Green projects delivered

Investing in a greener future for Southwark

Southwark is leading the way with climate action that makes its air cleaner, its borough greener and lives healthier. It has cut the borough’s emissions by 23% since 2018 by working with communities to improve homes, streets and green spaces. You can read its annual report to follow progress, published each September.Thanks to Southwark Green Investment, this work is now going even further to save residents money, clean its air and protect residents from overheating and flooding.

Upgrading homes, schools and buildings

The council has reduced emissions from its buildings and vehicles by 18% in the last 3 years, with more work underway to improve its leisure centres, schools and council buildings.Thanks to investors, this work is being sped up. Southwark Green Investment 1 (SGI1) funds helped to spur on a successful LED lighting programme, which has now replaced all 17,000 streetlights in the borough – saving the council energy and money.

SGI1 also helped fund major investment in energy efficiency at leisure centres, with a new building management system and solar panels for Peckham Pulse leisure centre. The investment is already paying off, with the sunny spring and summer meaning that between April and July 2025 these solar panels saved the council £47,000 compared to the previous year.Schools in the borough are also benefitting from green upgrades. Using funding from SGI 1 Crampton Primary School in Walworth has had energy efficiency upgrades to take it from Display Energy Certificate (DEC) of F to at least a C. It has also had its gas boilers replaced with new air source heat pumps to take it off fossil fuels and improve air quality for pupils.

Protecting and increasing green spaces for plants and wildlife

Southwark is setting the benchmark for inner London by becoming the first borough with 100,000 trees. It has 30 green flag parks and 93 Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation and supports an active network of community gardens.

Thanks to Southwark Green Investment 2 and 3 there is a pipeline of community-led biodiversity projects now popping up across the borough, particularly in unused grey spaces on housing estates. The benefits are already starting to be seen with the recently completed project on Kirby Estate to de-pave an old bin storage area to create the new Moreton Gate Nature Garden.

Reducing waste and supporting the green economy

The council is supporting the green economy and working with residents to increase climate-friendly behaviours. Thanks to Southwark Green Investment 2, the council was able to invest in an expansion of Library of Things with two new sites in the borough – in East Dulwich and Elephant and Castle.

This means that Southwark now has the strongest offer in the UK for sharing libraries which help residents to reduce waste, save money and learn new skills. The two new sites opened in April 2025, and by October they had been used by over 1000 residents who saved a combined total of £235,000 compared to buying new. This translates to 11 tonnes of electricals reused and 35 tonnes of carbon saved.

Making it easier to walk and cycle

Southwark is transforming its streets to make it easier to walk and cycle. It has created over 200 new pedestrian crossing, trained over 6,000 adults and children on safe cycling and increased cycle hangars to 844. The borough first met the UK’s legal limits for toxic nitrogen dioxide pollution in 2022 and is working to get this down further and continuing to check the limit is still being met.

Southwark Green Investment 1 was big part in accelerating the delivery of our cycle hangar programme, helping to fund an extra 126 cycle spaces through 21 new cycle hangars in 2024. Thanks to Southwark Green Investment 3 they are now supporting another push in our cycle hangar rollout.