The following is published on Coventry City Council’s website.

Coventry City Council’s carbon footprint

The carbon footprint measures carbon emissions that are under the Council’s direct control. These include carbon emissions from Council buildings, fleet vehicles, business travel, street lighting and emissions from outsourced services.

In 2008/09 our footprint was measured at around 35,000 tonnes.

Our carbon footprint report

The Council began monitoring the carbon footprint of its operations in 2008 and set a target to reduce CO2 emissions by 35% by 2020. We achieved this target in 2015/16.

The Council’s carbon footprint currently measures approximately 11,646 tonnes and represents a 61% reduction since 2008. Further details about the Council’s carbon footprint are given in the latest annual Greenhouse Gas Report.

Reducing our carbon emissions

We are currently developing a new emissions reduction target for the Council which will represent the role we, as a City Council, must play to ensure we are leading by example and taking action to reduce the effects of climate change. In 2019, for the first time, Coventry City Council are disclosing to CDP which we hope will help us to understand what we’re doing well and what we could be doing better.

Pool cars and bikes

The Council has a fleet of 12 pool cars which comprises two electric vehicles and two hybrid vehicles. In addition to pool cars, the Council has invested in pool bikes for employees to use when on Council business and offers free cycle training.

Property rationalisation

In October 2017, around 1,350 Council staff relocated to the Council’s new home, One Friargate. Moving into the building has allowed the Council to reduce the number of offices across the city from 27 separate buildings to just nine, cutting carbon emissions by a third. Further work is underway to ensure our buildings are used effectively.

Automatic meter readings

Over the past year, our energy meters have been replaced with automatic meters which automatically collects consumption, diagnostic, and status data for gas and electricity and stores it on a central database. This allows us to accurately analyse our consumption data in real-time and reduce our usage where possible. Currently, 97% of our gas meters and 73% of our electric meters have been upgraded.

West Orchards car park

Old, inefficient lighting in West Orchards car park has been replaced with a new state of the art smart control system, featuring motion detection so that the lights are not on constantly. The project has been operational since April 2019 and is currently showing energy reductions of about 66% saving the council 71 tCO2 per year.