Southport and Sefton celebrate first year of progress towards net zero carbon target

The fall was driven by the move away from office working and into home working. This led to a 92% fall in staff commute emissions and a fall in gas and electricity emissions in Council owned buildings. Sefton have chosen to report the emissions that staff produce whilst working from home in order to report a more accurate picture but the reductions in emissions were evident.

The Council are working to embed an agile/home working approach in future to maintain these carbon emissions reductions.

The report highlights key projects that have been started this year which would see a further 17% reduction in the Council’s carbon footprint upon completion including LED Street Lighting and retrofit works at Bootle and Southport Town Halls.

In addition to those measures which have reduced carbon consumption, Sefton Council have planted over 3000 trees which, in time, will reduce the amount of carbon in our atmosphere and contribute further net carbon reductions.

The 2030 target, which was set out in Sefton Council’s Climate Emergency declaration in 2019, is ambitious but critical to preventing further damage to our climate. All Council decision making reports now have to consider climate implications and training has been developed for all staff to ensure that all areas of the Council are on board with this ambitious but necessary work.

Cllr Paulette Lappin, Cabinet Member for Regulatory and Corporate Services said:“I am delighted to see the results of this years Climate Emergency Annual Report, it is testament to the hard work of everyone at the Council to have seen such a huge reduction in our carbon footprint and to see we are on track to reach that critical date of net zero carbon by 2030.“The pandemic has forced us to change the way we live and work and it has been difficult at times, but there are some positives to draw from our experience and I hope we can maintain some of the positive climate impacts that have been seen over the past year.“A 27% reduction in emissions when this years projects have been completed is so encouraging and I hope we can keep up the momentum as we move into next year. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate COP26 in the UK than with this fantastic progress towards our target.”

As the UK plays host to COP26, Sefton are celebrating all aspects of its wonderful coastline, the health and wellbeing benefits to climate action and its fantastic progress against its climate targets.

You can find further information on Sefton’s Climate Emergency progress at Sefton Council’s website