Portsmouth City Council has today (23 September 2021) announced it will be producing its first ever carbon budget for 2022/23.
The council already produces a financial budget for the following financial year. This has two elements. The capital budget is for major infrastructure projects and the revenue budget is for ongoing services.
Councillor Kimberly Barrett, Cabinet Member for Climate Change and the Green Recovery, has got agreement that the council will now also do a Carbon Budget each year. The carbon budget will look at how much carbon the city council produces from things like its vehicles, buildings and other operations, and will include plans to reduce this over time. Council Leader, Cllr Gerald Vernon-Jackson has agreed this plan.
Cllr Kimberly Barrett said: “If Portsmouth City Council is to be Carbon Neutral by 2030 it’s important that we know how much carbon the city council produces, but also how we can reduce this. The Local Government Association have produced a system for producing a carbon budget, and we aim to follow their system. It will take time for us to understand the process fully and to gather all the information needed to produce our first ever carbon budget but it’s important to take action now.”
Cllr Gerald Vernon-Jackson added: “This is the reason that we created this cross council role on the Cabinet. Kimberly Barrett’s work means we can really get to grips getting the City Council towards being carbon neutral.”
