Suffolk’s local authorities have been working together on county-wide climate change project work since 2007 through the Suffolk Climate Change Partnership (SCCP).
Who is in the SCCP?
The SCCP consists of:
- Suffolk County Council
- West Suffolk Council
- East Suffolk Council
- Ipswich Borough Council
- Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Council
- the Environment Agency
The SCCP also works with other organisations locally including Groundwork Suffolk and the University of Suffolk.
What does the SCCP do?
Ipswich Borough Council are a member of the Suffolk Climate Change Partnership which consists of all Suffolk’s Local Authorities, working with local organisations including Groundwork East, the Environment Agency, Community Energy England, the Greater South East Net Zero Hub and the University of Suffolk.
All partners have a shared interest in supporting Suffolk’s communities, businesses and residents to reduce carbon emissions.
All councils in Suffolk have acknowledged the climate emergency, with commitments that include both reducing carbon emissions for their own estates and operations and, the focus of this item, working with partners across the county and region (including the Health, Police and the Public Sector Leaders) towards the aspiration of making the county of Suffolk carbon neutral by 2030.
The Partnership not only shares best practice but also delivers on the ground projects that support communities, schools and businesses to improve their resilience to a changing climate and move towards net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
Through this collaboration and engagement we:
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Have developed a dedicated Sustainable Suffolk website which provides information to residents about how they can reduce their carbon emissions through advice and behaviour change campaigns.
- Work with residents to implement our climate action plan through conferences for local community action groups and resident workshops such as The Strategy Room.
- Work closely with Public Health Suffolk who sit on the Suffolk Climate Change, Environment and Energy Board and are part of our Greener Travel, Collaboration and Sustainable Homes theme groups. This ensures that health and equality are embedded across our work. Our Keep the Heat project enables communities to provide support and advice to help combat fuel poverty and lower household emissions. Over 1800 homes have been surveyed by more than 150 community groups since 2022.
- Provide funding for community climate action through the Suffolk Climate Action Community Match Fund. Since 2023, £300,000 of match funding has enabled community projects totaling £921,891 to be delivered.
- Partner with cultural institutions to encourage action towards net zero, through initiatives such as Landscape Rebels with Ipswich Museum, Flux and Light exhibition at The Bank Arts Centre and Our Home, Our Planet, Our Earth youth perform festival at The New Wolsey Theatre.
- Fund a Sustainable Schools Programme which provides free energy auditing for secondary schools; support for School Climate Action Plans; ‘Solar Up’ scheme to provide free solar power for secondary schools. We also run an annual Suffolk Youth Climate Conference with over 500 students having attended since 2023.
- Provide decarbonisation advice and accreditation to small and medium businesses through the Carbon Charter, including energy audits, carbon literacy training, as well as behavioural change initiatives such as the ‘25 by 25’ campaign.
Suffolk Observatory – Environment – Suffolk Climate Emergency Dashboard
Suffolk Climate and Energy Helpline
For free, independent advice and information on saving energy at home and in the community, call the Suffolk Climate and Energy Helpline at 0800 02 88 938. The helpline helps Suffolk residents save money on energy bills and reduce their household carbon footprint.