Environment and climate strategy

The issues driving the decision to declare a climate emergency were, and remain, some of the most challenging ever faced by humanity, with our climate changing on a scale and pace that threatens our way of life and that of future generations.

We are now more aware than ever of the threat that climate change poses, and we are confident that if we take urgent and real action, we can turn back this tide.

Our vision is to be a Borough where the community collectively works together to achieve a sustainable future, protecting and enhancing our natural environment and achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Environment and Climate Strategy 2026 update

The current strategy runs until the end of March 2026 and the Climate Partnership work has started to deliver a refreshed strategy that recognises the challenges we face and brings together the whole borough to take action.

Initial Engagement

The Climate Partnership with the support of the Council has undertaken a best practice review of other local authority areas to understand what excellence looks like. 

We have used the Council Climate Scorecards as one way to identify high performing areas along with places that have delivered large carbon reductions or have had notable achievements in delivering environmental improvements. 

One thing that has been clear in that process is that all areas that have performed well have engaged their communities with the development and delivery of their work.

The Climate Partnership has already started talking with key stakeholders across our communities running open sessions where residents, community groups and businesses can tell us what is important to them. 

There have also been sessions internally within the Council involving officers from across the organisation to understand the positive impacts they can have.

The RBWM Youth Council has also recently held a workshop involving over 60 young people from the Borough on what they want in the new strategy. We've had some really good ideas come from those and we are deeply appreciative of the time people have taken to feed into the process.

From this initial engagement, we understand that there is need for the strategy to have three elements, an overarching strategy, a deliverable action plan and a communications plan. We also recognise that we must focus on priorities that will have the greatest positive impact on the climate and environment.

More engagement sessions are planned for this summer across the Borough and we'd encourage you to come along and tell the team what is important to you and what you would like to see. 

We'd also welcome good ideas on how to deliver environment and climate improvements. While we can't promise they will be included, we do want to benefit from the knowledge and experience of our communities to deliver the strongest strategy possible. Details on where and when the engagement sessions will be held is below.

Next steps

A draft strategy will be developed following the initial engagement sessions. The draft will be taken to Place Overview and Scrutiny in September 2025 for some initial feedback on where they think we are on track and where they think needs more work. We'd welcome feedback from residents and community groups through the O&S process.

Using the feedback from the committee and the community, we'll go away and further develop and improve the strategy. At the same time, we'll also organise further workshops with the community to develop the action plan that will sit under the strategy along with the communications plan.

The Council will then hold a full public consultation in the winter to ensure we get feedback on the strategy, action plan and communications plan before a final version is signed off by Cabinet in the Spring.

The Climate Partnership and the Council are both committed to making this an inclusive process, welcoming as many views and ideas into the process as possible including from groups that may be under-represented. Without this broad coalition, evidence suggests we won't be able to generate the scale of change required to tackle the climate and environment crisis. 

Environment and Climate Strategy 2020 - 2025

The strategy formation was spearheaded by a cross-party councillor working group, supported by officers and with input from key stakeholders in the community and various environmental groups, and was approved by the council for public consultation in June 2020.

The Environment and Climate Strategy sets out the Council's vision and actions to achieve the Borough's net-zero carbon emissions target by 2050 and our five year approach to working in partnership with local communities to tackle this challenge. It will drive the decisions, resources and actions we make across all our activities.

The Environment and Climate Strategy focuses on four key themes:

• Circular Economy: More sustainable resource use, increasing recycling rates and supporting less resource-intensive lifestyles.
• Energy: Reducing consumptions and decarbonising our supply of energy.
• Natural Environment: Supporting biodiversity, health and wellbeing.
• Transport: Reduce the need for carbon intensive travel by encouraging walking and cycling, as well as investing in digital infrastructure.

The Environment and Climate Strategy was approved by Cabinet on Thursday 17 December 2020.

Environment and Climate Strategy delivery update

Circular Economy

Household recycling rates have surpassed our initial target of 50%, which was achieved in 2020/21. A new target recycling rate of 65% is hoped to be achieved by 2035. A survey is being conducted to gain a better understanding of the awareness of the Royal Borough recycling facilities and to gather data to populate an online interactive map that will improve the awareness of existing recycling facilities.

In order to encourage waste avoidance and material reuse through our services and operations, an internal audit is currently taking place. The aim of this is to see where improvements can be made to the council's environmental impact, and to reduce single use plastic usage.

Energy

To reduce energy demand in the borough, significant funding has been secured to deliver energy efficiency improvement in homes within the borough for delivery in 2022/2023. Additionally, upgrades across the built estate to reduce energy emissions are currently being undertaken, including upgrading lighting and identifying any possible leaks.

The Solar Together initiative has been launched within the borough to help residents to generate their own renewable energy, cut their carbon footprint and save money on their energy bills.

Natural Environment

To protect and advance our natural environment, areas of Ockwells/Thriftwood Park and Battlemead Common have been identified for rewilding. Additionally, 13,400 trees have been planted at Ockwells Nature Reserve across the 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 planting seasons.

There has been an increase in awareness of biodiversity in the area, with 1500 children from local schools and community groups having participated in environmental education sessions at Braywick Nature during Spring/Summer 2022.

Transport

To transform transport and digital infrastructure to reduce the need for travel, the borough is working with other Local Authorities and LEP on a Pan-Berkshire Digital Infrastructure Group Board.