The ‘Manchester Council Climate Action Plan 2025-30’ keeps the City on Track for Zero-Carbon Status by 2038

Manchester City Council has unveiled a new five year Climate Change Action Plan for 2025 to 2030 which aims to cut the Council’s own emissions by 44% and keep the city on track for its Zero Carbon 2038 target. The plan combines deep carbon cuts from Council operations with a citywide programme on homes, transport, energy and green spaces designed to deliver warmer homes, cheaper bills, cleaner air and thousands of green jobs.

Manchester Sets New Five Year Climate Action Plan

Manchester’s Climate Change Action Plan 2025-30 sets out how the Council will reduce carbon emissions from its own buildings, fleet and services while supporting residents and businesses to cut their footprints too. The Council has a science-based carbon budget which falls from 126,336 tonnes in 2020-25 to 79,300 tonnes in 2025-30, meaning emissions must fall by around 41,500 tonnes over the next five years to stay on track for a zero-carbon organisation by 2038.

The new plan aims for a 44 percent reduction in Council emissions between 2025 and 2030. This ambitious target is equivalent to saving almost 43,000 tonnes of CO2 from direct operations. This builds on previous progress, where the Council cut its own emissions by around 64% between 2010 and 2025 through measures such as retrofitting 40 buildings with energy efficiency upgrades, replacing more than half of its bin lorries with electric models and switching 56,000 streetlights to LED.

Zero-Carbon 2038 Target for Manchester

Both the Council and the wider city remain committed to a shared goal of becoming zero-carbon by 2038, one of the most ambitious targets of any major UK city. Analysis for Greater Manchester shows that reaching carbon neutrality by 2038 is still feasible, but will require accelerated action across residents, public bodies and the private sector, along with stronger national policies.

The Manchester Climate Ready Plan 2025-30 published alongside the Council’s own plan sets out what communities, businesses and other organisations must do to keep the city on a 2038-compatible trajectory. This includes large-scale retrofitting of homes and commercial buildings, rapid growth in renewable energy like rooftop solar PV, and a shift to low carbon transport and green infrastructure across neighbourhoods. For homeowners and businesses exploring solar panels or battery storage, Atlantic Renewables’ team of experts can help turn these city targets into practical projects that cut emissions and bills in tandem.

What Does the ‘Manchester Climate Ready Plan’ Require?

The Manchester Climate Ready Plan 2025-30 shows that by 2030 the city needs to retrofit 78,850 homes and 6,200 non-residential buildings to improve energy efficiency, if it is to stay on course for the 2038 Zero-Carbon goal. It also calls for 54,000 heat pumps to be installed in properties across the city, plus almost 400 megawatts of new solar power capacity, enough to power tens of thousands of homes.

On transport, the plan estimates that around 25% of light and heavy freight vehicles operating in the city will need to be electric by 2030, supported by expanded charging infrastructure and cleaner logistics. These actions sit alongside wider moves to enhance public transport, walking and cycling and to protect residents from climate impacts like extreme heat and flooding through a new Manchester Adaptation Plan. Atlantic Renewables can support the renewable energy side of this programme from commercial and rooftop solar to battery solutions that help buildings cut peak demand and carbon.

How Will the Council Cut Its Own Emissions?

The Council’s 2025-30 Climate Change Action Plan identifies 62 specific actions to deliver the targeted 44% emissions reduction from its operations. Headline measures include further building retrofits, low carbon heating, investment in renewable energy projects, expansion of electric vehicle fleets and continued upgrades to LED streetlighting.

The plan also commits the Council to push for net-zero standards on new developments wherever possible, influence the retrofit of commercial and residential buildings and support a major expansion of EV charging infrastructure across Manchester. These operational changes are expected to save slightly more than the 41,500 tonnes required by the Council’s carbon budget, putting the organisation on track to remain within its science based limit for 2025-30.

Benefits for Residents, Businesses and the City

The Council emphasises that tackling climate change will deliver a wide range of co-benefits for residents beyond cutting carbon. The plans highlight opportunities for cheaper energy bills from better insulated homes and more efficient buildings, improved air quality from electric vehicles and cleaner transport and a healthier city with more green spaces and active travel routes.

Greater Manchester’s five year environment planning suggests that the transition can also support thousands of new green jobs in construction, retrofit low carbon transport and renewable energy. For local households and firms installing solar PV and battery storage now can lower running costs and protect against volatile energy prices while helping meet citywide climate goals. Atlantic Renewables works closely with Manchester residents and organisations to ensure solar and storage projects contribute to both cost savings and local climate commitments.

Role of Renewable Energy, Solar PV and Battery Storage in the ‘Plan’

The Manchester Climate Ready plan’s call for almost 400 megawatts of new solar power across the city underlines the central role of renewable energy in hitting the 2038 target. Combined with heat pumps and energy efficiency improvements, this level of solar deployment can significantly cut demand for fossil fuel based power and reduce exposure to high wholesale energy prices.

Battery storage will be essential to maximise the value of rooftop solar and support a smarter local energy system, balancing supply and demand as more homes, businesses and EVs plug in. By pairing PV with batteries and flexible tariffs, Manchester buildings can lower their grid imports at peak times, ease pressure on the network and reduce citywide emissions. Atlantic Renewables specialises in designing integrated solar PV and battery systems suited to Manchester’s housing stock and commercial buildings, helping property owners align with the new five year plan.

How Residents and Businesses Can Support Manchester’s Climate Goals

Manchester City Council stresses that everyone in the city has a role in delivering the new five year plan, from households improving insulation and installing low carbon heating to businesses investing in efficient equipment and renewables. Residents can support the goals by cutting energy waste at home, choosing low carbon travel options such as public transport and cycling, and exploring rooftop solar PV where properties are suitable.

Businesses and institutions can contribute by aligning their own net-zero strategies with the city timetable, upgrading fleets to electric vehicles and working with trusted renewable energy installers like Atlantic Renewables to deploy on site solar and storage. Community groups and schools can also tap into the Council’s climate action programmes and share best practice across neighbourhoods, to ensure benefits like lower bills and cleaner air reach every part of the city. Atlantic Renewables’ team of experts is available to discuss potential solar PV and battery projects that support both organisational sustainability targets and Manchester’s wider climate ambitions.

Get in touch

If you are based in Manchester and want to understand how the Council’s latest five year climate plan could work for your home business or community project, Atlantic Renewables would be happy to help. Our engineers can assess your site, model potential savings and carbon reductions, and design a tailored solar PV and battery storage system that supports the city’s zero carbon 2038 target while cutting your energy bills.

Call Atlantic Renewables on 0161 207 4044 to explore how solar panels and battery storage could fit into your plans.