Reading Council cuts carbon emissions by 76 per cent since 2009

Summarised from Reading Chronicle's report · Updated 5 Nov, 22:04 · Archive

Reading Borough Council has reduced its carbon emissions by 76 per cent since 2008/09, ranking it among the top five per cent of UK local authorities for carbon reductions. A new greenhouse gas report shows council emissions fell by 9.5 per cent in 2025/26 compared with the previous year. Carbon reduction projects have avoided an estimated £41.9 million in energy costs since 2008/09, including £6.5 million in the last year alone.

Recent projects have included installing more than 10,000 solar panels on council buildings, schools and housing, introducing heat pumps at the Civic Centre and Hexagon, and rolling out electric vehicle charging points across residential streets. The council is also progressing plans for a low-carbon heat network which could serve sites including the Royal Berkshire Hospital and University of Reading's London Road campus.

The authority acknowledged it had not met its target of reducing its own emissions by 85 per cent by 2025/26 and is preparing a second carbon reduction plan. Government figures show greenhouse gas emissions across Reading as a whole have fallen by 57 per cent since 2005, the 15th-largest reduction among around 400 UK local authority areas.

Read the report

• Reading among UK's top councils for cutting carbon emissionsReading Borough Council has cut its carbon emissions by 76 per cent since 2008/09, placing it among the top five per cent of local authorities for carbon reductions.Reading Chronicle · 5 Nov, 16:26

In this story: Reading Borough Council · Royal Berkshire Hospital · University of Reading · Reading

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