Wandsworth charges ahead towards climate goals

Yesterday (13 February), Wandsworth’s Environment Committee looked back at the progress of the Wandsworth Environment and Sustainability Strategy (WESS) over the past year and agreed on the new priorities for the year ahead.

Committee members heard how key milestones have been met, such as a 90% reduction in carbon emissions from the council’s new waste collection fleet and food waste collections now reaching 72,000 homes, as part of our Cleaner Borough Plan.

In its first year, the new microgrants scheme has also already provided £15,000 in funding to local community projects, engaging over 3,000 people, to help achieve the net zero target. This year, we will expand the scheme for a further three years with a total pot of £23,000 per year, which for the first time includes ringfenced funding for schools.

Judi Gasser, Cabinet Member for Environment, said: “We review our delivery plan every year to make sure we are focused on the right priorities and remain on track to meet our ambitious target of being a net zero borough by 2043.”

Highlights from the past year

• Our air quality monitoring shows that almost all areas are within national standards for nitrogen dioxide, and we want to keep improving 
• 110 additional bikehangar spaces installed, bringing the total to over 1,300 as part of London’s largest bikehangar installation programme with even more planned 
• Over 1,600 Warm Home Packs delivered to help residents cut energy bills and stay warm 
• 1,000 new trees planted, along with other biodiversity enhancements across parks 
• £170,000 secured for heat decarbonisation plans in 22 schools  
• Seven parks achieved Green Flag status, and Wandsworth was spotlighted by Good Parks for London for 'supporting nature' 
• Over 40 businesses supported to become more sustainable through the Making Businesses Greener Scheme 
• Wandsworth’s Library of Things consistently ranked top three in the UK  
• Wandsworth’s first-ever Sustainable September engaged over 4,500 attendees across 69 community-led climate action events.

Judi added, “We have already achieved a lot and as we inch closer to 2043, our plans for the upcoming year show no signs of slowing down.”

Priorities for the year ahead

Almost half of the borough’s carbon emissions come from people’s homes, with an estimated 44% scoring low when it comes to energy efficiency. This year, we are making it a priority to support residents to retrofit. Retrofit refers to any improvement work on existing buildings to make them more energy efficient. It also makes homes warmer and helps cut the cost of energy bills.

As well as working towards retrofitting our own social housing stock, we will be supporting residents with accurate information and engaging them in schemes to make their homes more efficient. We will target the areas most in need first and work with our partners to help local people develop ‘green’ skills.

In 2025, another of our focus areas will be on improving the borough’s climate resilience to weather emergencies such as flooding or heatwaves, which have both been experienced in the borough over the past few years. This will include additional training for staff, reviewing potential risk areas and informing residents of things they can do now to protect themselves.

As a listening Council, we will continue to work with residents, businesses and local organisations over the year ahead. This includes working with our Air Quality Citizens Assembly and Air Quality Ambassadors to help local people understand and take action to improve air quality.

Get involved

All are invited to join our next Wandsworth Sustainability Network meeting on Tuesday 18 March to find out more about our new plans for Wandsworth and share your views.

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