What is Climate Change?
Climate change is emerging as one of the major challenges facing the world today. It is caused by the build up of greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere, which trap heat by preventing it from escaping into space. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is one of the main greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. It comes mainly from burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas to produce heat and power for our homes, businesses and transport.
The UK is predicted to experience progressively warmer and drier summers, wetter and milder winters and more frequent extreme weather particularly heat waves and |heavy rainfall which may lead to flooding in some areas.
What's happening at the local level?
According to recent government statistics, households in Elmbridge have the 3rd highest domestic energy usage in the UK, and an annual energy bill of around £1,600. Energy prices are set to increase meaning energy bills are to carry on rising over the next year.
Over 40% of CO2 emissions in the UK come directly from what we do as individuals (for example, heating and using electricity in our homes and driving vehicles). For day to day living in general, each Elmbridge resident is responsible for producing on average around 6.9 tonnes of CO2 per year. That's the equivalent to 1.3 hot air balloons a year for every resident within the borough.
How much CO2 do you create? Measure your carbon footprint
A Carbon Footprint is the amount of CO2 you are responsible for. It is a measure of the impact our activities have on the environment, and relates to the amount of greenhouse gases produced in our day-to-day lives through burning fossil fuels for electricity, heating and transportation etc. In order to reduce the amount of CO2 you are responsible for, it is important to understand how much CO2 your activities produce you can do this by using a |Carbon Calculator
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You can also calculate your communities carbon footprint using the |Green Communities Carbon Footprint tool, which allows groups of individuals to measure their carbon emissions and work out their community carbon footprint.
