Annual Report 2023

Where we are

In its most recent report (March 2023), the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) made its starkest warning yet on the urgency and the scale of action needed in this decade to ‘secure a liveable future for all’. The report showed not enough progress is being made by world leaders and estimated that current policies would see global temperature increases exceed 1.5ºC, reaching around 3.2ºC by 2100.

In March this year, the High Commissioner for Fiji to the UK, His Excellency, Mr Jitoko Tikolevu, spoke at Southwark Climate Day about the devastating impacts already being experienced in Fiji. Southwark’s residents and businesses heard how whole communities are being uprooted by the effects of climate change. Every year of inaction means that the challenges for small island nations like Fiji will only get worse. This is despite these nations being the ones that have contributed the least to the problem.

In Southwark, we have not had to consider relocating entire villages as they have done in Fiji, but we are still vulnerable to climate change and the impacts are set to worsen in the years ahead. Whether Southwark or the South Pacific, what happens in one part of the world affects another. We not only need to build our resilience to climate change, but as a richer nation that has contributed much more to the causes of climate change, we have an even greater responsibility to act urgently to protect people in not just Southwark, but around the world.

Since declaring a climate emergency in 2019 we have been taking urgent action. Our Climate Change Strategy (2021) and the Council Delivery Plan (2022) are clear on the level of urgency that is needed for the borough to achieve its ambition of becoming net zero by 2030. Last year, we updated the climate change action plan with SMART targets as well as delivering our first annual report on progress.

This year’s annual report builds on these by highlighting how we are tackling climate change together in Southwark, working with our community to push forward our actions. We also set out some of our top priorities for the year ahead.

As part of our responsibility for the borough, we have continued to take action to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and tackle others from within our borough across five priority areas.

As well as investment in carbon reduction from our buildings, we have launched a new free advice service in partnership with London Southbank University for residents to green their homes. We have moved thousands of council properties away from gas and towards renewable energy and planted two of London’s newest forests in Peckham Rye Park.

Yet we also continue to face enormous challenges, with large gaps in national and local funding and resources. Our vision for tackling the climate emergency still offers a profound opportunity to reshape our borough into a better place for everyone, deliver improvements in health, raise the standard of homes, create good green jobs and help to strengthen our communities. We need to continue to highlight and overcome the challenges before us, whilst moving our action plan forward and continuing to improve the lives of people and future generations across our borough.

Page last updated: 03 November 2023

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