Worcestershire County Council sees significant reduction in its own greenhouse gas emissions

The County Council has now achieved a 45% reduction in net emissions and reduced 91% of emissions from its buildings, fleet vehicles and street lighting.

These figures have been highlighted in the latest Greenhouse Gas Emissions Report, which is published annually, detailing emissions from its estate and services and promoting actions taken on the journey towards net zero.

Councillor Richard Morris, Worcestershire County Council Cabinet Member for Environment, said: “We are fully committed to halving emissions by 2030 and being on track to be carbon neutral by 2050. So, the figures detailed in this report are a huge step towards us hitting our targets.

“We have a long history of sustainability and greenhouse gas reduction work, having launched our first Carbon Management Plan back in 2002.

“We now have the Net Zero Carbon Plan in place, which identifies our approach to reaching net zero. This involves a wide range of practical measures, including cutting carbon emissions from property, transport and street lighting, as well as our biggest emission sources in highways maintenance and waste management.”

The County Council has undertaken a wide range of measures to reduce emissions, including generating renewable energy from solar on many buildings, planting over 50,000 new trees, electric pool cars and bikes, carrying out environmental assessments for all new Council projects, providing staff with carbon literacy training and generating energy from waste disposal.

Moving forwards, more trees are planned, with 150,000 set to be planted across the county, the Council’s fleet vehicles will be moved away from diesel and petrol, work is ongoing with contractors to lower emissions further and increased energy efficiency measures are planned for buildings.

In addition to the commitment to reduce its own emissions, the County Council also supports county wide actions to achieving net zero with energy efficiency grants and advice for Small to Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and habitat creation funding under the Natural Networks programme.

To find out more about sustainability and carbon reduction in the county, as well as view the full Greenhouse Gas Emissions Report, visit the Sustainability pages of the County Council website.