Case studies

Since 2014, Cumbria County Council has invested £12.9 million in its LED Street Lighting replacement and improvement programme, replacing over 45,000 streetlights with more efficient and cost-effective LED technology.

Cumbria was named as one of five pilot areas to receive a share of a £1 million fund from the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) in August 2020 to develop a draft Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) pilot.

To get their estate to net zero by 2030 and prepare the borough for the impact of the climate crisis, Lambeth council have created a ‘future fit’ package for schools. This package consists of several projects, which reduce the schools’ carbon footprints, prepare them to be climate resilient, and protect school children from air pollution.

South Cambridgeshire District Council set out a wide-ranging zero carbon strategy, outlining the many ways in which it is encouraging, supporting and influencing action on climate change in the district.

Winchester City Council has been working with Winchester Action on Climate Change (WinACC) and the Centre for Sustainable Energy (CSE) to support the development of climate action hubs across the Winchester district.

From August 2019 – May 2021, the London Borough of Hounslow and Ogilvy Consulting’s Behavioural Science Practice collaborated on a rigorous behavioural insights trial to effectively test ways to increase recycling in high-rise properties.

Air Quality reviews locally identified taxi emissions as a significant source of air pollution within the Cambridge Air Quality Management area.

South Tyneside Council declared a climate emergency in July 2019, making a pledge to take all necessary steps to becomes carbon neutral by 2030. A key project is an innovative renewable energy scheme which extracts heat from the River Tyne and exports it to several council-owned buildings.

This project aimed to provide scientific advice and support as well as building capability within South Gloucestershire Council to identify pathways to local climate targets and support the delivery of the South Gloucestershire local Climate Action Plan, which is now at its second year of delivery.

Over the past year there has been considerable media speculation as to the carbon impacts of enforced homeworking. Has working from home helped to reduce carbon emissions? The home working energy usage project sought to take advantage of the enforced homeworking that became essential for most non-frontline staff at Durham County Council and Durham University to explore the empirical truth.