South Oxfordshire District Council has nearly halved its carbon emissions since 2009/10.

Cllr David Rouane, the council's leader and climate lead, said: “The council’s carbon emissions are down by 47 per cent over the last 15 years – this is fantastic progress, which has been driven in recent years by our ambitious net zero targets.

"We are pushing forward our extensive programme of energy and carbon saving projects for our arts and leisure centres.

"We are doing this by improving insulation and installing technology such as solar panels and air source heat pumps. We have projects in Didcot, Thame and Wheatley underway.”

The council has received funding from the government’s Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme and Swimming Pool Support Fund to help with this work and it also looking at similar plans for Henley and Berinsfield.

The council’s waste team has bought its first electric food waste truck and up to six other council vans are also expected to move over to electric vehicles in the next year, with two already on the road.

Cllr Rouane, said: “We knew that there could be challenges to achieving our net zero targets both for the council and for the district.

“Our grant schemes and other funding we offer such as contributions from developers, are helping our residents, communities and businesses save energy and to make ‘green’ choices where they can.

"We know that people need housing and jobs, and through our forthcoming joint local plan [currently draft], we are aiming to achieve that without damaging the climate. We will do this by using robust, evidence-based policies on carbon emissions, nature recovery and biodiversity."

The council is working with the other Oxfordshire authorities to help reduce district-wide emissions.

It is supporting a number of projects including the decarbonisation of domestic housing, local area energy planning and electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

This month, cabinet members will discuss two reports on the itss net zero targets - one for the council’s own operations and the other for the district. These set out the progress so far and options for the future, as well as considering the various challenges and barriers to achieving the council’s net zero goals.

The reports recommend that the council recognises the progress that has been made so far and adopts a revised operational net zero target of 2030, and a revised target for the district of 2045. The revised targets better align with the other Oxfordshire councils and with the majority of other local authorities across UK.