Wiltshire draft climate strategy 2022-2027. August 2021

To reduce emissions and work towards making Wiltshire carbon neutral, we first need to understand our emissions. The key sources of emissions in Wiltshire in 2019 were 45% from transport, 29% from industry, commercial and agriculture and 26% from homes (BEIS data, 2019 (opens new window)). These are the territorial emissions from Wiltshire and do not take into account imported goods.

Wiltshire's renewable electricity generation accounted for approximately 6% of our total energy demand.

Wiltshire has made rapid progress in reducing carbon emissions: while Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and number of dwellings grew in recent years, energy usage and CO² emissions fell. There remains a significant way to go to decarbonise transport, reduce reliance on fossil fuels for heating, and protect and enhance carbon stored in the natural environment.

Wiltshire's emissions per person per year from 2005 - 2019 initially reduced in line with the regional/national averages but the rate of reduction in Wiltshire has slowed in recent years. In 2005 emissions per capita in Wiltshire were 9.4 tonnes, in 2019 they were 5.2 tonnes.

The Tyndall centre for climate change research has calculated carbon budgets to 2050 for every local authority area. These budgets set out the maximum amount of carbon dioxide that can be emitted and still limit global warming to 1.5 degrees compared to pre-industrial levels. With no change to current emissions, Wiltshire would use up all its budget within seven years.

As part of developing a delivery plan for Wiltshire, research will be carried out to find the most efficient measures to achieve carbon reduction and establish the cost of trajectories to carbon neutrality.

We will use our monitoring and reporting framework to help understand the impacts of the strategy - in terms of carbon, costs and additional benefits in areas such as air quality, jobs and skills.