How we are tackling climate change in Rushmoor.
Our climate change commitment
We are seeking to have a positive impact on future generations by working with businesses, communities, and organisations to protect and improve our local environment. Through direct action and by encouraging and supporting others, we will address the challenges and opportunities presented by climate change.
There are many challenges that our area could face because of climate change. Some of these include more frequent heat waves, increased flooding and loss of native plants and animals.
What we have we done so far
Carbon footprint report - Aldershot and Farnborough
The Carbon Trust produced a carbon footprint report which shows our carbon footprint for the borough as a whole (2018). These emissions are broken down in the graph below.
Most of our borough's emissions come from car travel and other transport, as well as heating and powering our buildings through electricity and gas.
Carbon footprint report - Rushmoor Borough Council
The council's operational emissions were calculated for the year 2021-22 to form our new carbon footprint baseline to track our emissions going forward.
The carbon footprint is expressed as an absolute amount in tCO2e. This is the amount of greenhouse gas emissions as represented by tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalence, meaning other greenhouse gases' impacts are quantified using carbon dioxide’s warming effect as reference.
Climate change within the council
The lead Cabinet member for climate change activity is the Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet member for Major Projects and Property. The lead officer is the Assistant Chief Executive.
Procurement
There is a provision within our procurement strategy to make sure that we consider sustainability when procuring goods or services:
Sustainable and ethical procurement
- Sustainability is an important consideration when making procurement decisions and helps ensure that we consider the environmental impact of procurement decisions. The council is committed to making spending decisions in a way that delivers both value for money on a whole life cycle basis, and achieving wider economic, social, and environmental benefits
- The council will have regard to the Climate Change Statement, strategic framework and action plan developed to ensure Rushmoor Borough Council can achieve its objective of becoming carbon neutral by 2030
Sustainable business network
We are part of the Sustainable Business Network (North Hants), and also support the development of the Sustainable Business Network seminars to improve support and mentoring to SMEs on carbon reduction and sustainable business measures. This is organised and run by Carbon Footprint Ltd.
Southwood visitor centre
Our new field centre at Southwood Country Park is a sustainable centre, featuring 'green' design features such as:
- Predominantly being run 'off grid' - most electricity from solar energy, heating:
- Combination of ground source heat pump and regenerated extraction energy
- Low energy lighting
- Rainwater harvesting
- Green roof
- Waste reduction/ recycling
Southwood tree planting
In December 2022, Farnborough Airport and Carbon Footprint Ltd. Planted 1,000 trees in Southwood. This was part of an offsetting scheme.
Climate change school outreach programme
'Climate Trackers' scheme
We had an agreement with the Winchester Science Centre to develop and run a trial scheme, ‘Eco-schools’. This is now called Climate Trackers.
This combines climate science and space science to engage young people in these areas.
Two local schools took part in the trial, which has been very successful.
The science centre ran several sessions with each school:
- 'Planet earth show' and ‘Keep it cool’ workshop
- ‘Sensational satellites’ and ‘Prepare for launch’ workshops
- Opportunity to work on science project (science centre not attending)
- Testing of science project and celebration event – mini science fair with STEM ambassadors
We are now extending the scheme to four more schools in Rushmoor.
Climate change competition
We invited local schools to get involved in a climate change competition. This competition, aimed at KS3 (11 to 14 years) and colleges (16 to 19 years), aimed to engage young people and get their ideas to support our objective to become greener and more sustainable.
Students developed and presented proposals for how they, their local school or community could reduce their negative impact on the environment.
We hosted an event to celebrate all the contributions and invited all those who took part. This event also hosted a judging panel made up stakeholders, including local businesses, who announced the winners and held a Q and A session.
The winners, chosen by the judging panel, were marked against criteria including innovation and carbon impact.
The four winning submissions were:
KS3 joint winners:
- Rushmoor Rubbish Bin Project - A written proposal and model (Wavell School)
- An investigation into how our school's community can reduce our negative impact - A written report (Farnborough Hill)
KS5 winner:
- Reducing Fashion's Impact on the Environment - A written presentation, with photos of their garments made from recycled materials (FCOT Textiles, Year 2 students)
Special category - Most visually impactful:
- No Planet B - photography (FCOT photography student)
The key objectives of this project were to get young people engaged in the climate debate, to increase their understanding of environmental issues and to create practical ideas for accelerating our transition to net-zero and a more sustainable borough.
iChoosr - Solar Together
The Solar Together scheme is an opportunity for you to install quality solar panels at a competitive price for your home or small business. It is a group buying scheme where it aims to take the hassle out of finding a solar installer and give you a high quality service.
If you already have solar panels installed, you can also register to have battery storage added to your system.
Hampshire County Council and ourselves have been working with iChoosr, who run the scheme.
Weekly food waste recycling
We have rolled out weekly food waste recycling collections to around 41,000 homes across Aldershot and Farnborough.
Food waste is a big contributor to climate change. When food breaks down in landfill, it releases methane which is a major greenhouse GHG. When recycled, food waste is broken down by anaerobic digestion (where bacteria breaks down the organic matter).
For more information, visit our food waste recycling page.
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