Zero carbon Oxford - Our Strategy
- Achieving net zero will require a citywide effort, involving local and national government, businesses, institutions and citizens
- While Oxford City Council itself is responsible for around 1% of the city’s emissions, it has the potential to influence up to 66% of all emissions in Oxford
- We have set ambitious targets for ourselves to be a zero carbon council by 2030 and a net zero city by 2040, subject to external funding
Strengths – pioneering approaches/UK firsts; partnership working
Challenges – encouraging behaviour change and investment from residents, businesses and institutions; scale of investment needed
Opportunities - retain beacon status to attract additional funding
Priorities:
- Decarbonising homes and other buildings and securing the additional funding required to meet the 2030 and 2040 targets
- Maintain and improve parks, green spaces, biodiversity and access to nature
- Develop low carbon infrastructure and support households, businesses and institutions to save energy and cut emissions
| Commitment | Deliver ourselves | In partnership | influence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ensure all new homes and other buildings are built to high standards with good energy efficiency, to meet Oxford’s 2040 net zero targets and reduce energy costs | x | x | |
| Secure external funding to retrofit Council houses and other council buildings | x | ||
| Actively engage our communities, promote grants and use planning and licencing powers to help others adapt their homes and buildings to use less energy and cut carbon emissions | x | x | x |
| Maintain and improve biodiversity in our green spaces and access to nature in the city; ensure building projects support biodiversity by providing land for OX Place and other developers to use for Biodiversity Net Gain locally when exceptional circumstances mean it cannot be delivered on the building site itself. | x | x | |
| Work with partners to deliver a Local Area Energy Plan for Oxford to support decarbonisation and infrastructure development | x | x | |
| Continue to design and deliver pioneering projects in Oxford that act on climate change, leading the way for the UK | x | x | x |
| Work with communities and organisations to increase the levels of reuse and recycling and make Oxford a clean, litter-free city | x | x | |
| Support design and delivery of a countywide climate adaption plan, including the Oxford Flood Alleviation Scheme (OFAS), water infrastructure and actions on living with higher temperatures | x | x | |
| Work with businesses of all sizes to support their net zero transition | x | x | x |
Measuring progress
In order to measure progress we will report annually on three key measures. These will be finalised in a separate report to follow in the next few weeks.
