Eastbourne Greenhouse Gas emissions for 2020 continue to decrease, as they have done for the last 15 years. Some of this is down to a 5% trend, year on year, and some of it is Covid. However the question is will it be enough ?
The latest national statistics for 2020 have been published. Everybody expected a big decrease due to the pandemic. However it still looks like at this rate the 2030 target for Eastbourne remains a long way off. An 8% reduction in 2020 is in the right direction but as life goes back to normal, following the pandemic, it will be interesting to see the data for 2021, published in a year’s time.
The Tyndall Centre analysis believes 8% is not enough and says Eastbourne should “Initiate an immediate programme of CO2 mitigation to deliver cuts in emissions averaging a minimum of 12.3% per year to deliver a Paris aligned carbon budget.”
Emissions per capita, for Eastbourne, using the Government methodology are 2.5 tonnes per person. This is a narrow scope as it does not include the wider carbon footprint, such as the transportation and manufacture of imported goods.
An analysis that includes more is at Carbon Place ( filter on Eastbourne) where the carbon footprint per person is 6.5 tonnes a person. ( left hand column for Eastbourne right hand is UK average ) Plus there is a useful breakdown of the embodied carbon consumption of each area of Eastbourne. It also reveals the gross inequality of carbon footprints between the richer and poorer parts of the town.
“Nationally transport greenhouse gas emissions saw a decrease of 18% in 2020 compared to 2019. This was largely due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as people stayed at home for large periods of 2020. Despite this large fall, transport remains the sector with the highest greenhouse gas emissions in many local authorities.”
In conclusion the 2030 Eastbourne carbon neutral target seems a long way from being reached. There needs to be a stronger commitment to climate action. This is across the community, with ever deeper collaboration between councillors, council officers, businesses and community groups to ensure that the transition away from dependence upon fossil fuels is as fast as possible
Authors – Paul Humphreys and Andy Durling