Improvements to Greater Manchester public buildings cut annual CO2 emissions by 7,000 tonnes

Greater Manchester has cut its annual carbon footprint by 7,000 tonnes through improvements made to public buildings across the city-region.

Public sector buildings, including sports facilities, museums, educational establishments and fire stations are among those to have benefited from £78 million of government funding via the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme.

Measures implemented across Greater Manchester include the installation of air source heat pumps for heating, solar panels to generate and create electricity, insulation and LED lighting to improve energy efficiency, and energy monitoring and control systems to ensure these public buildings can accurately measure their energy usage. It is estimated that the public estate has reduced its energy use by over 43 million kWh through the improvements, reducing CO2 emissions by over 7,000 tonnes and cutting £2 million from local authority fuel bills.

In Stockport, £4.4 million was awarded to the council, saving over 2.8 kWh of energy, on top of separate work carried out by Greater Manchester Police and Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service in the borough.

The cuts to CO2 emissions helps bring the city-region closer to its ambitions of becoming carbon neutral by 2038, and is expected to have supported around 2,000 skilled jobs.

Cllr Martyn Cox, GMCA lead for the Green City Region, Waste and Recycling, said:

“In Greater Manchester, we’re serious about making the changes needed to reach our target of becoming a carbon neutral city region by 2038 and for our region to be a greener and fairer place for everyone.

“Reaching that target will require meaningful change from all of us. Retrofitting our public buildings is an important step in ensuring the buildings of Greater Manchester are producing as little carbon as possible. We hope that insight from the PSDS so far will go on to help us make further improvements and compel other owners in the city-region to make similar improvements to their own buildings.”