New Forest District Council to receive annual report on climate change emergency

THE New Forest will experience hotter, drier summers and warmer but wetter winters, according to an annual report on climate change.

The district council's environment and sustainability overview and scrutiny panel heard how the document, updating the climate and and nature emergency, included national targets and how they would translate locally.

The report is set to be revealed completely at the next full meeting of NFDC, which declared a climate emergency in 2021.

It said the New Forest could expect hotter summers and wetter winters could lead to extreme drought, flooding and coastal erosion.

The full report will look at how this will impact residents, businesses, visitors and the economy.

The meeting also heard that in 2019 the NFDC area was recorded as having emitted 928,000 tonnes of carbon.

These figures, produced by government, made it the worst performing area in the county for carbon emissions relating to homes and industry.

It was the second worst performing area in terms of transport.

The district had the largest sink area for carbon due to the local environment, however – meaning it can absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, balancing net emissions.