Hastings Borough Council to sign net zero pledge as part of plans to join a climate action network

On Monday (August 5), cabinet members agreed for the authority to sign the UK100 pledge — a step which will allow the council to join the climate network and gain access to its research, training and lobbying efforts.

In taking the pledge, the council is committing to advocate for greater powers and funding to tackle climate change and reaffirming its commitment to achieve net zero carbon emissions before the government’s target of 2050. The pledge also commits the council to working with residents and businesses to bring the wider communities’ emissions in line with Net Zero as soon as possible.

As a result of the cabinet agreement, the pledge is set to be signed by council leader Julia Hilton (Green) before the end of August. Once done, the council will gain access members-only programmes and services, including briefings on research and publications.

Welcoming the proposal, Cllr Hilton said: “I know other councillors in authorities that have joined UK100 and have found it invaluable in terms of the shared resources.

“I applied to be selected for the climate leadership training and I am delighted to be part of 20 other climate leads in a climate academy starting in September, which is three weekends coming together, really practical input, to actually come up with an action plan.

“I think it is clear that the only way we are going to make progress on our climate targets as a town is to work in partnership with other organisations across the town. We need to find ways of pulling in funding and pulling in other ideas, so I am really looking forward to both getting ideas from them and also coming back.

“We promised that we would have a climate action working group, cross-party, and I am hoping that there will be input from other parties into how we develop that plan and of course with the wider community. We know we’ve got a lot of expertise in this community, we need to tap into it.”