Reading Borough Council is ‘trashing the environment’ by falling behind on its climate action goals, according to the Green Party.
The Green councillors, who are the largest opposition party on the council, have stated that the Labour administration has failed to meet its climate change targets.
They have claimed that this has left residents facing higher emissions and ‘slower progress towards a safer, cleaner future’.
The Labour council’s figures show they aimed to cut their CO2 emissions to 3,145 tonnes in 2024/25, but instead recorded 4,660 tonnes.
Across Reading as a whole, the target was 345,000 tonnes, but the actual figure came in at 427,000 tonnes. These missed targets mean that emissions are not falling fast enough to meet local and national climate commitments.
The Greens state Labour’s ‘inaction’ risks worsening air quality, increasing heating and energy costs, and delaying the transition to a low-carbon economy.
Councillor Dave McElroy (Green, Redlands), who was also the Green MP candidate at the last general election, said: “This isn’t good enough. You only have to look out your window to see the traffic jams, old poorly insulated housing stock and rubbish blowing through the streets to see that the council is trashing our environment.
“We need Labour councillors that prioritise tackling climate change, and we need a Labour government that supports the council adequately.
“For example, the government could properly fund insulating homes in Reading, bringing down bills and cutting carbon emissions.
“Unfortunately, the current Labour government is going from one crisis to the next and not doing enough on climate change.
“It has significantly underfunded measures such as insulation, heat pumps, buses, cycling and walking, which can cut energy demand and carbon emissions much more swiftly and cheaply.
“Greens are working hard and making a difference locally, but we need urgent, coordinated action at every level.”
The statements were made in reaction to a report to the council’s Strategic Environment, Planning and Transport (SEPT) committee, presented at its meeting on November 19.
The report stated that Reading had retained its place on the Carbon Disclosure Project’s ‘A’ list of cities taking bold climate action, one of only 122 cities across the world and 20 in the UK to achieve this level.
The annual report on the Reading Climate Change Partnership’s Reading Climate Emergency Strategy 2020-25 shows that the borough’s emissions have fallen by 57.3 per cent since 2005, which is the 12th largest reduction out of 374 UK local authority areas.
Green and Labour councillors recently clashed over the Labour administration’s policy of introducing emissions-based parking fares.
Although Green members ultimately supported the policy, cllr Rob White (Green, Park), the leader of the party on the council, argued that it unfairly targeted people who live in homes that do not have driveways.
