What we're doing to tackle climate change

What we're doing

The Environment Strategy and Climate Emergency Response Plan sets out our ambition to be London’s most sustainable borough, including the commitment to become a net zero carbon council and borough. 

London Councils is leading work to coordinate seven programmes for cross-borough working to help tackle the climate and ecological emergency. Sutton is participating in a number of these projects. Full details are available on the London Councils website. 

The following sections detail key achievements in tackling the climate and ecological emergency in Sutton. Please note that this is not an exhaustive list of all work that the Council is undertaking on the climate and ecological emergency.

Cleaner Air

• The Sustainable Transport Strategy was agreed by the Environment and Sustainable Transport Committee in October 2021. Read the Sustainable Transport Strategy.
• Free cycle training provided to both adults and children (743 children and 100 adults in 2021/22). Find out more about our cycle skills sessions.
• Introduction of 10 school streets to provide safe spaces for children. Explore school streets in Sutton.
• Partnership with Forest E-Bikes set up in the borough. Find out about renting a Forest e-bike.
• £14mn in funding awarded from the Levelling Up Fund to upgrade the Sutton to Belmont train line. Read more about the funding.
• £34,000 received to improve residential cycle parking in the borough. Find out more about the award of the funding.

A Greener Borough

• Partnership with the South East Rivers Trust has improved sections of the River Wandle.
• Funding received including £4,000 towards installing butterfly banks and £11,000 for meadow creation in Beddington Park.
• 1,378 children and 927 adults attended biodiversity events during 2021/22. Find out about how you can get involved.
• More than 3,000 trees planted in 2021/22. Read more about tree planting in Sutton. 
• 11 Green Flags were awarded to Sutton’s parks in 2023.
• £157,000 has been awarded by Transport for London to green Sutton Town Centre.

Achieving Net Zero Carbon

• The Council has purchased fully renewable electricity across its estate since 2021.
• The Sutton Healthy Homes service supports residents with energy efficiency measures. Find out about support available for saving energy in your home.
• Delivery of retrofit improvements to 13 homes as part of the Green Homes Grant Local Authority Delivery Scheme.
• The Harris Academy school was built to Passivhaus status. 
• £1.7m awarded from the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund to retrofit 75 homes in partnership with Sutton Housing Partnership.
• The Green Enterprise Partnership, a partnership between the Council and businesses to help them to reach Net Zero was set up. Find out more about the Green Enterprise Partnership.
• Sutton Decentralised Energy Network was set up, with the capability to use waste heat from the Beddington Energy Recovery Facility to heat homes.
• A carbon offset fund has been set up, using contributions from S106 agreements in the Local Plan to fund projects such as the LED lighting programme.

Creating a Circular Economy

• Creation of Zero Waste Map, now managed by the South London Partnership. Take a look at the Zero Waste Map.
• A Library of Things has been set up in Sutton Central Library. Find out more about Sutton’s Library of Things.
• A Community Food Shop opened in St Helier which redistributes surplus food waste. Visit the Community Food Shop website. 
• Upon the relocation of the Denmark Road Office to the Civic Offices, office items were reused and repurposed instead of being thrown away. 

Tackling Climate Change

• Meat free Mondays have been implemented in schools, as well as added ‘plant power’ meals which have a 50% reduction in meat
• The GreenSpace project has been set up to improve Limes Avenue Recreation Ground. Read more about the GreenSpace project.
• Officers must now complete a Climate Impact Assessment when submitting committee papers.

Communicating climate change

• Awareness days are regularly communicated through the Council’s social media channels and newsletters. These have included Fairtrade Fortnight, International Car-Free Day and COP26.
• The Sutton Community Environment Champions network meets bi-monthly, and has resulted in the set-up of the Sutton repair cafe.

What you can do

There is plenty that every person, business, school, charity and organisation can do. To find out more, take a look at our “take climate action” pages. 

Work Experience

The Environment Strategy Team welcomes work experience applications from

• school students
• university students
• people who are interested in exploring whether sustainability or local government is a career route for them

We can offer a range of experiences relating to projects and communications activities. This is a year-round opportunity and we can be flexible about dates, but we do need a minimum two-week commitment.

If you are interested, you can complete our Work Experience Enquiry Form.