above. There are already many people, organisations and businesses in Telford and Wrekin who are exploring smarter, greener ways of working and living, and the Partnership would like to thank and recognise everyone who is taking action and particularly those who are sharing what they are doing to encourage others.

However, we all still need to do much more to tackle climate change. Therefore, following the launch of Telford & Wrekin Council’s Action Plan in spring 2020 www.sustainabletelfordandwrekin.com/what-the-council-is-doing/action-plan , the Council established the Telford and Wrekin Borough Climate Change Partnership in June 2020 – inviting local organisations, representatives of the community and influencers to come together to develop and implement steps for the Borough to become carbon neutral by 2030.

This plan is intended to be a live document that will be developed over time. The Partnership welcomes comments on the plan, and suggestions for future actions that could be included. Please contact sustainability@telford.gov.uk