New action plan approved to make Peterborough a net zero emissions city by 2030

At the council’s cabinet meeting on Monday (March 14), a 25-point plans was approved to help the authority meet its commitment of becoming a net-zero council by 2030. This is alongside the council’s ambition to help the city become net zero carbon by the same year.

The action plan was drawn up by councillors from different parties in partnership with officers and will now be sent to Full Council to vote on in June.

Among the 25 points are key changes such as reprioritising spending plans in the budget to help the council better achieve net zero carbon by 2030.

Other notable points include:

- Developing a business case for Aragon to use low carbon fuel across its fleet

- Working with Milestone to increase the uptake of low carbon fuel across the supply chain

- Developing an air travel policy which seeks to eliminate air travel for journeys within Great Britain and require director sign off for overseas air travel

- Ensuring the council’s use of single use plastic is reduced

- Setting low carbon construction methods and materials as default options within the Milestone highways contract

- Seek grant funding or sponsorship to support

delivery of 125 hectares of tree planting per annum to deliver the council’s 25% tree canopy cover target by 2035

Councillors declared a climate emergency in July 2019 and this latest action plan is the third edition to have been produced since then after it was agreed to update it annually.

A further plan to help Peterborough become a net zero city is due to be released later this year.

The council’s carbon footprint in 2020/21 was 14,789 tonnes CO2e – a reduction of 28% compared to 2018/19 using the same measurements from that year.

Successes over the past 12 months include: swapping the use of diesel in the highways services contract to a biodiesel which reduces emissions by 90%; piloting a carbon literacy training course aimed to educate councillors; and developing a new carbon impact assessment to ensure that the impact of council proposals on city-wide emissions is considered by decision makers.

Cllr Nigel Simons, cabinet member for waste, street scene and the environment at Peterborough City Council, said: “As a council we are committed to making sure both our activities and Peterborough’s as a whole are net zero by 2030.

“Our new action plan will help us to become a net zero authority, and I would like to thank members from all parties and officers for helping to produce it. I hope Full Council will see fit to approve it when it meets in June so we can continue to tackle the climate emergency.”