Council Signs Global Covenant underlining Reading’s commitment to climate action

Reading Council’s commitment to tackling the climate emergency was cemented when Leader Jason Brock signed the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy after a Full Council meeting this week.

The signing of this Covenant is the latest example of the Council’s long standing commitment to tackle the climate emergency, which dates back to 2006 with the signing of the Nottingham Declaration and which was refreshed when we declared a climate emergency in 2019.

The Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy is the largest global alliance for city climate leadership across the globe, launched in 2008 and built on the commitment of over 11,500 cities and local governments around the world, six continents and 142 countries - collectively representing more than 1 billion people – who are united by a shared long-term vision to support voluntary action to combat climate change.

Reading has a long and proud track record of taking action on climate change. Recent climate action and achievements by the Council, residents and other partners include:

• Reading Borough Council has cut its carbon footprint by 69.8% since 2008/09
• Reading borough’s overall carbon footprint has fallen by 49% since 2005 - the 5th largest reduction of 379 UK local authority areas
• In November 2021 the Council launched the first fully electric waste collection vehicle in Berkshire making collections from 1,400 houses daily and driving 8,000 miles a year with no tailpipe emissions - saving 32,200kg of greenhouse gas emissions annually compared to a diesel equivalent. The EV refuse truck will be the first of many as part of our vehicle replacement programme which should see virtually the entire Council fleet electrified by 2028
• Reading’s recycling rate increased from 32% up to 52% between April 2020 and April 2021 thanks to the introduction of food waste collections