Climate Change

Failing to act could lead to: 

• Increased extreme weather, events, such as flooding causing damage to properties. 
• Disruption to local business and agriculture. 
• Extremes of hot and cold weather increase health risks for vulnerable people causing pressure on emergency and health services.
• More severe weather, including more frequent heat waves, increased risk of more frequent and heavier rain and snowfall, which could lead to flooding or wildfires and droughts.
• Harmful effects on our health, with smoke inhalation and air pollution causing significant health risks.
• Harm to our plants and animals.

One of the biggest risks arising from heatwaves is to human health, especially to those who are elderly or vulnerable. The NHS provides advice about how to cope in hot weather, which includes:

• Staying hydrated and ensuring others particularly at risk do so.
• Stay indoors and close curtains.
• Keep out of the sun between 11am and 3pm if possible and avoid exercising during the hottest part of the day.

There are certain things you can do to prepare your property for flooding, even before a flood is forecast, Surrey County Council provides information on how to prepare for flooding. 

Our Climate Action Plan sets out the steps we are taking to become carbon neutral by 2050. This is a long-term piece of work and the adoption of this plan is only the start of this vital work. 

We have made progress on reducing our carbon footprint by taking action to drive positive change which includes:

• Supporting any flood alleviation work to ensure our planning policies mitigate against flooding and implemented flood alleviation measures at Queens Park in Caterham.
• The redevelopment at Croydon Road in Caterham to extend the pavement space to include more greenery, planting of trees and new rain gardens to absorb water running off.
• New housing schemes with sustainable construction delivered with biodiversity net gain, including tree replacement and planting native hedgerows to encourage biodiversity.
• Solar panels, better insulation and triple glazed windows installed in our housing stock with help from the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund to retrofit 151 homes.
• Emissions from the Council Offices in Oxted have been reduced with renewable energy sources including solar panels, LED lighting, sensor lighting and insultation.
• Reduced our consumption of resources by increasing recycling and reducing waste.

Take your first steps by calculating your carbon footprint. WWF has a calculator you can use.  

Reducing your meat and dairy intake and eating seasonable foods is good for your health and will support reducing your carbon footprint. 
The soil association has more information on the link between Meat and Climate Change and eating local seasonable foods.  
 

The best way to reduce your waste is to consume less. Reducing food waste is a key way to reduce carbon emissions as every stage food takes from the farm to our plates to the bin has an environmental impact. 

The Love Food Hate Waste campaign has lots of great tips and recipes to help and could save you money too. 

Rethink Waste is a free scheme available to anyone living in Surrey that offers a range of rewards for reducing waste.

Sign up to receive a personalised dashboard to access relevant activities and resources and monitor your progress to reduce waste by making small, impactful lifestyle changes. The scheme includes activities, videos and quizzes to receive points to enter competitions to win prizes or make donations to charities or local community groups or support local schools.

Look at your spending habits and decide if you really need to buy the things you do. 

• Take a reusable shopping bag, refillable coffee cup or water bottle when you go out. 
• Buy items last longer or can be easily repaired.
• Buy items which have less or even zero packaging – such as refill packs, loose fruit and vegetables.
• Don’t buy single-use-plastics or other materials which are damaging to the environment.
• Shopping, eating and relaxing locally.
• Purchase goods grown or manufactured in the UK.

Once a product or its packaging is no longer of use, what do you do with it? Before recycling, think of ways you can reuse it. Here are some ideas:

• Clean out empty containers and use them for storage.
•  Reuse envelopes by placing a label over the address.
• Use old newspapers to pack items for storage or posting.
• For unwanted items that are not broken gift or donate to charity 

For more information about what you can recycle and where, there is lots of guidance on the Surrey Environment Partnership website if you can’t reuse something, the next best thing is to recycle it.

Find out details about your household waste collections and the garden waste. 

There are lots of great walks to try locally and you can find local routes on the Surrey County Council website including accessible walks and Slow Ways which is building a national walking network.

Cycling UK has advice about cycling to work and Surrey County Council has lots of information about routes training courses and facilities. Sustrans has lots of information about what’s available at a local and national level.
 

Choosing energy efficient appliances low energy lights or LED bulbs and improving the energy efficiency of your home will reduce your carbon footprint and save money on your bills. Here is some advice and information about saving energy, energy-efficient home improvements. 

Switching to a low-carbon energy provider, visit the Big Clean Switch for help to compare suppliers and look at the savings you might make. Insulating your home and installing solar panels.

More information about electric vehicles and sustainable driving is available on Surrey County Council’s website.

Being efficient with our use of water is good for the planet and can help reduce bills and carbon emissions from the supply of water to our homes. 
According to SES Water, the average person in the South East uses about 150 litres of water each day, 7 litres more than the UK average.

Here are some simple steps you can take to reduce your water consumption at home:
•    Take short showers instead of baths where possible.
•    Turn the tap off when you are brushing your teeth.
•    Only turn on the dishwasher or washing machine when they are full.
•    Recycle sink or bathwater (sometimes called grey water) for gardening – and use a water can instead of a hose.
•    Swap your shower head for a more water-efficient one.
•    Use flow restrictors on taps.
•    Put a water butt in the garden to collect rainwater for gardening - subsidies on water butts are available from SES Water.
•    Use a cistern displacer in your toilet.

You can use SES Water's GetWaterFit calculator to order free water saving devices (including showerheads, shower regulators, tap inserts, water retaining gel, shower timers and cistern displacement devices), arrange a water-saving visit and even complete water saving challenges.

Refill is the water refill network connecting people to places they can eat, drink and shop without the packaging. You can download the app.

SES Water also has a Community Fund called Every Drop Counts for non-profit organisations which want to tackle water efficiency. Projects could include drought resistant planting, installing water efficient toilets/taps/showers, buying water butts and plumbing repairs. The fund can also be used to apply for projects relating to allotments and community gardens. Apply for the fund. 
 

You can get involved in conservation volunteering with some of the organisations below. 

• Surrey Wildlife Trust.
• Surrey Nature Partnership.
• Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) Surrey.
• Surrey Tree Warden Network.
• Woodland Trust.

If you have your own green space –a back garden, front garden, or window box – there are things you can do to help the environment and support biodiversity.

• Become a green gardener - advice from the National Trust tells you how to garden in a way that is good for the environment, from growing your own organic veg to attracting wildlife.
• Create wildlife habitats – the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has some great ideas for creating wildlife habits, while the Royal Horticultural Society can advise on the best native and pollinator species to plant. 
• Plant a tree - If you have the space, Friends of the Earth explain why trees are so wonderful.
• Go organic – some herbicides and pesticides are very damaging to the environment, and the Soil Association tells us why.

Organisations and businesses can get involved in the following general sustainability initiatives.

Eco church is an award scheme for churches in England and Wales that want to demonstrate their care for the world.

Love Oxted and Surrey Chambers of Commerce also provide the local community and businesses with:

• Tips on reducing their carbon footprint.
• Advice and guidance on becoming more sustainable.
• Case studies from other local businesses already on their net zero journey.

Community energy is the delivery of community-led renewable energy, energy demand reduction and energy supply projects. This could be a solar PV owned by a Community Benefit Company or trained energy advisers helping local people reduce their energy usage. 

Visit Community Energy England to find out more. Specifically, check Community Energy South to find out what it does in Surrey.
 

The Home Energy Advice Team (HEAT) and One-Stop Shop project is an innovative approach to tackling energy inefficiency across Surrey and is funded by the UK Government's Local Energy Advice Demonstrator (LEAD). 

The project is seeking support from community groups in the area, providing energy advice and signposting. 
 

The Climate Change and Building Control website page includes resources and guidance for homeowners on how to make their homes greener.

Building Regulations play a key role in tackling climate change and the government calculates that heat and buildings are responsible for approximately 17% of the country’s Total Carbon Emissions.

Details on changes to the Building Regulations to support climate change can be found on their website.