COUNTY bosses are to invest £600,000 into a team that will be asked to come up with new strategies to tackle climate change.

Six people will work with stakeholders across Hampshire to develop, monitor, implement and review strategies aimed at ensuring the county is ready to face economic, climate, technological and transport changes over the next 30 years. 

It comes as earlier this year a cross-party commission which looked into creating a  vision for Hampshire to 2050 published a list of actions that  Hampshire County Council and its partners should take to be ready for future challenges and changes. 

As previously reported, county bosses pledged to support renewable energy, work with the community to reduce waste and ensure climate mitigations such as energy and water efficient measures are in place across a number of sectors. 

Now they will invest £600,000 into resources and a team of six experts who will work together until April 2022. 

The team will also develop and maintain a network of stakeholders who will help delivery the new action plan.

In a statement a spokesperson for the county council said: “Earlier this year, the county council declared a climate emergency, and has recently endorsed the findings of the Hampshire 2050 Commission – that the biggest threat to Hampshire’s quality of life for future generations is the impact of climate change. Funding has been committed for the next two years to develop and begin to implement action plans which takes into account the impacts of climate change and actively contributes to climate change mitigation and resilience.”

While climate change will be the initial focus of the work, other aspects of the Hampshire 2050 report will also be further developed during the next two years.

In a statement the authority said: “The work involves engaging closely with a number of stakeholder groups, which will include running events and workshops with key partners, communities, specialist groups and experts; monitoring and measurement of carbon reduction targets; and maximising funding opportunities aligned to national policies and new initiatives.”