Climate change

Herefordshire Council has committed to reduce our carbon emissions to net zero by 2030.

Carbon reduction plans for the next 10 years

To enable us to achieve net zero by 2030, we have created a new carbon management plan. This builds on the work of previous carbon management plans and aims for a 75% carbon reduction over the next five years.

View the Carbon Management Plan 2020/21 to 2025/26

Read more about how we plan to meet our 75% carbon reduction target by 2025/26 in our carbon management action plan.

Our carbon emissions come from a range of sources including council offices (3%), school transport (10%) and residential homes (1%).

A 2019/20 breakdown showed that our highest areas of emissions were:

• Schools, including academies (36%)
• Contractors' fleet (20%)
• Leisure centres (13%)

Key factors in delivering our target will be:

• Energy efficiency
• Renewable energy projects
• Purchasing green energy to reduce emissions from our electricity usage

Our carbon reduction since 2008/9 (baseline year)

We've made significant progress in reducing our carbon dioxide emissions so far. Last year our emissions increased slightly by 5.2% (this trend was seen nationally following Covid-19) and between 2008/9 and 2021 we have reduced our carbon footprint by 57.4% . That's equivalent to almost 16,200 tonnes of carbon dioxide and is a really important step towards our commitment to be carbon neutral by 2030.

We achieved this through a number of different carbon reduction schemes including:

• LED street lighting
• Installation of solar panels on council buildings
• Purchase of electric and hybrid vehicles
• Puchasing green energy to reduce emissions from our electricity usage

We report annually on our progress towards net zero. View the most recent greenhouse gas emissions report (2021/22).