Portsmouth carbon emissions fall by more than half since 2005

Carbon emissions in Portsmouth have fallen by more than half since 2005, with the city council cutting its own emissions boy 60 per cent since 2012/13.

Portsmouth City Council says it has cut carbon emissions by around 60 per cent since 2012/13, while emissions across the city have fallen by more than half since 2005.

The figures are included in updated Carbon Action Plans presented to the council’s Liberal Democrat cabinet.

The plans follow Portsmouth’s declaration of a climate emergency in 2019. At the time, the council agreed to develop a city-wide carbon strategy and publish annual reports on carbon emissions.

The report shows the council’s emissions, covering fuel used directly by the council and the electricity it pays for, have fallen by around 60 per cent compared with 2012/13.

Over the same period, gas use dropped by 30 per cent and electricity purchases fell by 35 per cent.

The council’s total net carbon emissions for 2024/25 were 7,885 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO₂e).

Across the wider city, carbon emissions have fallen by 52 per cent since 2005 – a reduction of 683,324 tonnes of carbon dioxide.

Cllr Kimberley Barrett, cabinet lead for climate change, said the report showed the “hard work” the city was putting into cutting emissions, adding it was “the right thing to do” for residents.

She thanked former climate officer Kristina Downey for leading the work before leaving the council and said gathering the data was a complex task, as some people expected the reports to appear “at the click of our fingers”.

Cllr Barrett said the report had given the council “a much better picture” of what it had achieved, what it was doing now and what it should do next.

The report says the reductions have been achieved through measures including switching to hydro-treated vegetable oil fuel, introducing electric vehicles and tools, installing air-source heat pumps, replacing lighting with LEDs, adding solar panels and battery storage, and cleaner electricity from the national grid.

Transport and homes remain the city’s biggest sources of emissions, with transport continuing to be the most difficult sector to decarbonise.

The council says projects helping to reduce emissions across the city include home energy-efficiency schemes, expanded recycling collections, business energy audits through the Portsmouth Green Partnership, more electric vehicle charging points, new cycling routes and ZEBRA electric buses.