Welcome to our new blog series

Welcome to our new climate change blog. We're hoping to have guest bloggers posting what they've been up to, their thoughts on climate change and sharing ideas of what we can do locally to help the climate change crisis. With the launch of COP26 (the next annual UN climate change conference) at the end of October, it seems a good time to boost the many conversations already going on about climate change in our town.

As Leader of the council and the lead on climate change, I am passionate about tackling climate change and delighted that our pledge to become carbon neutral by 2050 has the support of the council, including members and staff.

We have made progress in lots of areas and are taking steps to become carbon neutral by reducing our energy consumption, reducing the demand for fossil fuels, contributing to a greener grid and promoting a greener town. You can find out more about our plans by looking at our climate change action plan.

There is still a lot to do, but I am satisfied that we have made a great start on this incredibly important journey. There is a lot to learn and I have been busy finding out as much as possible about our plans as well as making visits to sites and projects that are linked in different ways to tackling climate change.

A few months ago, I paid a visit, along with other members of our Climate Change Working Group and council members to Moor House Wind Farm. This is a brilliant facility run by the Banks Group. It generates enough electricity annually to power more than 9,000 homes and helps to reduce our reliance on fossil fuel.

More recently, I returned to Moor House to visit a project between the Banks Group and Darlington Beekeepers Association. Bees play a crucial part in farming and crop production and, sadly, they are under threat. I was delighted to see the hard work being undertaken to help increase and protect the local bee population.

With COP26 grabbing the national headlines, now is a good time to learn more about the climate change emergency facing all of us, regardless of who we are and where we live. There are lots of climate change related programmes on TV; these are a useful way of finding out how everyone can play their part.

I hope you've enjoyed reading this first blog, one of many to come. In the meantime, please browse our Sustainable Darlington page to learn more about what we are doing to tackle climate change and how you can get involved and play your part.