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Research by environmental campaign group Friends of the Earth has found that Salford is the most climate-friendly council in the North West.
Salford is also joint-fifth across the country, however Friends of the Earth suggest that even the best performing local authorities need to do much more to help solve the climate crisis.
In particular, Salford “needs to do much better on increasing renewable energy.”
Salford currently has 15 megawatts of renewable energy available with Friends of the Earth saying that the minimum target should be 46 megawatts.
Estelle Worthington, the North West regional campaigner for Friends of the Earth, says that local authorities need to “ramp up what they are doing” and that “national government needs to get in gear and support local authorities to take action.”
She explains: “Creating cleaner and greener places to live means healthier, happier lives.”
“The bottom line is that we have to act in line with the scale of change needed because it’s our responsibility to hand on a better environment for the next generation.”
In Salford 38% of emissions come from housing, with 30% being generated by transport and 32% are industrial and commercial emissions.
Researchers at the Tyndall Centre in Manchester University say Salford should reduce emissions by at least 13% per year.
A league table of the most climate-friendly areas in England and Wales has placed Salford as the best in the North West, but all local authorities need to do more according to the research. #GreenIntelligence https://t.co/eugeT8p7UA
— ENWORKS (@ENWORKS2001) October 14, 2019
Only 54% of homes in Salford are well insulated which has contributed to 12% of households living in fuel poverty, meaning they can not afford to heat their homes correctly.
Friends of the Earth describe this as a shocking waste of energy, high greenhouse gas emissions and unnecessarily high energy bills.
They have also recommended that 4950 homes are insulated per year to ensure all homes are insulated by the year 2030
An online tool has been created to allow people to put in their postcode and and learn about how climate friendly their community is and you can access it here.
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