Sefton Council cuts carbon emissions by 43% since 2019
The headline of this year's Annual Report is that we're sewing the seeds for really positive progress in the near future.
Since declaring a Climate Emergency in 2019, we've reduced carbon emissions by 43%. That's a full 4,854 tonnes of CO2 that have been cut out of our emissions, meaning we're working cleaner and greener while lowering energy costs.
While our emissions reduction hasn't really moved the needle in 2025/26, there's a lot of groundwork going on behind the scenes to make gains in the next few years.
With our goal of being Net Zero by 2030 and the long-term challenges of being responsible as the effects of climate change become more and more obvious, this year's results are a reminder that it's a marathon, not a sprint.
Read on to see some of the highlights of this year's Annual Report. With each section, we'll point you to the section of the Report that you can read for even more detail.
Click the button in the final section of this Newsletter and you'll see the full Annual Report for 2025-26.
Saving energy and money in our buildings
Sefton Council has received funding from several sources to decarbonise and upgrade buildings. By doing all sorts of work, from adding solar panels to installing low-carbon heating, we're finding ways to cut energy costs and bring emissions down.
Our decarbonisation work has continued in 2025-26. Solar arrays at three leisure centres - Meadows in Maghull, Dunes in Southport and Crosby Lakeside - are expected to save more than 30 tonnes of carbon per year.
The decarbonisation of Bootle Library has involved replacing the heating system with low-carbon alternatives, improving insulation and adding LED lighting. Not only does it bring emissions down even more, it's going to help the Library work in a cost-effective way for the foreseeable future.
And, with the help of £20,000 from the SPARK fund, we've developed decarbonisation plans for buildings including our head office, Magdalen House.
Where this is in the Annual Report:Check Page 11 and Page 16 for more details.
Making a difference in the home
We're committed to helping people make savings as well. Our Healthy Green Homes team supports vulnerable residents to tackle fuel poverty and help them live in a warmer, most cost-effective home.
In the past year, that has translated to £185,000 in funding secured to help 111 households. On top of that, the team has hosted and attended many events to share guidance, distributed over 400 winter warm packs, and supported more than 200 grant funding applications for renewable technologies, heating and insulation.
The Warm Homes Local Grant scheme, funded by the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero through the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, launched in 2025-26. Already, our team has made energy efficiency improvements to 57 homes, including the one you can see below.
And Sandway Homes, Sefton Council's housing development company, is leading the way in development with all their open market plots achieving Grade A energy performance ratings.
Where this is in the Annual Report:Learn about Healthy Green Homes on Page 18. More information can be found on Pages 15 and 20.
Thinking green in everything we do
We've made progress in a number of areas we promised to work on at the end of our 2024-25 report.
A great example of this is our fleet decarbonisation plan. Plans are in motion to move from diesel vehicles to low-carbon alternatives, making sure that there's no negative impact on performance but making our fleet greener and cheaper to power. Diesel accounts for over a quarter of the Council's total emissions, so this is a major step towards our Net Zero goal.
Active Travel schemes mean that highways work, including Bootle's Maritime Corridor, Southport Eastern Access and the A59 Corridor support all methods of transport, including walking and cycling.
And people using Sefton's roads have their way lit by new LED street lighting. We've converted over 26,000 lanterns while adding more than 5,000 new lighting columns, all of which have combined to save over 5,200 tonnes of carbon emissions since the project started five years ago.
Our Energy and Environmental Management team has also created training to help staff embed green considerations into everything we do - making sure our actions across the board also help our climate goals.
Where this is in the Annual Report:Page 10 for fleet decarbonisation, Pages 13-14 for lighting, and Page 21 for Active Travel
Our priorities for 2026-27
Our fleet decarbonisation efforts continue apace. 2026-27 will see us carry out our short-term plan, leading on to our medium-term and long-term actions.
Decarbonisation continues with Stage 4 of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, while we'll continue to look for new funding opportunities to subsidise our work.
We're looking at more offsetting (investing in projects anywhere to compensate for our emissions) and insetting (a specific type of offsetting that's in our own area of responsibility).
And because we're all continuing to learn the best way to work towards Net Zero, we'll keep working on our training.
These are the main objectives, but there's a lot more we'll be working on before the 2026-27 Annual Report comes out next year.
Where this is in the Annual Report:Page 26
Thank you for reading!
We appreciate you taking the time to read our special edition.
If you'd like to learn more or have a question, we've got just the thing for you! Join us at one of three upcoming Climate drop-in sessions. Meet the team and pick up a couple of freebies on one or more of these dates:
Monday 19th October:Bootle Library, 10am-12pm
Wednesday 11th November:The Atkinson, Southport, 11am-1pm
Tuesday 1st December:The Meadows, Maghull, 11am-1pm
Thank you to everyone who came to our first session at Crosby Library on Thursday 1st October.
Read the full annual report below and, if you can't make it to one of our sessions, you can reach us by emailingclimate@sefton.gov.uk.
Click this button to find the full Annual Report
