Fareham could become a carbon neutral town by 2030 thanks to vegetable oil and solar panels
Vegetable oil and solar panels could hold the key to Fareham becoming a carbon neutral borough.
Fareham Borough Council has set the goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2030, and over the past few years has been taking steps to achieve this.
The initiative, dubbed Fareham’s Greener Future, puts an emphasis on preserving green spaces, natural habitats and improving urban environments.
On Tuesday, March 10, a report will be presented to the council, highlighting how much progress has been made.
Interestingly, vegetable oil has been crucial to bringing the town’s carbon emissions down - with the council using it to power its fleet of vehicles.
Diesel still totals half of the borough council’s emissions, and it’s hoped that by using vehicles that run on hydrogenated vegetable oil instead, this can be dramatically reduced over the coming years.
The report reads: “Over 40 per cent of our fleet, including our garden waste collection and small diesel vehicles now operate using hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO). HVO is a renewable diesel alternative derived from sustainable waste sources, such as used cooking oil.
“Although generally more expensive than diesel, HVO can offer a significant reduction in net carbon emissions. In 2025 we took delivery of five new Food Waste collection vehicles, which all run on HVO, ready for the service launch in March 2026.
“This brings the total proportion of our fleet using HVO to 51 and will help us avoid an estimated 117 tonnes of additional carbon emissions.”
Elsewhere, plans are in motion to introduce a 2.1 MW solar panel farm on a patch of land north of Hook. This farm could not only reduce the town’s carbon footprint by an estimated 860 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, but also produce so much energy that the council could sell some back to the National Grid.
The report adds: “Viability work has been ongoing for a number of years, and in 2025, we accepted the grid connection offer from Scottish and Southern Electric Networks (SSEN), who manage the grid locally.
“This is an important milestone in the development of the project. We engaged with the residents of Hook and the wider community on our proposals in early 2026.
“The next stage is to submit a planning application. If successful, the options for delivering the scheme will then be reviewed to determine the best approach.”