October 8th is Clean Air Day. Together we all have a part to play to keep our air clean.
Portsmouth has reduced carbon emissions by 30% since 2005 but there is still more we can all do. Your local Liberal Democrat councillors have taken action so that Portsmouth City Council is tackling the climate emergency:
- implementing a plan to ensure emissions targets are met across the city by 2022
- setting a target to be net-zero carbon by 2030
- planting over 60,000 new trees and investing a further £100,000 for even more greening initiatives. See Portsmouth's Tree Charter
- investing in a 10-year programme to increase cycleways and improve walking routes
- installing over 110 on-street electric car charging points
- investing £120,000 for more Low Traffic Neighbourhoods
- rolling out household food waste recycling to all homes by the end of 2021
- investing £20million in a food waste recycling plant which converts waste to fertiliser and gas energy to sell
- making sure all council-owned buildings now have 100% green electricity
- creating power for 1500 homes a year by installing 26,000 solar panels on council buildings
- fitting batteries into council homes, coupled with solar PV, to save 70+ tonnes of carbon every year
- investing £2million to insulate homes to reduce their energy usage by 140,000 kg of CO2 emissions annually
- switching street lights to LED, saving £400,000 of public money each year
- working towards replacing the waste fleet with electric vehicles
- investing in council-owned Portsmouth International Port to help it meet its objective of being the UK's greenest port with battery storage, wind turbines, shoreside power for ships & more.
In addition to these measures and plans, the council have repeatedly asked central government to help improve air quality in Portsmouth by funding:
- half price bus passes for all citizens to encourage people to leave their cars at home
- car and van scrappage scheme to get the older more polluting cars off the roads
- the same level of funding to support public transport, walking and cycling as local councils get in London
Switched on Portsmouth - Impact Report
International Port Sustainability Plans