Successful steps made to tackle climate change

Over the past year, the council have been continuing with their vow to lower the borough’s greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to a global call to tackle the impact of them.

Five years ago, the council declared a Climate Emergency and pledged to work towards becoming a carbon neutral borough by 2030.

Since then, the climate change team have been working to minimise the borough’s emissions which include carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide; and have recently provided a report detailing the key activities undertaken by the council in the last financial year.

The focus of 2023/24 was testing toolkits, having surveys and studies done and submitting grant applications in readiness for implementation of schemes in 2024/25, however much practical work was undertaken too. The work included:

– The installation of 86 energy efficiency measures for Blackburn with Darwen homes under the Home Energy Grant, such as heat pumps and solar PV and upgrading windows from single to double glazed, in homes with no gas central heating.

– A feasibility assessment of solar farms on Council-owned land and outline business cases for three locations that showed good potential as well as an appraisal of how to increase solar energy generation on the borough’s commercial roof space.

In fact, an outline estimate suggests there could be sufficient roof space to potentially meet the borough’s entire annual electricity demand!

– Commissioning 11 electric vehicles to replace diesel vans on the Council’s fleet.

– Setting up an electric vehicle pilot project to work with a private Charge Point Operator who will provide and service 25 electric vehicle charge points at five residential sites around the borough.

– Developing the Cycle Centre in Witton Park into an Active Outdoors Hub, creating a new multi-use space for organisations to deliver walking and cycling training and workshops on Active Travel.

– Planting almost 1,000 trees – standards, orchards and micro-wood – in parks and green spaces around the borough.

– Preparing a peatland restoration plan for Aushaw Moss.

The progress made by the council so far has meant that it has secured an ‘A’ grade from the Corporate Disclosure Project, which is a global disclosure platform that assesses how an organisation is managing its environmental impacts. The ‘A’ rating means that the Council demonstrates environmental awareness, management and, crucially, leadership and puts Blackburn with Darwen Council in the same category as cities such as Barcelona and New York!

For 2024/25, key strands of work include heat decarbonisation, carbon capture, transport and housing. Activity in these areas has the potential to make real reduction to the borough’s carbon emissions and draw in other partners and private landowners. Heat networks serving Council buildings could cut emissions by 1,300 tonnes, about a quarter of current estate emissions, whilst tree planting and peatland restoration could capture 350 tonnes of carbon by 2030, roughly the emissions from Darwen Leisure Centre in one year.

Housing and transport account for about half of all emissions in the borough. The council doesn’t control these, but it aims to encourage and influence the borough’s residents and businesses to help instead. You may have seen this in the form of the one-degree challenge recently, which encouraged residents to nudge their heating down by one degree to save money and carbon. Look out for more campaigns in the future to help you make informed decisions to lower your impact on the climate, including the introduction of food waste collections in June 2026. Globally, food waste is estimated to contribute 8-10% of total greenhouse gas emissions.

Councillor Quesir Mahmood, Executive Member for Growth and Development said:

I’m really pleased with the progress we have made so far in reducing the council’s impact on the climate. We do however have a long way to go. It’s not an easy task however it’s incredibly important we all do our bit to help the planet and I ask that you the residents consider how your day-to-day actions can help make an improvement, whether that be taking the bus to work or recycling and reusing items where possible.

If you would like to read more about the work we are doing to tackle climate change, you can visit our website.