Ealing Council declared a climate emergency in April 2019, committing to treat the climate and ecological emergency as a crisis requiring immediate and vital action. Our aim is to become carbon neutral, as a borough and an organisation by 2030. In January 2021, Cabinet adopted the council’s Climate and Ecological Emergency Strategy.
Our strategy sets out a plan to reduce the council’s produced emissions and outlines a commitment to use our influence to reduce emissions emitted across the borough. The intended outcome of these actions is to mitigate climate change and to reduce the loss of plants and wildlife on which human life depends.
Addressing climate change is not a challenge the council can face alone - it requires everyone in the borough to commit to a new vision of our future and delivers many benefits for our communities, health and economy.
Get involved
We want to know what you are doing to address climate change - in your home, school or business. To help shape Ealing’s response to the climate and ecological emergency, email climateaction@ealing.gov.uk and we will find a way for you to get involved.
Ealing’s Climate and Ecological Strategy
In 2018 the UN reported that we have 12 years to act on climate change to avoid consequences. In a bid to make the borough carbon neutral by 2030, the council has adopted a strategy focusing on five key areas that we feel we can make the most difference:
Energy
Household heating is one of the main contributors of carbon emissions in the UK, so the council’s commitment to create zero carbon homes will start with designs for its pipeline of 2,500 genuinely affordable homes by 2022. The strategy calls for all new council homes to be designed to zero carbon standards by 2020 and built to these standards by 2022. This also supports the creation of new jobs and skills, a chance to grow the green economy in Ealing.
The council will ensure good quality, genuinely affordable homes that reduce running costs and carbon emissions and help reduce the threat of fuel poverty. The strategy also includes retrofitting homes across the borough to improve the energy performance of all existing housing.
Food systems
How we source, grow, cook and dispose of our food has wide ranging climate impacts and direct ties to health and wellbeing. The council is beginning to work on this in collaboration with our food growing communities and food producing businesses in the borough. We will aim to create more opportunities to support local food, reduce food miles and encourage awareness about how food choices relate to our carbon footprint. We are creating this part of the strategy in the first half of 2021.
Green infrastructure
The council is committing to operational improvements to reduce carbon emissions when maintaining our green spaces by electrifying vehicles and power tools - and powering the batteries through green electricity.
The draft strategy also commits to expanding meadows, hedgerows and tree canopy - storing carbon for the long term, drawing CO2 from the atmosphere and locking it away.
The council will direct its powers to addressing the impacts of climate change that are already apparent, such as alleviating surface water flooding.
Transport
Nearly a third of borough emissions come from the way we travel. The council will continue to provide more safe space for active transport so that walking and cycling emerge as the preferred way to make all short journeys for residents that are able to travel this way.
The council will support the Mayor’s ‘Streetspace for London’ strategy to further increase opportunities for increased walking and cycling across the borough, particularly in town centres.
The council recognises vehicles will be needed for some longer journeys and the movement of heavy goods. To support the transition to electric and hydrogen powered vehicles - which are more environmentally friendly - we have delivered more than 130 on-street electric vehicle charging points (EVCP) across the borough. The council’s target is for all residents to be within a five-minute walk of an EVCP by 2025.
Waste
The council commits to helping residents reduce their production of waste and learn ways of reducing their carbon footprint.
The council will ensure that the Greener Ealing waste company is efficient from day one.
The council will encourage shared economies, for example supporting the creation of systems to support product durability and the sharing of goods, such as car clubs and mending clubs.
Citizen review panel recommendations
In July and August 2020, the council invited an independent, citizen-led review panel to conduct a collective review of the draft climate and ecological emergency strategy and provide a recommendations report that the council to use to refine its strategy before adoption. Panellists were invited to take part based on experience, interest and expertise in fields related to the four primary themes of the strategy: energy, nature, travel and waste.
An independent facilitator led four online workshops with the group to collect feedback on the draft strategy. They gave recommendations on the content, ambition and clarity of the draft strategy. Their feedback has been used to make further changes to the strategy.
The panel
(panellist, organisation/business representing and area of knowledge)
- Pip Batley, people-centric communications (Extinction Rebellion Ealing)
- Laure Cucuron, recycling (TerraCycle)
- Jane Fernley, parks (Ealing parks foundation)
- Keith Freegard, recycling/waste policy (LAGER CAN)
- Mary Horesh, reuse/recycling (Ealing repair café)
- Nasrin Khanom, sustainability policy (University of West London)
- Paula Kirby, wildlife (Ealing Wildlife Group)
- Tianqi Li, cleantech, sustainability consultant
- Whitley St. Luce-Frederick/Iain Elliot, volunteering (Ealing and Hounslow Community Voluntary Services)
- Elizabeth Mistry, travel
- Peter Mynors, travel (Ealing Cycling Campaign)
- Trevor Sharman, community led climate action (Ealing Transition)
- Dr. Esther Kwong, public health (invited)
The panel recommendations report
Learn more about climate change
The UK has recently completed its climate assembly, involving a group of citizens who were brought together to learn about and discuss the country’s path to net zero carbon emissions.
A good list of resources on the areas they covered is available on the Climate Assembly website