Islington joins 10:10 campaign to cut carbon emissions

2.28.02pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 29th Sep 2009

Islington's leading Liberal Democrat councillors: backing the 10:10 campaign

Islington's Liberal Democrat council was one of the ten local authorities that signed up to the new 10:10 campaign at its launch at the Tate Modern. Thousands of individuals, businesses and organisations have now signed up to cut their carbon emissions by 10% by the end of 2010.

Islington councillor Greg Foxsmith at the 10:10 campaign launch at the Tate Modern.

Islington's environment chief Councillor Greg Foxsmith said that this would be a tough target to meet - but that Islington Council is already a national pioneer on reducing carbon emissions, and under the Liberal Democrats has the drive and ambition to cut its carbon footprint even further.

Islington Council has already achieved an 11% saving on its carbon emissions- and a £700,000 saving on energy bills- in the last two years.

Islington's £4million climate change fund has installed renewable energy and energy efficiency measures on public buildings, schools, and community centres - as well as providing grants and loans for residents to fit renewables in their homes. And the council now uses hybrid electric vehicles and new dustcarts which run on locally-recycled vegetable oil.

The Islington Climate Change Partnership, founded and led by the council, has helped local businesses cut carbon and save cash, and more than 100 have pledged to reduce their emissions by 15%. The Council supports them with free energy surveys and advice workshops. The Partnership has reduced its emissions by over 7000 tonnes already - with 8.3% cuts in emissions in one year alone. In Islington, the Liberal Democrats are proving that the council can be a leader and an ally of local businesses, helping them save money - and save the planet.

Councillor Greg Foxsmith said:

"Islington's Liberal Democrat council has been leading the way in the fight against Climate Change, so it's fitting that we were one of the ten local authorities involved in the launch of the 10:10 campaign. It will be a tough target to meet, but we already have plans to insulate our schools, adopt green water management for our parks and allotments, and make all council buildings exemplar green buildings.

"We also think it's vital that the council actively leads on this in our community, and the Climate Change Partnership is going from strength to strength. We are designing a 'green communities' toolkit, and we also intend to become a leading council for sustainable, low-carbon designs in new developments.

"I hope that many more Islington residents and businesses will join the council in signing up to the 10:10 campaign. We can all be part of this grassroots movement to shame the national government into adopting this as an ambitious national target."