Cambridge City Council reduce carbon emissions by 10% in a year

Cambridge City Council has achieved a reduction of 10.8% in its own emissions since 2022/23, representing a saving of about 500 tonnes of CO2 compared to the previous year.

The council themselves highlight three main initiatives which have particularly led to these reductions:

1. Investing in its leisure centres and swimming pools to make them more energy efficient and lower carbon emissions by installing heat pumps and solar panels. £1.7m was awarded to the council through the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme which the council used to install air source heat pumps and make energy efficiency upgrades to Parkside and Abbey Pools
2. Using hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) to power generators at events the council organises in the city’s parks, such as the Folk Festival, instead of diesel. This significantly reduces the carbon emissions produced by these events
3. Introducing the fourth electric refuse collection lorry in June 2024. This is part of Greater Cambridge Shared Waste Service’s plan to progressively replace the vehicles with electric or low carbon alternatives at the point when they are due for replacement.

Above and beyond the councils’ own efforts, emissions from Cambridge as a whole have fallen by 44.7%  since 2005, much of this being due to the support the council have given to residents and businesses, such as a pilot programme to retrofit 50 council owned homes to net zero standards which is currently underway. This project will help to significantly reduce energy consumption, carbon emissions and energy bills, whilst improving home comfort for the residents

The council, in collaboration with other local councils, is also offering small and medium businesses expert advice to develop a net zero road map and, through the Green Business Programme, are making a  capital grant of up to £5,000 available to businesses to part-fund investment in carbon-saving technology, equipment or improvements needed to start implementing it.

In recognitions of their efforts, Cambridge City Council has been ranked as an A-rated city by the Carbon Disclosure Project and ranked as the second greenest city in the UK.

Cllr Rosy Moore, Executive Councillor for Climate Action and Environment, said: ‘I am so pleased at how far we have come and the fantastic reductions we have seen in emissions and greenhouse gasses, however we still have lots more to do as a council and as a city.

‘We are living in a climate emergency and there is no time to delay – we are seeing the effects of climate change across the world, as well as in our own lives. It is so important that we keep working together, as one city, to address climate change, mitigate the impacts and adapt to the changes that are already happening.’