Council on target for an incredible 96% reduction in carbon emissions
Winchester City Council has forecast that its own carbon emissions will be reduced by an enormous 96% when figures are released later next year.
In 2019, the city council declared a Climate Emergency and has since been focussing efforts to drive down its own carbon emissions, as well as looking to support organisations and communities across the district to reduce theirs.
In a newly released short film, the council highlights the culmination of work that has helped reduce their own emissions.
The 96% reduction in carbon emissions - a total of 1596 tonnes of carbon – is equivalent to the annual electricity usage of 2,855 average households. It includes all the emissions that the council has direct control over, such as the energy used in its own buildings and by its fleet of vehicles.
The Council has made a commitment to going greener faster, meaning that the climate emergency lies at the heart of all its work, and features throughout the Council Plan. It has recently been awarded a Silver accreditation as a Carbon Literate Organisation - the result of a comprehensive training programme for staff. Winchester City Council is one of only five authorities nationally to have received this level of award.
To achieve this substantial reduction in carbon emissions, Winchester City Council set its sights on a range of measures with high impacts. These include switching to low carbon fuel for its waste vehicles and Park and Ride buses, switching to 100% renewable energy and reducing overall energy consumption in all its buildings, generating its own energy by installing solar panels, retrofitting its council homes with energy saving measures, creating and enhancing habitats and managing its land to store more carbon in nature.
The council has also revealed that it forecasts a 40% reduction in emissions for activity outside of its direct control compared to 2023/24. This refers to things such as the fuel used by external contractors.
Cllr Kelsie Learney, Cabinet Member for the Climate Emergency said: ‘We always knew getting to carbon neutral in such a short time was really ambitious, but we have to challenge ourselves. Now is not the time to stand still if we want to ensure a cleaner, greener future for our children and grandchildren. It’s an incredible achievement to have reduced our emissions so significantly in this amount of time; we’ve shown we can make a positive impact and the lessons we’ve learned will help us as we set our sights firmly on going greener faster and driving down emissions across the whole district by 2030.’
The short film and more information about how the council has reduced its carbon emissions can be viewed here.