Hackney Council commits to 50% renewable electricity purchase
Hackney Council is taking decisive action to reduce carbon emissions and fight global warming with the announcement that it will obtain 50% of its electricity from clean, renewable sources by April 2019.
This significant increase in renewables as part of Hackney Council’s energy mix will be delivered alongside a range of other radical decarbonisation measures, including: the implementation of a world-leading energy efficiency management system, which will significantly reduce carbon emissions and save the Council money: and through the creation of a publicly-owned, renewables-focused, energy company.
Last year, the Council committed to obtaining 100% renewable energy across its full range of functions by 2050, and the Mayor was elected on a manifesto to begin working towards this goal in May. Cleaning up the electricity we consume is central to that commitment. This announcement to secure 50% of our electricity from renewable sources just six months after the local elections represents a big first step in demonstrating our absolute commitment to tackling the global warming crisis in our midst.
The most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on highlighted the vast challenges we face in order to avoid the catastrophic consequences of human influenced global warming, and the small window of time we have to implement the significant changes required. Hackney Council accepts the science attributing global warming to greenhouse gas emissions from human activities and we will use all powers at our disposal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the local level and beyond our borough boundaries.
Hackney Council purchases energy directly from the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) who buy energy on the wholesale market by pooling demand across Central Governmental bodies and Local Councils. However, this system is subject to constraints. The Council therefore decided, in the short term, to mandate CCS’ suppliers to secure a minimum of 50% of electricity from renewable sources. Meanwhile, a plan to secure even greater amounts of value for money clean energy, by working with London local authorities, is being developed.
The Mayor was elected in May 2018 on a promise to increase investment in sources of clean energy, and to work with other local authorities to magnify this effort. Our goal is to collaborate with other local authorities in order to help transform the energy system by directing significant investment towards clean, job-creating, domestic renewable energy generation. We want to demonstrate that local government can use its existing spending on energy to leverage change in the wholesale electricity market toward cleaner energy. This will support the drive to cut carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases driving global warming.
In the future, the Council will continue to work closely with the London Energy Project on a plan to develop an energy procurement framework to meet the environmental and value for money goals of London’s local authorities. Further to this, Hackney Council will host Procuring the Future, a seminar dedicated to clean energy procurement, in January 2019, to which representatives from all of London’s 32 boroughs have been invited.