For five years (April 2011 – April 2016) New Leaf had a Service Level Agreement (SLA) to deliver a number of activities for Herefordshire Council. Working primarily with the Energy and Environmental Management team (previously called the Waste and Sustainability team), these activities included:
- Re-Energise Herefordshire – a Charter and accompanying action plan for the county to reduce its carbon emissions
- h.Energy – an annual showcase of sustainable energy saving activity initiated by New Leaf in 2010
- Work with local communities including the Herefordshire Green Network (an alliance of more than 40 environmental groups across the county) to raise awareness of energy saving opportunities and sustainable lifestyle choices.
Launched during h.Energy 2013, Re-Energising Herefordshire invited leaders of Herefordshire’s strategic organisations to sign a Carbon Charter and pledge to reduce emissions:
The Charter to Re-energise Herefordshire:
We are committed to working together to achieve a healthy, economically vibrant, socially just and sustainable Herefordshire.
We have agreed therefore to work together (and separately in our individual organisations) to achieve the programme outlined in this document, with the intention of:
- reducing the County’s carbon emissions to the targets stated;
- growing a resilient, localised, low carbon economy,
- improving our food and energy security and
- reducing fuel poverty and other forms of social vulnerability.
Specifically we will:
- reduce carbon emissions in our own organisations and co-operate with countywide reduction initiatives in order to achieve the reductions needed to meet the targets specified in this document
- encourage renewable energy generation, where this fits with legal and other considerations
- collaborate in programmes of training and job creation to ensure that Herefordshire residents benefit from the opportunities produced by a modern, low carbon economy
- promote ethically produced local food and local independent companies to assist in creating a relocalised and resilient economy
- help to improve the lives of the county’s most disadvantaged people by working to eliminate fuel poverty
- support a programme of sharing best practice and piloting sustainable technologies and innovation
- monitor progress against the commitments made in this document and report annually on the progress we are making
We acknowledge the progress being made already by people and organisations, who are raising awareness of these issues and taking actions to address them.
We call upon communities, organisations and businesses in Herefordshire to sign this Charter and to help re-energise our County.
Work continues to deliver against the targets set out in Re-Energise Herefordshire.
For an update on Herefordshire Council’s own Carbon Management Plan click here.
And the full Re-Energising Herefordshire document can be read here: