Our progress on becoming a carbon free county

We have achieved a 38% reduction in our direct organisational emissions (scopes 1 & 2) against our 2019 baseline.

A breakdown of the areas this reduction in emissions has been made can be found below.

Street lighting

Replacing around 89,000 bulbs, the streetlighting LED replacement programme is essentially complete and uses 100% renewable electricity.

• 5,244 tonnes annual carbon saved
• £3.5 million annual bill savings
• 63% energy efficiency

Council buildings and renewable energy

Whole building retrofit completed at three SCC buildings in 23/24, and others continue their installation phase in 24/25. Not all the anticipated projects went ahead due to delivery challenges and uncertainty on the future of some buildings. A significant amount of Government grant funding for 14 buildings was obtained for the next phase of corporate retrofits and these schemes are currently being developed.

• 664 tonnes annual carbon saved
• £2.6 million funding leveraged
• £720,000 annual bill savings
• 0.2 megawatts of renewable energy capacity

Fleet and active travel

Our fleet contains 39 hybrid vehicles. Although some key sites have EV charging points, the delivery of EV charging on the SCC Estate has been delayed due to challenges with the framework infrastructure provider, and lack of direct budget for provision for EV charging. This has directly impacted on the organisation's ability to transition to a zero-emission fleet.

• 23 tonnes annual carbon saved

Schools and leased buildings

5 schools were retrofitted with heat pumps and insulation measures (part funded by a government grant), and funding was obtained to retrofit a further 3 schools in 24/25. Solar PV was installed at one school through a successful solar rooftop Power Purchase Agreement pilot, and interest was demonstrated from many other schools and academies to access this opportunity should SCC decide to expand it.

• 26 tonnes annual carbon saved
• £100,000 annual bill savings
• £2.1 million funding leveraged
• 62 megawatts renewables

Procurement

The Climate Essentials supply chain carbon tool has been procured and we are in the process of uploading our suppliers. The tool calculates the council's share of the suppliers' carbon emissions based on how much money we spend with them, which helps to improve the accuracy of the data on the council's indirect emissions. The tool also allows the suppliers to create decarbonisation plans and track their progress annually. As of August 2024, there are 155 suppliers on the system, equating to 28% of annual spend.

Staff

Whilst Carbon Literacy Training and the Green Champions Staff Network were paused to review their efficacy, resource was redirected to ensure that all service areas effectively incorporated Greener Futures objectives and outcomes into major processes such as Business Planning, financial decisions, scheme designs and delivery. 58 out of 214 delivery activities in 2024/25 Business Plans (which are developed in 2023/24) self-selected a contribution to Enabling a Greener Future, the second most popular strategic objective, however the vast majority were from EIG, and self-selection doesn't require a contribution to Greener Futures.

Read the full reports:

• Net Zero 2030 progress report 2023 to 2024 (PDF)
• Net Zero 2030 progress report 2022 to 2023 (PDF)
• Net zero 2030 progress report 2021 to 2022 (PDF)

As the county council we have a duty to support residents and businesses in their decarbonisation journey. So as well as considering our own emissions, we provide a variety of support to facilitate wider decarbonisation across the county.

The Climate Change Act (GOV.UK) sets out sets out or national ambition to reach net zero by 2050. We recognise that reaching this target will require collaborative efforts and we would like to support Surrey residents with their decarbonisation journey. The below sections set out our progress to date .

Fuel poor and vulnerable

Changes to the national grant funding available meant that Local Authorities could only provide retrofit funding to fuel poor households that were off-gas (not connected to the gas-grid) through the HUG2 scheme. This resulted in a slower rate of fuel poor households retrofit in 2023/24 compared to previous years. Despite the increased administrative requirements of a more complex scheme, Surrey Local Authorities' HUG 2 programme has performed well, administering 15% of all grant funding offered across the UK in 2023/24.

• 1,339 tonnes annual carbon savings
• £13.1 million funding leveraged
• £850,000 annual bill savings
• 84 warm welcomes

Households

The commitment from the 2023/24 Climate Change Progress Assessment to continue to stimulate an increase in residents investing in solar PV was carried out through delivering phase 2 of Solar Together. Similar levels of participation were achieved compared to phase 1 with 991 households participating to have solar panels, batteries and/or EV charge points installed.

• 2,005 tonnes annual carbon savings
• £18 million funding leveraged
• £1.3 million annual bill savings
• 2,177 households reached

Active and sustainable travel

Working with Borough and District Councils, Surrey County Council has been developing a county-wide programme of Local Cycling and Walking Plans (LCWIPs), of which 6 have been completed. 8 out of 13 areas were in feasibility stage, with 40 prioritised routes in feasibility stage. Whilst many routes have been planned or are under construction, no new cycle routes have been built in 2023/24 due to funding prioritisation and some public opposition. At the end of 2023/24, 12 road safety measures outside schools were in place, with another nine due to be implemented in the summer of 2024. Surrey County Council has recently updated its policy in relation to 20 mph speed limits as part of a new Vision Zero Road Safety Strategy. The new policy is more flexible to make it easier and less expensive to implement more 20 mph schemes focussing on schools, town centres and residential areas after careful consultation with local people.

• 177 tonnes annual carbon savings
• £250,000 funding leveraged
• 2,802 residents engaged
• 22,472 pupils trained

Public transport

The bus decarbonisation programme has been working hard to overcome supply chain issues which have impacted delivery dates for both hydrogen buses and electric minibuses. This includes innovative solutions to refurbish and electrify diesel buses resulting in a lower carbon footprint. There was limited development of the Surrey Connect DDRT scheme, however there is planned expansion in 2024/25, with an extra 13 buses due to be added and operating areas expanded.

• 1,066 tonnes annual carbon savings
• £4.1 million funding leveraged
• 26.7 million passenger journeys
• 7,702 Surrey LINK users

Businesses

A fantastic example of Local Authorities working in partnership for the benefit of local businesses has been the development of the SME Decarbonisation Loan in 2023/24. Six Districts and Boroughs (Woking, Guildford, Waverley, Reigate and Banstead, Spelthorne and Surrey Heath) are contributing revenue funding towards the new SME Decarbonisation Loan, which includes a decarbonisation assessment, decarbonisation and carbon calculator to help local businesses to improve their energy efficiency and reduce their energy costs.

The first phase of this innovative pilot will launch in 2024/25, providing £200,000 worth of loans by March 2025. the loan is targeted to create 25 jobs and save 84 tonnes of carbon and up to £67,000 in energy bills per year. Phase 2 is expected to see the delivery of £400,000 of loans between October 2025 and March 2027. In addition to the loan, businesses will also be given further support to develop a plan to reduce their carbon emissions through a free decarbonisation course and free access to a carbon calculator. By March 2025, the target is for 70 businesses to be attending the course with 45 decarbonisation plans will be developed. Further 70 businesses will be using the carbon calculator.

• 246 tonnes annual carbon savings
• £820,000 funding leveraged
• £120,000 bill savings
• 124 businesses enquired

Communities

The implementation of the Greener Futures Engagement Strategy led to more successful engagement with businesses, residents and communities in Surrey. Some key successes include improved social media campaigns reaching over 50,000 residents, the development of the 'Together for Surrey' behaviour change platform and the new Home Energy Advice Taskforce with 68 volunteers who delivered 550 free home energy surveys in 2023/24. The Council improved the effectiveness of community organisations through the delivery of small grants, leading 25 training or speaking events and improved communication routes. This includes a new email network of 670 individuals and organisations and an increased readership of the Greener Matters newsletter to 733 individuals.

• £800,000 funding leveraged
• 380,000 social media hits
• 98 Green Flag schools

Planning, placemaking and infrastructure

74 EV charging points were installed in 2023/24, and there are 80 charge points in the immediate pipeline, with more to be installed throughout 2024/25. Many of the projects in this section are long-term, and so results will be seen in future years.

The first draft of the Low Carbon and Climate Resilient Infrastructure policy has been developed in 2023/24 and tools to support its implementation will be developed in 2024/25 and 2025/26. The policy sets out standards and targets to minimise emissions through low carbon design and ensure Highways Infrastructure assets are future proofed against future climate risks.

• 339 tonnes annual carbon savings
• 505,000 kWh electric vehicle charging

Trees and land management

Tree planting has continued, with a strong focus on creating and expanding new and existing community orchards and planting fruit trees within community settings. The Land Management Plan is currently in draft, awaiting Cabinet approval in Winter 2024. The Local Nature Recovery Strategy is in development, and the product will be a spatial map of Surrey highlighting where action needs to be taken. A Biodiversity Net Gain working group has been set up, with field survey work ongoing.

• £160,000 funding leveraged

Local authority carbon reduction

Of the 11 out of 12 local authorities who provided information for this report, 6 have programmes in place to retrofit their estate, with 42 buildings retrofitted, 27 sites with EV charging infrastructure and 21 sites with appropriate active travel infrastructure. 7 authorities have programmes in place to decarbonise their fleet, with a total of 171 low carbon vehicles. 6 local authorities have staff travel plans in place, 5 local authorities have sustainable procurement policies in place and162 staff are trained as carbon literate.

• 10,768 tonnes carbon save
• £11.8 million funding leveraged
• 165 green champions
• 1.07 megawatts renewables

Read the full reports

• Climate Change Progress Report 2023 to 2024 (PDF)
• Climate Change Progress Report 2022 to 2023 (PDF)
• Climate Change Progress Report 2021 to 2022 (PDF)