In 2019, 201 district, county, single-tier councils and combined authorities in the UK had declared a climate emergency. This followed the UK Parliament's declaration of a climate and ecological emergency on 1 May 2019 and was a significant step towards local action on climate change.

We were one of those and declared a climate and ecological emergency on 16 July 2019, committing our organisation to being carbon neutral by 2030 and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole by 2050. The area wide goal was later moved forward to 2045 as a result of our membership in the UK100.