Council making net zero gains, but still work to do

Suffolk County Council continues to bring down its carbon emissions, with significant reductions from council-owned street lighting, vehicles and buildings, but there is still work to do to reach its ambitious target of net zero by 2030.
Published: 13 Nov 2024

A new report going to the council’s Scrutiny Committee (21 November) reviews progress since the declaration of a Climate Emergency in 2019. The reports finds that emissions across the areas within the council’s direct control, such as energy consumption in council buildings and vehicles (categorised as Scope 1 & 2 emissions), have fallen by a further 8% over the past year, contributing to a 43% drop since 2019. When taking account of the council’s switch to a renewable electricity tariff, this becomes a 75% reduction.

However, when calculating its overall net zero progress, the council also reports on many emissions where it has influence but less direct control. These are known as Scope 3 emissions. These include things like home to school transport, home-working, and staff commuting and travel for work in their own vehicles.

These make up 65% of the council’s reported emissions, which the council is currently projecting will reduce by 48% by 2030m showing the scale of the remaining challenge.

Since 2019, when it declared a climate emergency, the council’s carbon reduction successes include:

  • Street and traffic lights down by 57%
  • Diesel and petrol vehicles down by 50%
  • Gas and oil use in buildings down by 37%
  • Staff commuting down by 30%
  • Electricity use in buildings down by 25%

Nationally, the council is making impressive strides with its own estate, standing out as one of the three leading county councils in England for reductions on Scope 1 & 2 emissions, according to analysis of published reports.  

Overall, our carbon emissions have decreased by 7,740 tonnes CO2e since 2019, which is encouraging. We’re making great progress in areas where we have most control, such as our buildings, vehicles and energy use. We are also seeing a long-term reduction in our costs - saving more than £500,000 on energy bills for our buildings alone as a result of this work.
Councillor Philip Faircloth-Mutton, Suffolk County Council’s Cabinet Member for Environment, Communities and Equality
Councillor Philip Faircloth-Mutton, Suffolk County Council’s Cabinet Member for Environment, Communities and Equality

Councillor Faircloth-Mutton continues:

“With the successes we’re having with reducing emissions and energy bills in our own buildings and operations, I hope we can be an example to other Suffolk businesses that, no matter what their size, can succeed on their net zero journeys too.

“Although our latest report suggests that we are not on currently course to meet our net zero target across all scopes, as new products, services and opportunities become increasingly available, I think greater reductions will be achievable.

“It’s no secret that there’s still much work to do. Specifically, the Scope 3 emissions that we report on, which is our biggest challenge to achieving net zero.

“While most of these emissions are beyond our direct control, we still include the data in our overall progress as they are still driven by council activity.

“Despite these challenges, we remain firmly committed to carbon reduction and continue to embed climate action in everything that we do.”