What we are doing

Tackling climate change as a priority

Tackling climate change is a key priority for the council, as set out in our corporate plan. We know we must act now to start making a difference for future generations.

Current financial and regulatory frameworks put limits on what we can do. Therefore, tackling climate change needs to be a collective effort. We will work with partners, businesses, and residents to take action. We will lobby central government to significantly increase powers to drive significant change locally, and for greater intervention by central government to reduce climate change.

As we have outlined, it will not be easy, 2030 is an extremely challenging target, and may prove impossible; however, that does not mean we should back away from the challenge or ambition to start this journey now. Our plan provides an outline road map for carbon neutrality a full 20 years ahead of the Government's target of 2050.

It's an ambitious target but as one of the first councils in the country to declare a climate and biodiversity emergency, we believe we should be leading the way to support the town's residents, visitors and those who work here to cut greenhouse gas emissions from the whole town as close to zero as possible.

Read the Climate Emergency Strategy and Action Plan and our actions below to find out what the council is doing.

To help us meet our net zero target and make Hastings greener, healthier, and more connected. It is vital that everyone who lives and works in our town helps us on our journey. Watch our new Climate Change video and have your say on our new CitizenLab engagement website.

2022 Climate Change Strategy update

View the 7 November Cabinet meeting video where councillors discussed an update to the Climate Change Action Plan and strategy.

You can read the updated plan and strategy and the Cabinet meeting report.

View the 7 March Cabinet meeting video where progress on the Climate Change Strategy was discussed.

2021 Climate Change Strategy update

View the 4 October 2021 Cabinet and 13 October Full Council meeting videos where the Annual Climate Change Report was discussed.

You can view the report below:

• Annual Climate Change Report (.pdf)
• Appendix 1 Annual Emissions Monitoring (.pdf) 
• Appendix 2 Greenhouse Gas Emissions Scope 1 - 3 definitions (.pdf)
• Appendix 3 Climate Emergency Action Plan (.pdf)

What we have been doing

We have been busy since passing the climate emergency developing a climate change strategy and action plan.

• Reviewed the council's vehicle fleet and replaced a majority with electric vehicles
• Launched our new engagement website so residents can have their say on the future of Hastings and help inform plans to tackle the climate emergency
• Set up a Climate Board to ensure progress is monitored and that all new projects, policies, and programmes consider the impacts of climate change
• Opened The Bale House,  a brand-new visitor centre at Hastings Country Park Nature Reserve, which is the first public straw bale building in Hastings
• Lobbied government for additional resources to help deliver the ambition of the plan and become a thriving environmentally friendly place to be
• Launched awareness campaigns to encourage the community to take action to help the environment thrive
• Installed solar panels on the roof of our main council offices at Muriel Matters House so we can produce some of our own electricity
• Encouraged recycling in the borough through My Hastings
• Improved street-cleaning services to reduce environmental waste and discussing with Biffa the town's domestic waste contractor the need to switch their fleet to non-fossil fuel vehicles
• Supported community beach cleaning events
• Encouraged residents to get a free Warm Home Check carried out by Warm East Sussex and to apply for the Solar Together group solar panel buying scheme
• Updated electric vehicle (EV) charging sites and also expanding the town's provision through grant funding from the Accelerated Towns Fund
• Commissioned expert research to understand the interventions we need to plan for to meet carbon neutrality 
• Shared the findings of our Climate Emergency Strategy and Action Plan with key partners to engage them in taking action to reduce their emissions
• Successfully applied for funding through the Green Homes Grant to retrofit and support the improvement of local homes, reducing energy demand and also addressing fuel poverty
• Developed the new Local Plan which considers climate change impacts on the town and supports greenhouse gas reductions into the future
• Commissioned a study to understand what a zero-carbon new housing development would need to consider
• Set a baseline for the council's greenhouse gas emissions which will enable the monitoring of their own emissions.

In September 2020 AECOM consultancy and the council presented the climate emergency research findings to the Hastings and St Leonards Local Strategic Partnership. The recordings from the workshop can be found below.

View Cllr Forward's welcome in the video recording with transcript.

Watch the recording and listen to the presentation to find out about where the town's greenhouse gas emissions from our use of energy arise form and the ideas about how we can plan to reduce them.

• View the AECOM video presentation
• The low carbon study which the work has also informed

There is a lot more we are planning on doing as a council to tackle climate change. Details of this can be found in our strategy and interim action plan.