The city declared a climate emergency in 2019 and has since developed a detailed climate action plan. The Net Zero Route Map builds on this foundation, providing a clear pathway to a low-carbon future.
The analysis suggests that with an investment of £23.5 billion, Glasgow can achieve a 60% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030. However, an accelerated approach, requiring an investment of £36.8 billion, could lead to an 80% reduction.
Key strategies to achieve these targets include:
• A rapid shift to electric vehicles
• Electrification of freight vehicles
• Development and delivery of heat networks
• Increased use of heat pumps
Glasgow City Council is actively working to establish a Green Investment Team to attract private sector funding and accelerate the city's decarbonisation efforts.
Councillor Angus Millar, City Convener for Climate, welcomed the clarity the Net Zero Route Map has brought to Glasgow's effort to decarbonise and tackle the climate emergency.
Councillor Miller said: "Since the 2019 climate emergency declaration, Glasgow has made significant progress in our journey towards net zero. We now have increasingly detailed plans to reduce carbon emissions, mitigate against the effects of climate change and better understand how we secure the funding the city needs to achieve its goals.
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"The new Net Zero Route Map provides robust evidence for the impact of our actions, and shows us what more needs to be done to make Glasgow a net zero city. It illustrates the requirement for significant carbon sequestration through tree planting and similar activity in order to reach net zero, and we will continue to explore options to deliver this at scale and best monitor its impact on our city's net emissions.
"It also confirms very clearly that private sector investment is needed and demonstrates the wide scope for green investment that exists in Glasgow. Our heating and energy strategy, for example, shows two-thirds of Glasgow could be connected to a district heating network that draws sustainable heat from River Clyde and other sources. This is exactly the kind of opportunity that will attract investors and reduce our carbon emissions.
"However, with the route map showing the gap between our current projected carbon reduction and what could be achieved with an accelerated programme of change, further funding from national government to spur the transition on would clearly help Glasgow reach net zero faster. Glasgow will continue to work with partners from across the public and private sector to realise the many opportunities the city has in creating a lower carbon, more sustainable future."
The analysis undertaken as part of the development of the Net Zero Route Map considered different emissions categories where progress must be made. These include private transport, freight transport, non-residential heat, residential heat, energy and carbon removal and sequestration.
The limited amounts of land in the city provides a small opportunity to sequester carbon through tree planting, but that would still leave an emission gap before net zero would be achieved. It is estimated that trees planted over 40,000 hectares of land would be required to bridge this emissions gap. Tree planting programmes are in place in Glasgow and across the Glasgow City Region as a whole, but it is recognised that a national approach to sequestration that links with landowners and other local authorities may be required.
Glasgow's work to provide scientific rigour to the city's Climate Plan has been supported by a specialist software platform, Climate View OS, which helps to process the complex data produced by the unfolding challenge of climate change. ClimateView has been adopted by the Scottish Climate Intelligence Service, which is funded by the Scottish Government and all 32 Scottish local authorities, to provide technical support when developing approaches to Net Zero.
