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What we’re doing to help tackle climate change

To reach our 2030 target of becoming carbon neutral within our own operations, we are taking the following action:

Creating a culture of sustainability

  • We are providing information and training for staff and councillors on the climate and ecological emergencies.
  • We are working to make sure that climate and ecological implications are considered in all decisions and areas of work.
  • We buy electricity for the vast majority of our our buildings (such as council offices and our arts centre) that is 100 per cent from renewable energy.
  • We have stopped using plastic cups at our council office building in Abingdon. We have installed drinking water fountains for both staff and the public at our office. Staff should use reusable cups, while paper cups are provided for the public.
  • Our arts centre, Cornerstone, is plastic free. All drinks cups are ecoware and fully biodegradable as are the coffee, cups, cup lids and any disposable cutlery.
  • We’ve had 62 EV chargers installed at our car parks.
  • We promote community and private car clubs.
  • We’ve got a programme of installing solar panels and air source heat pumps at our leisure centres.
  • We have ordered an electric food truck for the waste collections fleet.
  • We have given grants for many community climate projects through our grants programme.
  • We have been lobbying for climate change action (see our official correspondence page)
  • We have been supporting cultural organisations with their climate change ambitions by supporting Green Arts Oxfordshire and its carbon literacy training programme.

What are we doing to help biodiversity?

The council has been taking action on biodiversity, creating new wildlife habitats and boosting populations of species for many years. This has been achieved:

Cutting our carbon emissions

We have cut our carbon emissions by 47 per cent since 2009 by changes such as:

  • investing in energy saving measures in our leisure centres
  • installing LED lighting at Cornerstone Arts Centre
  • replacing our waste vehicles with more efficient models
  • moving to hybrid working and holding more meetings online
  • by moving to shared, smaller office premises.

This is a significant reduction and represents continued and sustained long-term progress in lowering greenhouse gas emissions arising from the council’s operations.

We have published our Climate Action Plan which outlines what we are doing to further reduce our carbon emissions to meet our targets of becoming carbon neutral as a council by 2030. 

We will continue to monitor our progress on our carbon emissions, and will publish an Annual Greenhouse Gas Emissions Report.

Further information is set out in our Corporate Plan and Local Plan.

Contact us - Climate and Biodiversity Team

climateaction@southandvale.gov.uk

South Oxfordshire District Council
Abbey House
Abbey Close
Abingdon
OX14 3JE

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