Co-ordinated plans setting out what Manchester needs to do to tackle climate change over the next five years – and how the Council will lead the way have been revealed.
Both the city as a whole and Manchester City Council as an organisation are on a mission to reduce the amount of carbon, the biggest contributor to harmful climate change, which they emit into the atmosphere, with a shared target of becoming zero carbon by 2038.
Manchester’s leadership on climate change dates back over 15 years to the launch of Manchester: A Certain Future alongside the Council’s first Climate Change Action Plan. Against a backdrop of mixed progress globally, the Council and city as a whole have continued to set out and deliver ambitious goals.
Manchester Climate Ready: The Plan 2025-30 lays out what Manchester communities, businesses and organisations including the Council need to do for the city to get on course to meet the 2038 target.
The potential benefits for residents are huge – from cheaper energy bills and new green jobs to better public transport, cleaner air and improved access to parks and natural spaces.
The MCR Plan, developed by Manchester Climate Ready (the new name for Manchester Climate Change Agency and Manchester Climate Change Partnership), shows that to be on track to meet its ultimate zero carbon goal, by 2030 Manchester needs to:
- Retrofit 78,850 homes to improve their energy efficiency
- Retrofit 6,200 non-residential buildings
- Install 54,000 heat pumps in properties
- Install almost 400 MW of solar power – enough to power tens of thousands of homes
- See around 25% of light and heavy freight vehicles go electric
These are among a raft of actions which will need local, regional and national action if the city is to be able to achieve its own stringent targets and lead the way in delivering city-scale action, essential to the UK meeting its climate change targets.
The MCR Plan also looks at how the city must adapt to be resilient to the impacts of climate change which we are already experiencing such as more extreme heat and flooding. It summarises the contents of a new Manchester Adaption Plan which is published at the same time.
The Council’s Climate Change Action Plan (CCAP) 2025-30, building on the success of the 2020-25 CCAP, sets out how the Council will reduce its emissions further – by more than a third over the next five years. This equates to saving almost 43,000 tonnes of carbon emissions.
It also addresses how the Council will continue to play and strengthen its leadership role in influencing and supporting residents and businesses in the city to reduce their own emissions, and how the Council will lobby for national and international policies and initiatives to help tackle climate change.
Councillor Tracey Rawlins, Executive Member for Environment for Manchester City Council, said: “Climate change is one of the most pressing issues facing the world today and nowhere is immune from its impacts. Manchester remains determined to be at the forefront of tackling the issue and the Council is intent on leading by example. Our aim is to use the actions in our Climate Change Action Plan to drive the city’s ambitions.
“Getting this right isn’t just about cutting carbon emissions, as crucial as that is. It will create a wealth of other benefits – greener public spaces, better public transport, cheaper energy bills, cleaner air, new green jobs and a healthier city. It’s not just about what’s best for the planet, but what’s best for Manchester’s residents.
“There will undoubtedly be challenges ahead which require creative solutions. For us this includes the pressures on local government finances. But Manchester has never been somewhere to sit on the sidelines when faced with a crisis and we’re not going to start now. As these plans outline, everybody has their part to play.”
The plans will be considered by the Executive on 15 October for endorsement and full Council on 26 November for formal adoption.
To ensure the Council as an organisation remains on track to become zero carbon by 2038, it has to stay within a science-based carbon budget, the maximum amount of carbon it can emit over each five-year period.
For 2020-25, this ‘carbon budget’ was 126,336 tonnes. The Council was able to stay within this – emitting only 122,000 tonnes of carbon – through a range of measures including retrofitting 40 of its buildings to improve energy efficiency, new LED street lighting and replacing more than half of its bin lorries with electric alternatives.
For 2025-30 this maximum amount allowed falls to 79,300 tonnes, which requires a reduction of around 41,500 tonnes over the period.
The Council’s emission reduction programme is targeting slightly more than that – saving 42,871 tonnes of carbon through the following headline actions:
- Purchasing renewable energy directly from a newly-created solar farm from 2026 through a Power Purchase Agreement – saving 17,600 tonnes.
- Decarbonising the rest of the council’s waste and operational vehicles by moving from diesel and petrol to low emission vehicles – saving 12,011 tonnes.
- Saving 6,730 tonnes through an ongoing programme of building sustainability measures.
- Maximising the efficiency of the street lighting network – saving 3,030 tonnes.
- Decarbonising the Manchester Energy Network, a shared heating system used by a number of Council and other city centre buildings, which currently run on natural gas – saving 3,000 tonnes.
- Encouraging more sustainable staff business travel – cycling, walking or using public transport – saving 500 tonnes.
Altogether, there are 62 actions identified in the plan. These include measures to support and drive improvements across the city in electric vehicle charging infrastructure, renewable energy, the retrofitting of commercial and residential buildings to enhance energy efficiency, net zero standards for new buildings wherever possible, green public transport and cycling and walking facilities, and creating and linking new green spaces and waterfronts.
