TORFAEN council has published its draft climate emergency action plan, which sets out its approach to becoming carbon neutral by 2030.

In June 2019, the council declared a climate emergency and agreed to focus on how it could achieve net zero carbon emissions.

In short, this means finding a balance between the amount of emissions produced ,and the amount stored or offset.

The draft action plan sets out what needs to be done to achieve this goal.

The plan says carbon dioxide emissions in the county borough have already decreased by 37 per cent - between 2005 and 2018 - from 667.1 kilotonnes per year to 420.1 kilotonnes.

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There are several key issues the council must tackle in order to become carbon neutral:

Energy and water efficiency - the plan says the council will “work with building managers to identify water efficiency improvements in council buildings, including schools”.

The council plans to set targets for reducing emissions and use the Welsh Government’s toolkit to help understand their current emissions.

The plan also includes encouraging communities to use less energy and water.

Renewable energy - the council will increase the amount of renewable energy it generates. This can be done by benefiting from solar or wind power, for example.

Building quality will be improved and there will be a development of local renewable energy schemes. This will be put into the council’s local development plan, which decides what developments are built throughout the county borough and where.

Mobility and transport - The council’s plan for transport is to deliver on the commitments of the Gwent public sector Healthy Travel Charter 2020-23.

This includes reviewing the council’s travel expenses policy to encourage sustainable travel like walking and cycling.

The council will also offer the cycle to work scheme for all staff, improve access to bicycles at work and increase the availability and uptake of remote conferencing.

Improving electric vehicle infrastructure both with the council’s sites and for future developments in the county borough is also a priority.