An extra £6 million is to be pumped into Dorset Council’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at a faster rate.
It will bring net zero targets forward by five years for the council to 2035 and for the wider county to 2045.
The money is in addition to a £10 million capital programme already agreed with spending on climate projects at the council over five years likely to reach £25million.
Much of the money is expected to come from government funding.
The decision made by Cabinet last night should accelerate spending on a range of measures.
They include more solar panels on council-owned buildings and switching street lights to lower energy bulbs, as well as support for house owners with insulation and more efficient heating systems through the Healthy Homes Dorset and Low Carbon Dorset programmes.
The council itself is also planning more electric-powered smaller vehicles with larger vehicles switching to low carbon fuel such as Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil by 2026, as well as other technologies when they become available.
Other targets include replacing all council oil heating systems to electric by 2028 and a programme of LED lighting upgrades and improvements to insulation and other low carbon measures in council-owned buildings.
Specific projects target a £500,000 saving at the Charminster Highways Depot through changes to heating systems and insulation; £600,000 by replacing old lights with LEDs in council buildings and £2.12 million by installing an extra 2.25MW of solar panels on council buildings.
The Cabinet meeting heard that much of the work was ‘invest to save’ with ongoing returns of £485,000 together with a 20per cent additional carbon reduction.