Fife Council agreed to declare a climate emergency for Fife on September 26 2019. During Scotland’s Climate Week from 7-13 October, the Council will be highlighting action that residents in Fife can take to play their part in combating the effects of climate change..
A Climate Emergency is a public commitment to de-carbonise as rapidly as possible. Fife Council has committed to set a target for a net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045 at the latest, this will require a huge transformation in Fife’s communities. There is an urgent need to avoid financial, societal, food chain and eco-system collapse within the lifetime of our children and everyone can contribute.
Fife Council is developing ‘Climate Fife’ a Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan (SECAP). A consultation on the Climate Fife action plan will be taking place from 21st October – 2nd December 2019.
The action plan will be published in February 2020 and over the next two years projects will be developed in collaboration with the local community to:
- Move away from fossil fuel vehicles to active travel and low emission transport by the 2030s
- Reforest land with native trees to absorb greenhouse gases from the atmosphere
- Reorganise our settlements and daily lives to reduce the need to travel
- Produce enough renewable energy and biomass to meet our energy needs
- Find alternatives to gas fired boilers which will no longer be installed after 2032
- Protect communities, who face the greatest risks from extreme weather and flooding
- Adapt assets, services, settlements and landscapes to build resilience to existing and future climate extremes
- Respond to rising sea levels
What can people in Fife do to help combat climate change now?
- Reduce energy used at home and work by improving energy efficiency www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/scotland
- Install renewable energy generation to reduce your energy bills www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/renewable-energy
- Reduce waste scotland.lovefoodhatewaste.com
- Recycle more www.fifedirect.org.uk/4bins
- Walk rather than taking the car, where possible. Walking can also help to prevent a range of health conditions including heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, obesity, some cancers and Alzheimer’s. www.pathsforall.org.uk/walking-for-health/health-walks/why-walk
- Use public and active transport www.travelfife.com
- Reduce your need to fly. Travel by boat and train for holiday and holiday locally.
The Fife Environmental Partnership released Fife’s first Climate Change Strategy 2014-2020. The strategy aims to achieve 6 medium term outcomes:
Reducing Carbon Emissions
- More efficient use of resources (energy, waste and water)
- More energy is from low carbon supplies
- Encourage more sustainable transport and travel including reducing the need to travel
- Ecosystems are used sustainably and strengthened
Adapting to Climate Change
- Places are adapting to cope with Climate Change (including land use, coastlines, buildings and infrastructure)
- People are adapting to cope with Climate Change