Reducing city emissions
In addition to tackling our own emissions, we are also playing a key role in working with stakeholders and citizens across Birmingham and the wider region to tackle our city’s greenhouse gas emissions.
The council reviews a range of data published by the UK Government to understand and track progress in reducing Birmingham’s greenhouse gas emissions. To make this data more open and accessible we published a Climate Change Briefing Book on the City Observatory.
Birmingham’s emissions
We report Birmingham’s GHG territorial emissions using the UK local authority and regional greenhouse gas emissions national statistics. These have a 2-year publication lag. In 2022, Birmingham’s territorial emissions were 4,3160 ktCO2e, which is a 38% reduction since 2005.
Citizens, organisations and institutions have a role to play in the city’s journey to net zero. One of our roles as a council is to use our unique place shaping powers to help create a city which enables citizens to live more sustainably. We are also bringing people together and working with these groups to encourage action by sharing our knowledge, expertise, and experience, to support each other to reduce our emissions.
Examples of our place shaping and engagement activities are:
- updating our Local Plan and planning policies to ensure future developments are built to high environmental standards and support our net zero ambitions
- delivering the Birmingham Transport Plan to improve transport systems and access to sustainable travel whilst reducing emissions
- delivering housing retrofit schemes to insulate our fuel poor citizens’ homes to improve their comfort, reduce their energy bills and lower emissions
Examples of our partnership and engagement activities include:
- hosting a schools model Conference of Parties (COP) event to debate climate policies and explore actions that they could take to respond to climate change
- engaging the Birmingham Faith Covenant to understand their challenges in addressing climate change, and provide advice on reducing their emissions
- creating our Climate Change Engagement Framework to guide our activities when working with city stakeholders on climate change
Further information on these and other activities can be found in our Route to Net Zero Annual Report.
To receive updates on our work, sign up for our Climate Change, Nature, and Net Zero Newsletter.
If you have specific enquiries email Routetozero@birmingham.gov.uk.
Page last updated: 25 October 2024
