Oxford to Zero

Zero Carbon Council

We are committed to reducing our carbon emissions and becoming a Zero Carbon Council by 2030.

This means we are trying to reach zero carbon across our own operations – buildings and operations where we pay the energy, fuel and water bills– by 2030.

In February 2021 we published our 4th Carbon Management Plan for 2021/22 to 2029/30 which outlines how we aim to achieve this by achieving an average annual emissions reduction of 10% every year until 2030.

That is roughly 530 tonnes of carbon every single year - meaning we need to double our previous carbon reduction rate.

Since 2014/15 we have been publishing annual updates on our yearly greenhouse gas emissions from all energy used in our buildings, leisure centres, offices, depots and car parks, as well as from our fleet vehicles.

The main way we aim to achieve this is through decarbonising the power for the heating systems across our buildings and electrifying our fleet vehicles.

Our work to achieve this includes:

  • Installing more solar technology across our estate 
  • Electrifying the fleet of vehicles and moving to low carbon forms of transport
  • Carrying out detailed energy assessments on our highest energy consuming buildings
  • Decarbonising heat in our buildings by improving energy efficiency and moving to electric heating systems such as heat pumps
  • Investing and purchasing electricity from local solar farms
  • Raising awareness within our staff about the benefits and opportunities to reduce our own carbon emissions

Zero Carbon Council projects

Projects to help us achieve a Zero Carbon Council include:

Useful links

Latest news

Find out the latest news on our journey to becoming a Zero Carbon Council