How we’ve made Barnet more sustainable

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What we’ve done

We have already made progress on environmental sustainability in Barnet, but we still have far more to do.

So far we have:

  • replaced our street lights with LED lighting, reducing our energy consumption and our carbon footprint
  • supported walking and cycling to school initiatives
  • adopted our Long Term Transport Strategy 2020 to 2041
  • provided 150 electric vehicle charge points to help in the transition to electric vehicles, with more on the way
  • completed the RE:FIT project, which installed energy saving measures on the corporate estate, such as libraries and council offices
  • started to fund heat decarbonisation and energy efficiency measures on our land and buildings, through the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme
  • secured over £1m of funding to retrofit Barnet social housing through the Green Homes Grant scheme, making it more energy efficient
  • trialled a new road surface using recycled tyres helping to reduce landfill waste
  • supported the North London Heat and Power Project, which will convert up to 700,000 tonnes of waste to energy from the 7 North London boroughs
  • started the new Brent Cross Town development, which will be a net zero town. The development will feature a district heating system, which will be the largest installation of its kind in the UK
  • committed to planting over 4,500 trees from 2017 to 2022

Developing our Sustainability Strategy

We are developing a Sustainability Strategy.

This will provide the overarching sustainability goals for the Council and will pull together strategies and activities that support and promote sustainability.

Our Sustainability Strategy Framework was approved by Policy and Resources Committee on 9 December 2021 and lays the groundwork for the forthcoming Sustainability Strategy.

Why we’ve made the changes

We are focused on ensuring Barnet is a great place for residents now, as well as being fit for future generations.

The changes reflect Barnet’s commitment to meeting the government's sustainability targets and the focus on climate change given by COP26.

Our Sustainability Strategy will strike the right balance between social, economic and environmental policies.

These changes will help provide:

  • a lower carbon future
  • a clean and green environment
  • improved health and wellbeing of residents
  • reduced costs for businesses, residents and the council in the longer term