Sheffield city council will spend £43 million on tackling climate change after a climate emergency was declared twelve months ago.

This investment is a total of all ongoing and new projects across the city which focus on the reduction of carbon emissions and improving air quality.

Councillor Mark Jones Cabinet Member for Environment, Streetscene, and Climate Change said: “This is a global emergency that affects every single living thing and each of us must take responsibility and make changes to improve our future.

“Addressing this at a city level is an enormous challenge. We can’t fix it overnight. It requires compromise, sacrifice, and change from everyone. There will be some very difficult decisions and choices to make in order to reach our goal. But, we’re determined and this multi-million-pound investment is essential if we are to meet our carbon-neutral target by 2030.”

Sheffield City Council is holding its first Zero Carbon Sheffield Summit on Friday, 19 March, where it will release the city’s response to the climate crisis.

The meeting will be online and open to the public, featuring talks from the lead author and sustainability expert Andy Sheppard of Arup, Chief Executive of Community Energy England Emma Bridge, and Sheffield City Council’s new Chief Executive Kate Josephs.

Andy Sheppard said: “Climate change impacts everyone and we all have to play our part in order to reach net-zero. This report fires the starting gun for coordinated, comprehensive, and continuous action on Sheffield’s journey to carbon neutrality.”

The report declares that the biggest reductions in carbon emissions can be made by switching away from petrol or diesel cars.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      The Introduction of a new greener vehicle fleet has been a six-year project across Sheffield. It aims to improve air quality by replacing minibuses usedfor special educational needs transport with electric cars.

There has also been the installation of 18 new electric charge points across Sheffield in the last month.

Julie Grocutt, Cabinet Member for Transport and Planning said: “We’re improving Sheffield’s electric car charging network to make it easy for people to make the switch to electric vehicles which is one of the best things we can do to reduce harmful pollution from transport – making the air we all breathe cleaner”

The new rapid charging sites are located in: Clarence Lane (by Waitrose), Prince of Wales Road, Carver Lane Car park(by the city hall), Parkers’ Lane Car Park (near the Northern General off Witham Rd).

Nine of these charge points will be reserved for taxi-only usage to ensure that electric taxis will always have a place to charge, these are in Howard Lane and Pond Hill.

Reducing the air pollution in Sheffield will increase job opportunities and lead people to have healthier lives with more comfortable homes. For more information on the Zero Carbon Sheffield Summit, visit https://www.eventbrite.co.uk.