Buildings
The biggest source of emissions in Royal Greenwich are existing buildings, homes and businesses. There are over 120,000 homes and over 2 million square metres of non-domestic floor space in the borough.
In 2021, 41% of the borough’s total emissions came from homes, with 64% coming from heat and electricity used in buildings. Council-owned homes currently account for 8% of the borough’s emissions.
Reducing these emissions will involve a combination of:
- making buildings more energy efficient
- replacing fossil fuel heating systems with low carbon alternatives
- deployment of renewable energy and district heat networks (Energy Saving Trust)
- behavioural change – operating our buildings more efficiently
Our actions
Our aspirational objectives are to make all council-owned homes, and the private domestic sector achieve net zero carbon emissions (scopes 1 and 2) by 2030.
This will also include the council’s non-domestic stock buildings like corporate property, maintained schools and community centres. Heat decarbonisation of the corporate property stock by 2030 requires significant sums of investment, around £500m, meaning additional government support is required.
We are also supporting businesses across the borough to decarbonise their own building stock through engagement and advice.
Progress so far
Operational emissions
- Successfully secured £1.9m in Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) funding, saving £36,000 and 300 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tco2e) per year
- 11% (700 tco2e) reduction in corporate property stock on previous year
- Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) delivering £20m to improve over 600 council-owned homes
In the 2022 to 2023 financial year, the Repairs and Investment team delivered a Housing Capital Programme totalling £32.8m where:
- 481 homes benefitted from more efficient boiler replacements
- 196 homes had their windows replaced
- 405 homes benefitted from improved communal heating services
Borough emissions
- Successful Local Authority Delivery Scheme supported over 150 properties with energy efficiency upgrades, about £10,000 of investment per low-income household
- Our fuel poverty outreach service supported 272 low-income households with a total estimated saving of was 715 tco2e
- Evaluation of green skills opportunities - estimate 2,299 jobs that could be created per year from a household net-zero retrofitting programme up to 2030
The Buildings Action Plan gives more details of the specific actions we’re taking.
Read the full Action Plan for Buildings: