A special task force could be set up to slash carbon emissions and lead Enfield’s response to climate change.

The ‘Climate Emergency Task Force’ would help the council to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2030 amid growing fears over the impact of global warming.

Enfield Council has already taken steps to tackle climate change – including insulating buildings, installing solar panels and getting energy from ground source heat pumps.

This helped to cut carbon emissions by 28 per cent between 2005 and 2016.

But the council has recently faced calls to step up its efforts and follow other local authorities in declaring a ‘climate emergency’.

Extinction Rebellion, an environmental group that has staged protests in London and other major cities, is planning a demonstration outside Enfield Civic Centre before the next full council meeting on July 10.

It wants the council to provide greener travel options, sustainable housing and to stop investing in fossil fuel companies.

The council’s top decision-makers will meet on Monday to decide whether to set up the Climate Emergency Task Force.

If they give the go-ahead, the task force will explore what more can be done to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the council’s operations and supply chain, as well as across the borough.

It means widening the scope of the council’s sustainability programme to focus on the effects of its purchasing, finance and property ownership – as well as the influence it has on residents and businesses.

This would help to ensure carbon emissions were balanced with carbon ‘offsetting’ or removal to meet the goal of net zero by 2030.

Councillors are also expected to call on the pension policy and investment committee to continue cutting its holdings in fossil fuel companies.

A UN report published in published in 2018 warned the risk of catastrophic climate change – including extreme heat, drought, flooding and climate-related poverty – would rise significantly unless global warming was limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

Global temperature rises could increase the risk of flooding in Enfield – particularly in the low-lying, densely populated eastern parts of the borough close to the River Lea.

Enfield’s cabinet will meet at the Civic Centre at 5pm on Monday, July 8 to discuss the creation of the climate emergency task force.