I’m delighted to be able to say the Southwark Lib Dems have committed to Southwark becoming a carbon neutral council. Exactly the sort of policy that makes me very proud to be a Lib Dem.

What would this mean?

Southwark Council produces 14.5% of all the emissions in the borough. Within this 94% comes from council housing, 3% from schools, 1.5% from leisure centres and 1.5% from council offices and depots.

To become Carbon Neutral you first need to slash energy usage. All council homes don’t yet have loft and cavity wall insulation. Southwark Schools have embraced Eco-Schools concept but this needs to go further. Our leisure centre rebuilds have reduced energy use – but how to go further. Council offices are being disposed of as they’re concentrate staff  into Tooley Street and now Queens Road Peckham Office as well. But we need to go further and install microgeneration – even with the FIT reduction the RoR should be 5% which is a lot more than money left on deposit by the council.

What energy consumption is leftover you need to off-set. Eastleigh Council has done this by establishing a CarbonFREE Fund which pays for free insulation for peoples homes off-setting its net emissions. Clearly a great model for Southwark to follow.