A version of this article by Cllr Cameron Holloway, Leader of the council (pictured below), was first published in Cambridge Independent on 25 June 2025 (page 26).

"These days, it sometimes seems like everyone is lining up to bash net zero - as though reducing our carbon emissions as far as possible to limit the world’s exposure to catastrophic climate change is far too difficult and costly to be worth the bother.

It’s easy to see why this approach is tempting: the challenge we face to keep greenhouse gas emissions and consequent global warming as low as we can is so vast, and so daunting, that it can seem easier to ignore it and hope it goes away.

But it’s not going away. The past 10 years have been the 10 hottest on record, sea levels are now rising twice as fast as 30 years ago, and ice losses from both the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets have quadrupled since 1990. Devastating extreme weather events like droughts, floods and wildfires are becoming more frequent in many parts of the world. In Cambridge we’re relatively lucky, but, even here, we experienced scorching 40-degree heat in the summer of 2022, and our area is suffering from acute water shortages while also seeing rising flood risk.

Getting to net zero carbon emissions is vital to minimise the level of change to the global climate and the horrifying impacts that will have, and is already having, here and around the world. It’s not going to be easy, and none of us can do it alone.

Narratives on reaching net zero emissions often focus on individual behaviour change, creating a feeling of a lack of collective responsibility that can be demotivating. Spending time painstakingly placing items in the correct recycling bin or switching to more energy-efficient light bulbs is important, but it can feel a bit futile when we turn on the news to watch billionaires launching themselves into space.

For climate action to really work, there has to be a sense that we’re all in this together.

We know that people want national and local government to take a leading role in tackling the climate crisis, and that’s exactly what we’re doing at Cambridge City Council.

We remain committed to our ambitious target of reducing our direct carbon emissions to net zero by 2030, and to helping local residents and businesses to cut their emissions too.

We were among the first councils in the country to declare climate and biodiversity emergencies in 2019, and our work to mitigate and adapt to climate change has contributed to Cambridge being recognised as an ‘A’ list city for the second year running in Carbon Disclosure Project’s global rankings and as a top-performing UK council in Climate Emergency UK’s Council Climate Action Scorecards.

Taking action to halt climate change is often framed by its detractors as being all about inconvenience and sacrifice. But cutting carbon emissions to save the planet for the long term doesn't have to make our lives worse in the short term.

In fact, there are many areas where we’re tackling the climate crisis while changing residents’ lives for the better.

We’re implementing energy efficiency and clean heat measures in our council homes to reduce emissions and help our tenants live healthier lives: from heat pumps and solar panels, which provide renewable energy and help to bring down bills, to insulation that keeps homes cooler in summer and warmer in winter.

For those in private homes, we’re offering grants to do the same, with the latest figures showing bills reducing by an average of £320 per year for households taking part. The latest round of grant funding also led to investment of £2.55 million in the local supply chain, supporting businesses which are investing in upskilling and recruiting to meet the growing demand for retrofit jobs.

At Parkside and Abbey Pools, new hyprolysers have helped us use less chlorine and cut carbon, while new air-source heat pumps, part of a £1.7 million package of improvements funded by the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, have significantly reduced our emissions.

In the city centre, we’re working with the University of Cambridge on exciting plans for a district heat network to power public buildings from renewable energy.

And this autumn, with South Cambridgeshire District Council, we’re starting to build our very own solar farm and battery storage, right next to our shared waste service depot in Waterbeach, to power our fleet of electric bin lorries – improving air quality now and cutting carbon emissions for the future.

We’re also planting trees across Cambridge: providing habitats, shade, and carbon absorption, and helping the city to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

But we know there’s so much more to do.

We’ve started work on our next Climate Change Strategy, which will take us up to 2030. As we develop this, we will be trying to engage with as many residents as possible to understand existing barriers to decarbonisation across the city, and how we might overcome them. Look out for your chance to get involved this autumn.

The climate crisis is urgent and has terrifying consequences if we don’t act, but the last thing we can do is lose hope.

Every action we take makes a difference, and, at Cambridge City Council, we are ramping up our efforts to meet the challenge, while also changing lives for the better."