What is ‘net zero’, and what is the challenge?
Net zero means cutting carbon emissions to a small amount of residual emissions that can be absorbed and durably stored by nature and other carbon dioxide removal measures, leaving zero in the atmosphere.Definition of net zero from the United Nations.
Why it’s important to keep to a net zero target
Achieving and maintaining net zero is crucial in slowing down the rates of human induced climate change. The Climate Change Act 2008 is a legally binding target to ensure action to reduce UK emissions. In 2019, the UK amended their climate change legislation and committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 100% (net zero) by 2050 compared to 1990 levels.
Climate-related risks to human health, global food security, and natural ecosystems will continue to increase unless we achieve and maintain net zero carbon emissions.
Climate Crisis Commitment
In 2022, the Cotswold National Landscape Board adopted a climate crisis commitment “to identify a scenario which allows us to endorse a path to net zero emissions (or better) by 2050 (or sooner)”. This is a demanding target, but many communities, businesses, and farmers in the Cotswolds are already rising to the challenge.
Starting with the research
Having endorsed the Climate Crisis Commitment, the first step in moving towards net zero was to build an evidence base of current emissions. In 2021, CNL commissioned Small World Consulting (SWC) to establish an understanding of climate impacts from what residents, visitors, and businesses consume, and how we use the land within the CNL.
SWC made recommendations to improve our consumption-based carbon footprint: what residents and visitors buy and do within the Cotswolds, and how visitors travel to and from the Cotswolds.
They identified six priority categories:
Energy-only emissions
(such as heating buildings, electricity use and road fuel) by residents, visitors and businesses, excluding residents’ emissions from flights.
Food and drink
consumed by residents and visitors.
Other goods and services
purchased by residents and visitors, such as clothing, electronic equipment, and cars.
Visitor travel
to and from the Cotswolds, excluding visitors’ flights due to the difficulty in apportioning these emissions given visitors tend also to spend time elsewhere in the UK.
Land-use (non-carbon dioxide) component
which means primarily emissions from livestock digestion and from fertiliser use.
Land-use (carbon dioxide) component
which mostly covers the beneficial contribution of land management because trees, hedges, and healthy soils absorb carbon dioxide from the air (sequestration).
We prepared a ‘layman’s guide’ of the full Small World Consulting report – which offers a brief, summarised version. This was based on the full technical report, which includes detailed results and analysis. Both are available to download opposite.
Layman's Guide 'Creating a Pathway to Net Zero'
This guide presents a summary version of the results of SWC’s analysis of the climate impacts from what residents, visitors and businesses consume, and how we use the land in the Cotswold National Landscape (CNL).
Greenhouse gas emissions assessment and target scenario
Small World Consulting's full report for the Cotswolds.
Thinking individually, collectively, and differently…
Working towards a net zero Cotswolds is ambitious. However, as a group national parks and national landscapes (AONBs) need to pull their weight in delivering the UK’s legally-binding commitment to achieve net zero status by 2050. Equally, as the Cotswold National Landscape, one of the nation’s most cherished landscapes, we need to be sensitive as to how tackling climate change impacts on the natural beauty of these areas.
What’s already happening?
Working towards a net zero Cotswolds is ambitious, and decreasing annual energy use by 14% will be a challenge. Many communities and individual’s across the Cotswolds are already embracing climate-friendly behaviours, to help meet these targets.
The CNL team has recently worked with the Cotswolds Plus Local Visitor Economy Partnership (LVEP) to produce two short guides on saving recourses, and nature-friendly business practices. Both guides are free to download below, with easy-to-implement suggestions.
Much of the the CNL team’s work is in active conservation and nature recovery – we’ve been running our wildflower grassland restoration programme for a number of years, and are working with the farming community in lots of different ways on projects which benefit climate and nature. Defra’s Farming in Protected Landscapes programme has been very successful in this regard, and has helped to support the Regenerative Agriculture Accelerator Programme here, as well as countless projects focused on nature- and climate-friendly farming practices.
Find out more about climate action in the Cotswolds
Regenerative Agriculture Accelerator Programme Farming in Protected Landscapes programme CNL's Glorious Cotswold Grasslands programme CNL's Renewable Energy Position Statement