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.
Councillor Philip Faircloth-Mutton, Suffolk County Council’s Cabinet Member for Environment, Communities and Equality, said:
“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.
“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.”
