Our action on the climate and nature emergency

Here are some examples of actions we are taking to try to reduce the local impacts of climate change and tackle biodiversity loss.

Restoring habitats

We are working to restore and improve dozens of areas of registered common land, ponds and rivers, natural grasslands and woodlands along the South Gloucestershire and East Bristol border.

Working with residents, volunteers, businesses and local schools, we are exploring how to enhance the links between these areas as well to create natural corridors for wildlife to travel safely between them.

Find out more about the Common Connections project.

Our Linking the Levels project will improve the habitat for nature and flood and drought resilience on 17,230 hectares of land along the Severn Estuary.

Planting trees

Thousands of new trees are being planted on land we manage or maintain. For example, public open spaces, highway verges and green areas within residential developments, bringing benefits directly where people live.

Increasing tree canopy cover is an important part of our Climate and Nature Emergency Action Plan.

Find out more about our tree planting programme.

Increasing electric vehicle facilities

We are increasing the number of electric vehicle (EV) parking and charging points across South Gloucestershire. Between 2019 and 2024, we installed 59 charging points across the region.

Find out more about electric vehicle parking and charging in South Gloucestershire.

LED street light programme

Our 10 year programme to upgrade our 31,000 street lights to LED technology is complete. The £8.3 million cost has already been offset by £24 million in energy cost savings. Our carbon emissions have been cut by around 42,000 tonnes.

Read more about the benefits of our LED lighting programme.

Converting to renewable energy

Our Badminton Road office is heated with a biomass boiler and uses power generated by ground-mounted solar panels. This solar panel installation, along with a second site at Moorend, generates almost 1,000 MWh of electricity each year.

We have built several new energy efficient (Passivhaus) schools including Frenchay Church of England Primary School and Elm Park Primary Winterbourne. The largest energy efficient school in the country is currently being built in Lyde Green.

We are planning to install more renewable technology in our council owned buildings. Biomass boilers, solar panels, and ground and air source heat pumps will increase the amount of renewable power generated for our local area.

Solar Together

Residents across South Gloucestershire have participated in our Solar Together scheme resulting in the installation of 179 solar panel systems and 167 batteries.

We continue to work with a number of partners to ensure that homeowners can get advice and low-cost loans for renewable heating solutions and to make homes more energy efficient.

Energy from grass cuttings trial

We have extended our trial into using grass cuttings to generate energy and reduce the council’s carbon footprint.

Find out more about the Greenprint project and where it is happening: Energy from grass cuttings

Heat networks

Mine workings are a reservoir of flood water which is warmed by solar energy and geological activity. We are exploring the use of former mines as a source of renewable heating and cooling for new and existing buildings.

We are also looking at how mine heat could be used in the strategic heat network which is being considered for the transport of waste heat from Avonmouth and the energy from waste (EfW) plant at Severnside.

For more information read our briefing note.

Improving flood resilience

We are improving drainage at road locations across South Gloucestershire to reduce the risk of weather-related flooding.

The locations involved have been identified as being particularly challenging. The costs are being met with funding secured from the government’s Local Highway Maintenance Challenge Fund.

We are working with partners to better manage flood risk on the Bristol Frome as well as improving biodiversity and connecting local communities to the river. The Frome runs for 20 miles through South Gloucestershire from Doddington Park to Bristol.

Find out more about the River Frome Reconnected project.

Further information

More projects are underway as part of our Greener Places green infrastructure strategy and action plan.