Sustainability
Sustainability is about living in a way that protects our natural resources and opportunities for future generations.
Sustainability is not just about the environment; it has social and economic aspects too. The challenges we face personally, and within our communities, fall into these three categories. Therefore, acting sustainably, can help us combat the issues we face daily.
We need to take our efforts further, in order to protect our environment and communities, and make West Northamptonshire a great place to live.
Everyone in our district will benefit from being more mindful of our actions. We are all deserving of affordable and renewable energy, clean air, healthier lifestyles and access to thriving green spaces. To achieve these goals, we have created our action plan based around the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) which were developed in 2015 as the framework to a thriving society.
The Council’s commitments
- achieve Net Zero on all council operations by 2030 and those of residents and businesses by 2045
- take a community leadership role for Sustainability in West Northants
- ensure all Council strategies and policies are aligned to and contribute to the delivery of the UN SDGs
The Area Wide Emissions Baseline report informs and supports our communities, residents, and businesses in reducing their own emissions and will help us meet our commitment to achieve Net Zero West Northamptonshire emissions by 2045.
The Council completed a Baseline Emissions Report showing the Council own emissions for 2021/22 which will help us meet our commitment to achieve Net Zero for Council own emissions by 2030.
The Council has achieved Bronze level accreditation to the Investors in the Environment scheme and produced an Environmental Policy to outline our high level commitments.
The Council released its first Annual Sustainability Report demonstrating its commitment to sustainability
Get involved
The UN SDGs are a global call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030, we can all have a better quality of life. These are immense global challenges, but small changes can still make a big difference.
We have put together some suggested actions that anyone can do to make a big impact.