New figures have placed Manchester City Council in the top five per cent of organisations across the country who have taken early action to monitor and reduce their carbon emissions.

The first annual Carbon Reduction Performance league table places the City Council in joint 88th place with neighbouring Salford City Council, out of more than 2,100 organisations which signed up to the government's Carbon Reduction Performance scheme last year.

This means that Manchester and Salford together took joint third place of all the organisations across Greater Manchester which were part of the scheme.


Manchester Metropolitan University came in at number 59 and Kellogg's was named at 90th, but joint first place went to Manchester United Limited.

Only three other local authorities across the country were placed higher than Manchester City Council, these were the Greater London Authority, Preston City Council and Blackpool Borough Council.

Some of the work the City Council has done this year to reduce its own emissions includes installing smart meters, voltage optimizers and low-carbon lighting.

In 2009 Manchester launched its citywide climate change action plan aimed at reducing the city's carbon emissions by 41 per cent over the next decade.

The plan, entitled Manchester: A Certain Future - Our Collective Action On Climate Change, was coordinated by the City Council but written by more than 100 organisations including Manchester Friends Of The Earth.

In 2010 the City Council launched its own Climate Change Delivery Plan, stating how as an organisation it will reduce its own carbon emissions and deliver its services in a low-carbon way.

(CD)