Green, greener, greenest!
Would you like to plant a garden on your roof or have a wind turbine at the end of your street?
Manchester wants to become greener and cleaner, so it's signed up to the Low Carbon Cities programme to deliver on the challenge of climate change. Working with the rest of Greater Manchester, we are developing a tailored action plan to slash carbon dioxide emissions.
The project aims to deliver a groundbreaking plan to accelerate the rate at which we cut emissions. The lessons learned can then be introduced across the UK. Manchester will share a £250,000 fund with Leeds and Bristol to plan new and innovative ways to achieve cuts in carbon emissions, including the generation of renewable energy and trigeneration (locally generating electricity, heat and cooling from a single source, such as waste water or biomass). It will make it easier for people to take action on climate change, by simplifying and improving measures that help residents, businesses and public agencies achieve and support low-carbon lifestyles, and cut their carbon footprint.
Emissions across Greater Manchester are currently over 19million tonnes a year. In order to avoid climate change reaching catastrophic levels, those emissions need to be cut by as much as 6million tonnes by 2020. This new initiative will help quantify the impact of the many policies and initiatives already in place and identify the additional steps that public agencies, businesses and communities need to take in order to achieve this goal.
Executive Member for Environment, Councillor Neil Swannick, said: "Being selected to drive the Low Carbon programme is fantastic news and it is a testament to the climate change initiatives we have already developed through the Manchester is my Planet campaign and Green City programmes, and the world-class climate change research expertise offered by our universities.
"This support and funding from The Government will enable us to build on the work already being undertaken by ourselves, other local authorities and our partners across Greater Manchester."
Tom Delay, Chief Executive of the Carbon Trust, said: "This new programme is the next crucial step in encouraging collaboration and harnessing good practice to ensure coherent city-wide strategies."
Meanwhile, Waste Contract Manager Kelly Reynolds has claimed the title of national local authority Recycling Champion. She won the letsrecycle award, according to the judges "For her hands-on and well-organised approach to raising awareness of recycling among residents in Manchester."
Kelly led the rebranding of the city's waste and recycling service and encouraged residents to recycle household waste. Household waste recycling in Manchester - mainly from kerbside collections and recycling points - has risen from three per cent to more than 20 per cent in the past three years.
For more information, see www.corecities.com, or to see other initiatives introduced to combat climate change in Manchester, visit www.manchestergreencity.co.uk