Hillingdon Council celebrates achievements in fighting climate emergency
Friday 11 April 2025: Hillingdon Council has agreed to adopt its revised Strategic Climate Action Plan which celebrates the significant progress already made and sets out its ongoing commitments to tackling the climate emergency.
The plan highlights the good progress it has made already to reduce its own emissions across its assets since the initial formal pledge in 2020 for its own operations to be carbon neutral by 2030.
The council has achieved a 53 per cent reduction, with most notably its Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme work at its Civic Centre forecast to reduce the council's largest carbon footprint by nearly 50 per cent.
Considerable progress has also been made in relation to flood risk, new development, and management of waste, as well as the planting of more than 51,000 trees across the borough, replacing inefficient sodium bulbs in 25,000 streetlights with low carbon LED lanterns, and starting to overhaul its fleet of vehicles to more efficient, low emission models.
The revised plan outlines a range of further measures the council will be taking to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and address climate-related challenges, such as biodiversity loss.
Examples include:
- ensuring all new major developments are carbon zero
- maximising opportunities following the introduction of biodiversity net gain for new development
- providing residents with more information on how they can tackle climate change, including reducing their own home's carbon footprint
- creating 'tiny forests' - compact community forests of trees, the size of a basketball court
- continued promotion of sustainable transport with improved cycling infrastructure and more EV charging.
The revised plan also incorporates feedback following a public consultation on the strategy which took place between November 2024 and January 2025.
Cllr Eddie Lavery, Hillingdon Council's Cabinet Member for Community and Environment, said: "We have made strides on our pledge for the council to be carbon neutral by 2030 and our revised Strategic Climate Action Plan sets out how we're aiming to build on those foundations to create a legacy for future generations.
"The impacts of climate change continue to become more apparent, so our aims and objectives have therefore not changed: We will be carbon neutral by 2030 and will continue to embed climate action across our services.
"We want to lead by example and encourage, empower and facilitate similar changes from residents, schools and businesses so everyone plays their part and helps us create the greenest London borough."
For more information, visit www.hillingdon.gov.uk/climate-action-plan.
