City’s carbon neutral plan doesn’t grasp urgency, says group

A REPORT from Cardiff council committing the city to be carbon neutral by 2030 is “deeply flawed and lacks ambition”, according to a leading heritage group.

Julia Barrell, vice-chair of Cardiff Civic Society, said it was unlikely the One Planet Cardiff (OPC) target could be met because it didn’t appear that work on the project had started yet and that the council’s reduction of carbon emissions was only a small part of what needed to be done.

Ms Barrell said: “As well as the climate emergency, there is also a biodiversity (nature) emergency. Although the two are linked, biodiversity will still decline, even without climate change, because of factors such as habitat loss and use of herbicides and pesticides.

“The OPC strategy, which mainly seems to equate tree planting with improving biodiversity, fails to recognise the scale of the response required and the urgency with which the council needs to respond.

“OPC states there are 165 endangered species in the city, but does not explain how it will protect them. Increasing trees in the city won’t help reptiles, for example – one of the most threatened group of species.”

Ms Barrell said the council’s cabinet had rejected many recommendations made to it last year by people with a professional interest in biodiversity. It should revisit the recommendations and incorporate them into the OPC strategy.

She added: “OPC barely mentions construction and demolition – an activity that is hugely carbon emitting. Yet we know that within the city there are plans to knock down the Queen’s Arcade and redevelop it with retail and a hotel; build a new arena, hotel, car park, shops, etc, at Atlantic Wharf, involving the demolition of many buildings; and extend the Sports Village in Cardiff Bay

“Does the council know how much CO2 will be produced by just these projects? And what will it do to reduce/mitigate this?

“For OPC to be meaningful, it must explicitly address the issue of building demolition and new-build, not just that caused by its own building programme, but also by the private sector.

“Further, OPC must become the council’s central and most important strategy, against which all activity, policies and strategy are measured. Otherwise it risks becoming just another of many council strategies and action plans, while ‘business as usual’ continues, carbon emissions are not controlled and biodiversity declines.”

Ms Barrell said the OPC action plan must be re-written to set out clear targets with timescales, and with named council officers and departments identified as responsible for meeting the targets.

Cardiff council was invited to respond.