Manchester City Council has set out its Climate Change Action Plan for 2025-30, detailing how it will cut almost 43,000 tonnes of carbon from his operations in the next five years.

The plan builds on the 2020-2025 strategy and keeps the council on track to reach its zero-carbon target for 2038. It also addresses how the council will help residents and businesses to cut emissions, while lobbying for stronger national and international climate policies. It aligns with the citywide plan for the same period, produced by the Manchester Climate Change agency and Manchester Climate Change Partnership.

To ensure its carbon neutral status by 2038, the council has to stay within a science-based carbon budget, which is the maximum amount of carbon it can emit over each five-year period.

The council has already kept within its carbon budget for 2020-2025, emitting 122,000 tonnes of carbon against an allowance of 126,336. This was achieved through a range of measures including retrofitting 40 of its buildings to improve energy efficiency, installing new LED streetlighting and replacing more than half of its refuse lorries with electric alternatives.

For 2025-2030, the maximum carbon amount permitted falls to 79,300 tonnes, requiring a reduction of around 41,500 tonnes over the period. The council’s emission reduction programme is targeting slightly more than that, saving 42,871 tonnes of carbon through headline actions alone. These include:

• Purchasing renewable energy directly from a newly created solar farm from 2026 through a Power Purchase Agreement, saving 17,600 tonnes
• Decarbonising the rest of the council’s waste and operational vehicles by moving from diesel and petrol to low emissions vehicles, saving 12,011 tonnes
• Saving 6,730 tonnes through an ongoing programme of building sustainability measures
• Maximising the efficiency of a streetlighting network saving 3,030 tonnes
• Decarbonising the Manchester energy network, a shared heating system used by a number of council and other city centre buildings, which currently run on natural gas, saving 3,000 tonnes
• Encouraging more sustainable staff business travel – cycling, walking or using public transport, saving 500 tonnes.