Climate Emergency Response Action Plan

It contains 232 specific actions across seven key themes:

• energy and buildings
• transport and connectivity
• business, green economy and skills
• waste and resources
• natural environment
• adaptation
• community awareness and engagement

Each action is carefully designed to be specific, measurable, achievable, and includes associated costs and timelines to ensure accountability and track progress. While many of the actions are led by our council teams, focusing on new projects that go beyond regular operations to meet the council's 2030 net zero targets, this year we've also expanded the plan to include contributions from our partners, strengthening our collective ability to meet the countywide 2045 climate targets.

This third action plan follows the success of CERP2, which contained 155 actions, 133 of which were either completed or are ongoing. By continuing this structured, collaborative approach, the CERP3 Action Plan ensures that we stay on course to reduce emissions and enhance climate resilience across County Durham.

However, we can only achieve our goals with the support of everyone in the community. There are many ways the public can help reduce countywide emissions by making small changes in everyday life - whether it's reducing energy use at home, switching to more sustainable forms of transport or supporting local green businesses. Every action no matter how small counts and contributes to a larger impact.

To find out more about how you can get involved and make a difference, visit our Get Involved section.

We are working on a digital platform that will enhance how we communicate and visually communicate the action plan which will show a yearly progress towards the CERP targets and we are hoping to launch this soon however there is more work to be done to it before it can be published. In the meantime, if you want to learn more about the CERP3 Action Plan and how it supports our broader climate strategy, you can read the full plan on our Climate Emergency Response page.