Carbon Neutral by 2030

Carbon Neutral by 2030

We are committed to becoming carbon neutral in our estate and operations by 2030.

In practice, this means we are working on a series of initiatives and projects that will reduce our operational emissions as much as possible by the year 2030. Any emissions from hard-to-decarbonise operations remaining in 2030 will be neutralised through carbon offsets. 

In this way, we are seeking to become carbon neutral as a stepping stone ahead of the national 2050 net-zero target. We hope to show what can be achieved and inspire residents and local businesses to join us on this rewarding journey.

We declared a climate emergency in 2019 and developed our Climate Action Framework (pdf format, 5Mb) in response. Our climate framework sets our targets and approach to tackling the climate emergency, outlining what we will do in the short, medium and long terms. We publish a review of our Carbon Management Plan 2022-2030 (pdf format, 1.1 MB) annually, updating progress and committing to new action.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions reductions progress to date. 

Figure 1: Annual Corporate GHG Emissions since 2010/11

OCC's corporate carbon neutrality performance since the baseline year 2010/11 is shown above. OCC's corporate operational emissions, including property emissions (including heating, electricity, water, and waste emissions), emissions related to street lighting, fleet emissions, and business mileage, have reduced by 71% against our baseline in 2010/11. OCC corporate emissions peaked in 2013/14 at 27,644 tCO2e and have been reducing since then, reaching a level of 7,638 tCO2e in 2023/24. 

In 2023/24, emissions from the scope of our carbon neutrality 2030 target (corporate estate and activities) reduced by 14% (1,229 tonnes CO2e) compared with the same period in 2022/23. 

Decarbonising Our Estate and Operations

Figure 2: Distribution of corporate emissions by sources (2022/23 vs 2023/24)

The figure above consists of two pie charts for 2022/23 and 2023/24. Each pie chart describes the OCC council state and operational emissions per area.  

Buildings: Approximately 35 per cent of our total operational emissions arise from our 120 corporate buildings.  We are developing a decarbonisation programme in line with our property strategy to ensure that our buildings are on the path to carbon neutrality by 2030. The council has a target to retrofit all council buildings by 2030, and we have now carried out needed energy efficiency audits and costed the necessary measures for all of our estate by floor space, including all significant buildings. We have been securing funding through the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) to implement extensive retrofit measures across our corporate buildings.

Street lighting: approximately 32 per cent of our emissions come from street lighting. 

As part of a £40m investment project almost 100 per cent of our street lighting has been replaced with energy-efficient LED’s. The majority of carbon reductions to date have come from the now completed street lighting LED upgrade programme. We are working with communities to dim street lighting or switch off for periods of time when it is considered appropriate to do so. This will save energy, cut costs, and reduce the negative impacts of light pollution on nature. 

Fleet and business travel: 33% of our emissions come from staff work travelling. 

Our approach to fleet decarbonisation prioritises the avoidance of emissions by rationalising the fleet, encouraging the sharing of resources, and replacing fossil fuels with zero-tailpipe-emissions alternatives.

The council is committed to rationalising its 402 fleet and transitioning to electric vehicles. The first step will be implementing an integrated fleet management system and a dedicated team to centralise all fleet information. The 'One Fleet' system will identify opportunities to rationalise fleet usage and support implementing a fleet replacement plan. 

We have established an 'electric by default' policy that stipulates that we will work to phase out petrol and diesel vehicles in our own fleet, ensuring that, where operationally feasible, all new vehicle acquisitions are zero-tailpipe emissions by default. To date, 43 electric vehicles have been purchased and deployed, making up more than 10% of our fleet, and we are planning to acquire 19 more vehicles in 2025/26. We have 44 charge points across 19 council sites.

With funding from Innovate UK, our fire and rescue service are partnering with hydrogen fuel engineering firm ULEMCo to develop the UK’s first hydrogen fuelled fire engine.

Maintained Schools

Emissions from maintained schools (adjusted to remove the effect of schools converting into academies) have reduced by 34% since 2010/11, an average of 3% per year. Last year the council put in place an interest free loan to support maintained schools to decarbonise. The impact of these schemes will be seen in future years reports.

Expanding Scope 3 Supply Chain Emissions Reporting

In June 2023, our cabinet approved our Supply Chain Carbon Emissions policy.

This establishes a framework for us to influence and also to support our supply chain businesses in monitoring and reporting their carbon emissions and establishing carbon reduction plans. This policy consists not only in our suppliers reporting their emissions and communicating carbon reduction plans but also in a commitment to collaborate to find carbon reduction solutions and innovations that can support our collective journey to a zero-carbon Oxfordshire by 2050. 

During 2022/23 the council conducted a preliminary assessment of its supply chain emissions by calculating them through what is known as an ‘expenditure based’ approach using 2020/21 expenditure data. These estimated council supply chain emissions amounted to approximately 150,000 tonnes of CO2e. 

In addition to the expenditure-based approach described above, officers are working to increase the number of suppliers that report their greenhouse gas emissions directly to the council. This ‘activity based’ approach targets OCC’s top emitting suppliers to accurately report greenhouse gas emissions and replace the expenditure-based estimations. 

Based on engagements with four out of the council’s top ten emitter suppliers in 2023/24, it can be reported that their combined GHG emissions account for 20,812 tonnes of CO2e in 2023/24 based on activity data.

Carbon literacy

We are rolling out the award-winning carbon literacy training to our staff. Climate impact assessments are now carried out to ensure our decision-making is aligned with our climate commitments. We are improving the way we monitor and measure our carbon emissions.

Accountability

We will report on our greenhouse gas emissions annually. Over time we will look to increase the scope of our reporting to include supply chain emissions. View our latest Greenhouse Gas Report 2023-2024(pdf format, 1.1 MB). 

In line with the council’s scrutiny processes, councillors recently reviewed the council's approach to emissions reduction. The working groups final report and the response can be found here.