Conservative run Horsham District Council (HDC) has reduced its direct carbon footprint by some 57% since 2019/20, when it committed to being carbon neutral by 2030. This equates to approximately 1,300 less tonnes of carbon being emitted.
The biggest impact in carbon reduction has been from changing the fuel used in the Council’s fleet vehicles. All of the Council’s vehicles that ran on diesel were switched to sustainable-sourced Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil (HVO) fuel in April 2022, which slashed carbon emissions of the fleet by some 90%. Further actions will include switching to LED lights in all District car parks and making HDC’s housing stock and other Council-owned buildings and leisure facilities more energy efficient by using renewable or low carbon sources of energy. HDC aims for its overall direct carbon emissions to be carbon neutral by 2030 by minimising the use of fossil fuels in its vehicle fleet and by reducing the use of gas and electricity in council-owned buildings through de-carbonisation and energy efficiency.
