What are we doing?

After declaring a climate emergency in 2020, we have created a Climate Strategy setting out what we are doing to combat climate change.

Our ambition is to work towards a cleaner and greener future for Tameside.
The impact of climate change is causing lasting damage to our environment and society. If we don’t act quickly the consequences will be felt even more by future generations. We face irreversible damage to our environments, habitat loss, more frequent extreme weather events, climate refugees and food shortages.

Even though it’s a challenge, we can make a difference by changing old habits. We can embrace new and innovative ways of living to protect our planet.

Becoming a carbon neutral is not an easy challenge but together it can be achieved.

So what have we already done?

Created an Environment and Climate Emergency Working group to lead the way and to make crucial and informed decisions to help us reduce the Borough’s carbon impact to “Net Zero” by 2038.
Developed Think Green Tameside to help others join us on the journey to decarbonise.
Improving the energy efficiency of corporate buildings and schools when making improvements.
Applied for funding to de-carbonise heat and improve energy efficiency of our buildings. Funding was awarded to Tameside to improve the energy efficiency and decarbonise 18 Council buildings (11 corporate / 5 schools and 2 Sports Centres).
Cleaning up the council fleet and introducing a range of low emissions vehicle technologies to reduce our fleet emissions. We now have 11 electric vans in operation and supporting charging points installed.
Installing LED street lighting across the borough. To date we have installed 7418 lanterns from the initial design package of 7546.
Planted 54,402 trees over the past 6 years across our greenspaces, with 666 trees planted on the highway. A target of planting 7,000 trees was surpassed in 2021/22, by the end of 2022 15,000 were actually planted.
Accessing a potential £14 million of funding for walking and cycling improvements across the borough.
Providing all residents with a comprehensive recycling service for a wide range of materials. Tameside achieved a 52.6% recycling rate in 2021/22, find out more.
We have also identified the transformation needed across the borough to help us reach Greater Manchester's of Greater Manchester becoming carbon-neutral goal by 2038 in our Local Area Energy Plan (LAEP).

Our action plan includes five main target areas…

Protecting and creating biodiverse greenspaces in Tameside
We are continuing to protect and create our biodiverse greenspaces. These spaces will naturally help absorb CO2, producing better air quality, creating a healthier environment for us and future generations.

Influencing others to combat climate change
We must spread the message that our climate is rapidly changing, encouraging people to cut their emissions. Everyone needs engaged and enthusiastic, we want to make sure they know how they can contribute to the battle against climate change.

We want to encourage and inform our residents and local businesses on how they can create blooming spaces and plant trees on their own properties, get involved with community gardens or volunteer with our Greenspace Team.

Find out what else you can do to combat climate change.

Reducing waste and becoming a sustainable society
The reduction of waste and becoming a sustainable society is vital to becoming a carbon-neutral borough. Everyone within our communities needs to be keen on waste management, both at home and in local businesses.

Transforming travel and transport
Focusing on the way we travel and our transport is also important. Vehicles powered by fossil fuels continue to pollute our environment. We are encouraging residents to travel sustainably by using public transport, car sharing or zero emissions alternatives when possible such as walking or cycling.

Improving efficiency of homes, workspaces and council buildings
Reducing heat loss through the buildings’ fabric combined with modernising and decarbonising heat-sources will cut related carbon emissions significantly.

Our Environmental Strategy

Our Carbon and Environment Strategy 2021-26 aims to create a collective responsibility for our borough’s environment. It is important we provide our residents and local businesses with the support and guidance they need to cut their carbon and inform and influence their communities.
This strategy contributes to Greater Manchester’s five-year environment plan and breaks down the challenge facing Tameside into five main areas

Click the image below to view our Climate Change and Environment strategy:

Click the buttons to view each action plan