Climate action you can take
You can find out how climate friendly your local area is with the Climate Action postcode search.
Calculating your carbon footprint
Carbon footprint is the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere as a result of the activities of a particular individual, organisation, or community. Once you are aware of your carbon footprint you are able to more easily see which areas of your lifestyle you could change or improve to lower your personal carbon footprint.
You can calculate your personal carbon footprint using one of these free online calculators:
- for a quick estimate of your footprint or an accurate calculation of your footprint over a 12 month period (you will need your latest bills) use Carbon Independent
- Carbon Footprint uses calculations based on annual emissions over 12 months (you may need your latest bills for some calculations)
- a simple, easy test to estimate your carbon footprint from Footprint WWF
30 top tips to lower your carbon footprint
We have created 30 tips you can download and use to start reducing your carbon footprint and help us to become carbon neutral.
Friends of the Earth have produced 20 actions for Town and Parish Councils to become more carbon neutral.
Funding
Energy improvements and efficiency
Simple Energy Advice has advice and localised grants, such as Energy Company Obligation - ECO, available for home energy improvements and renewable energy installations.
The Rural Community Energy Fundoffers support and funding to communities considering a community energy project.
Target 2030 is a business energy efficiency programme that helps small and medium-sized businesses identify and reduce their energy costs and impact on the environment through the installation of energy efficiency measures.
Salix Finance offers interest-free finance for energy-efficiency projects to a host of educational institutions such as schools.
The Warm and Well grant has advice and grants for reducing fuel poverty and improving energy efficiency.
Low emission vehicles
You can receive a plug-in grant for many eligible low-emission vehicles.
A low emission vehicle grant is also available for the installation of a home or workplace charge point.
Trees and woodland
The Urban Tree Challenge Fund provides funding support for the planting and establishment of large and small trees in urban and peri-urban areas in England.
The Forestry Commission provides an overview of woodland creation funding.
The Woodland Trust also has information on funding for large scale tree planting
Boiler Upgrade Scheme
Eligible homeowners can now apply for £5,000 off the cost and installation of an air source heat pump or biomass boiler, or £6,000 off the fitting of a ground source heat pump, through the Boiler Upgrade Scheme.
This government-funded grant aims to make these low-carbon alternatives more affordable and in line with the cost of a traditional gas boiler to encourage more of us to switch to greener ways of heating our homes when it's time to replace our current system.
Up to four-times more energy efficient than gas boilers, a heat pump should reduce home energy bills and cut emissions in the long-term. Find out more about the scheme: GOV.UK - Upgrade scheme
Find out if a heat pump could be suitable for your home: GOV.UK - Check heat pump