Milton Keynes Council is on track to become carbon zero by 2030, according to data in a new report.
In 2019, the council launched the Sustainability Plan. Back then, the council was creating around 24,000 tonnes of carbon each year and using fossils fuels to power MK’s streetlights, council buildings and its fleet of vehicles.
Since then, MK Council has been working on high-impact carbon reduction schemes.
A new report shows that the Council has been able to reduce its carbon footprint by a third, around 8,000 tonnes of CO2 last year.
It is now on track to reduce it by two thirds each year, around 16,000 tonnes of CO2 by 2024.
The Cabinet Member responsible for Climate Action and Sustainability, Cllr Jenny Wilson-Marklew, said: “We’ve made strong progress reducing the Council’s carbon footprint even while dealing with the unexpected challenges of the pandemic, and there are some excellent schemes in the pipeline to help us become ever more sustainable.
“As well as taking direct action on our own carbon production, we’re using our influence to reduce the carbon footprint for Milton Keynes as a whole, by setting greener policies for construction and transport and asking local businesses and citizens to cut their emissions.
“We look forward to increased funding being made available by Government to allow us to do more and make progress even more quickly."
The Council also has plans to make it entirely carbon neutral by 2030 and carbon negative by 2050. These include solar farms, entirely carbon neutral council homes, electric buses, and a fleet of household waste collection vehicles powered by electricity produced from the very waste they collect.
The new report will be received by Cabinet on 14th December.
