Case studies

Councils that have declared a Climate Emergency may struggle to fund the measures needed to cut emissions in their area. Warrington Borough Council has piloted the use of community municipal bonds, a fundraising tool for local authorities, to fund renewable energy projects. Community municipal bonds allow councils to raise money directly from residents. In Warrington, the money raised has been used for low-carbon infrastructure, to speed up carbon emissions reductions and increase resilience to the pandemic.

Storms Desmond and Eva in late December 2015 led to record river levels in many river catchments, 453 properties and 174 businesses flooded in York. The Environment Agency and City of York Council were successful in attracting funding to renew existing and provide new flood defences. The York Five Year Plan was developed and detailed business cases and designs for schemes in 19 flood cells across the city have been delivered. An adaptive approach to flood resilience has been developed, work programmes to develop increased flood storage and the incentivised delivery of natural flood risk management measures have commenced.

Durham County Council (DCC) declared a climate emergency in 2019 and wanted to work with partners and local communities to lower air pollution and help residents save money on fuel costs. 30 per cent of emissions comes from road transport, and the council needed to support residents in making the switch to electric vehicles. DCC became part of a consortium, supported by Innovate UK to help those residents. DCC were granted funding to install 100 Electric Vehicle charge points in the Durham area.

Portsmouth City Council, as part of Solent Transport, have teamed up with Voi to promote their discounts available to those on low income, students and those serving their community. Voi have focused on making the shared e-scooter scheme in Portsmouth, which is funded by the Solent Future Transport Zone, and e-bike service elsewhere as accessible as possible to everyone.

Exeter City Council have been constructing buildings to Passivhaus standards since 2009, using their triple bottom line approach to deliver high quality builds, by being socially, environmentally and financially responsible. Since starting to deliver Passivhaus homes, they have developed and built nearly 150 homes to these standards. The process of designing and building so many different types of structure, has enabled them to improve their delivery model and in doing so reduce the overall cost.

Nearly every home in the UK has the potential to use less fuel for heating, lighting and appliances. To support home and building owners with understanding how they can make their homes more energy efficient and comfortable, Greater Manchester has set up Your Home Better, a one-stop-shop to support people with advice, finding contractors, as well as overseeing installation.

Living Roofs contribute towards climate resistance, through absorbing rainwater falling on the roof, helping to reduce the ‘Urban Heat Island Effect’, capturing particulates from the air, and helping make the city a greener and happier place. The roofs are made from a mix of 13 native wildflower and 5 sedum species; selected by experts to aid and support bees and other pollinators.

Devon County Council have supported Altilitech through the Green Innovation Fund to scale-up their proprietary process for recycling electric vehicle (EV) batteries to a commercial operation. Verified by the University of Plymouth, the innovative method recovers over 95 per cent of the critical metals contained within spent batteries at a quality for reuse in new batteries. Altilitech operates under a circular economy model; retaining value in the local economy whilst reducing the toxic waste and emissions produced in mining.

In June 2021, the London Borough of Barnet approved the Outline Business Case for the development of an £18.8M strategic sports hub including a wider leisure and community offer at West Hendon Playing Fields.

In order to reduce the carbon footprint of the Council and demonstrate leadership locally, regionally, and nationally, Scarborough Borough Council has rolled out hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) into almost two thirds of its fleet vehicles. The fuel is being used as a straight replacement for diesel in the majority of the diesel fleet, from bin wagons to ride-on mowers. Over the course of a full year, the project could lower emissions by up to 900 tCO2e.