Portsmouth City Council has agreed on a new set of actions to help the city become carbon neutral and better prepared for the effects of climate change.
The plans, which were approved at the Climate Change and Greening the City meeting, will shape the council’s work during 2025/26 and build on progress made over the last year.
Over the past year, the council has helped residents improve home energy efficiency through the Warm Homes programme and launched a major solar and battery project at Lakeside North Harbour – now one of the UK’s largest.
Looking ahead, the council will focus on improving how it tracks carbon emissions, including those from the companies it works with. It plans to develop detailed Local Area Energy Plans and continue working with the government to upgrade homes across the city, helping to lower energy use and emissions.
Efforts will also continue to reduce flooding from heavy rainfall. The council aims to make the city’s treescape more resilient to climate change by working with communities to care for new and existing trees, which also help keep the city cool in warmer weather.
A new programme is being explored to make Portsmouth’s streets greener and healthier, alongside the development of both an air quality strategy and a plan to protect local wildlife and natural spaces.
Councillor Kimberley Barrett, cabinet member for climate change and greening the city, said: “Climate change is here and its impact is affecting us all. That’s why we declared a climate emergency in 2019, and made a pledge for the city and the council to become carbon neutral.
“We all want Portsmouth to be a green and healthy city, where people and businesses thrive alongside nature. But we can only achieve this if businesses and our communities work together.
“The good news is that so much has been achieved already, but we need to keep being ambitious as this programme of work is, to protect and enhance our special city.”
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