Column by the leader of South Gloucestershire Council, Toby Savage. In South Gloucestershire we know that securing our economic recovery, creating jobs and protecting our environment and climate all go hand in hand. They cannot be separate aims. Last weekend, the UN secretary general, António Guterres, urged governments around the world to declare a state of climate emergency until the world reached net zero CO2 emissions. At least 38 countries have already declared a state of climate emergency and the UK was one of the first in the world to do so and has continued to lead the way on the international stage. We made our own declaration in South Gloucestershire in July 2019, and since then we have made sure progress has matched rhetoric.