UK cities in race to become carbon neutral

22 January 2020

We were so excited to read the news this week that Nottingham has pledged to become the UK’s first carbon neutral city by 2028 – fully 22 years ahead of the Government’s countrywide target.

In what is being hailed as the “most ambitious climate change strategy ever undertaken by a UK authority”, and coming in the same week Prince Charles called on big business to invest “trillions” into schemes that protect the environment and promote a sustainable economy, Nottingham’s announcement is more welcome news for those of us who care about the future of urban living.

More and more, it feels as if the sustainability message promoted by Planted is here to stay.

Nottingham’s vision is a shared one. Transport, energy use, waste management and housing will all be transformed in a bid to hit zero emissions in less than eight years. What’s not to like about that? It’s ambitious but surely we have to aim high in order to avert the ongoing damage we are doing to our environment. We at Planted say “bravo”.

“If it stands still, we’re going to put a solar panel on it,” Sally Longford, the Labour city council’s deputy leader and cabinet member for energy, environment and democratic services, told the Independent.

“And, if it moves, we’re going to do everything we can to make sure it moves on clean energy. The world is in a climate crisis. It’s no good hoping it goes away. Ambitious is exactly what we have to be.”  

With Edinburgh, Bristol and Glasgow also pledging to be carbon neutral by 2030, it seems there is something of a race afoot to become known as the UK’s most environmentally conscious and sustainable city. At Planted, we’ll do anything we can to help support those cities as we aim to deliver on our vision of cleaner, greener, better-looking urban spaces.

Written by Sam Peters, founding partner at Planted