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A Somerset village is aiming to become Zero Carbon by 2045. Sonya Bedford, vice-chair of Green Wedmore, outlines the thinking behind the project.
Dozens of cities around the world are working towards becoming Zero Carbon, and now our beautiful Somerset village aims to join their ranks. Wedmore is setting itself the ambitious target of achieving Zero Carbon by 2045.
Green Wedmore is already one of the most active environmental groups in Somerset, and on 27th January will host a launch event for Zero Carbon Wedmore with a presentation by Paul Allen, co-ordinator of CAT’s Zero Carbon Britain project.
Green Wedmore has been helping the local community reduce its impact on the environment for 12 years. Our achievements include creating community solar paddocks, planting community woodlands, running freecycle days and providing education and support on energy issues.
However, we want to do so much more.
I am a current student at CAT’s Graduate School of the Environment, and went to a Zero Carbon Britain workshop run by Paul to find out how Wedmore could achieve some challenging targets.
We have big ambitions in creating much more renewable energy in our area and supporting the development of a county-wide drive for more onshore wind power and community energy supply.
We will offset our carbon emissions with more local electric vehicle charging points – we already have one in the village – and more community transport. We will also seek to eliminate waste and reuse what we can, and we would even like a community anaerobic digester.
In the 19th century, our village pioneered community-level energy by becoming one of the first in the county to have electric light. Now we want to be at the forefront of Zero Carbon. We are a community that is driven, not one that sits still and lets things happen to us. We are the change.
More information about the Zero Carbon Wedmore launch event.
Want to help get your community to zero carbon? Join CAT’s next Zero Carbon Britain short course and start exploring solutions.
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