Horsham District Council has reduced its direct carbon footprint by some 57% since 2019/20, when it committed to being carbon neutral by 2030. This equates to approximately 1,300 less tonnes of carbon being emitted.
The biggest impact in carbon reduction has been from changing the fuel used in the Council’s fleet vehicles. All of the Council’s vehicles that ran on diesel were switched to sustainably-sourced Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil (HVO) fuel in April 2022. Whilst this had no adverse effect on the performance of the vehicles, it has slashed carbon emissions from the fleet by some 90%. This shows the positive impact this fuel has had on reducing emissions.
The Council aims for its overall direct carbon emissions to be carbon neutral by 2030. This will be achieved not just by minimising the use of petrol and diesel fuel in its vehicle fleet, but also by reducing the use of gas and electricity in council-owned buildings through decarbonisation and energy efficiency measures.
The Council will continue to tackle emissions from gas and electricity in its properties to reach its carbon neutral target It has already started a programme to change to more energy efficient lighting in council-owned car parks.
Cllr Josh Potts, Horsham District Council Cabinet Member for Environment and Rural Affairs said:
Addressing the challenges of climate change is one of the most important issues facing us all. I am delighted that the hard work of our teams across the Council is already achieving such excellent results in reducing our direct CO2 emissions.
But the work doesn’t stop here; further specific actions will include switching to LED lights in all District car parks and making our housing stock and other council-owned buildings and leisure facilities more energy efficient by using renewable or low carbon sources of energy.
More information about the Council’s work to reduce carbon emissions and tackle climate change can be found on our Carbon reduction webpage.
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