Climate change is the defining issue of our time. Evidence from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in the 2023 AR6 report demonstrates global warming is likely to exceed 1.5°C well before 2050 with the existing policies and laws currently in place. The burning of fossil fuels and deforestation is causing an unprecedented increase in global temperatures.

In 2019, in response to the climate crisis, the UK Government passed legislation to achieve net zero by 2050. This aligned with the commitments of the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. The Government committed to halting its contribution to global warming and lead the way in clean growth.

The Council shares the Government’s goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. On 16th September 2019 RDC formally declared a Climate Emergency at Full Council and committed to:

Pledge to do what is within our powers, to make Rother District carbon neutral by 2030, taking into account both production and consumption emissions.

This is an ambitious target. Alongside reducing our emissions, we know we have a part to play in helping residents, businesses and communities reduce emissions and become climate resilient.

The State of Nature Report in 2019 evidenced that the UK is also experiencing an ecological crisis. 41% of all UK species are declining, and one in ten are threatened with extinction. One of the main drivers is loss of habitat, and as little as 5% of land in the UK is looked after for nature.

Two motions, for the rights of rivers and the rights of trees, were carried on 15th September 2025 to strengthen the council’s response to protecting wildlife. The motions support the growing global movement for rights of nature as a framework for rethinking the relationship between human beings and the natural world.