All of Hackney Council’s electricity is now supplied from renewable sources as part of its drive to tackle the climate emergency.

The increase, which will see the council use wind and solar power, comes as a raft of other decarbonisation measures are introduced.

They include large rooftop solar panels across council buildings and the Green Homes programme, which will provide free insulation and trial renewable heating upgrades to help people save money on energy bills while also reducing greenhouse has emissions.

All are being delivered through the council’s publicly-owned energy services company, Hackney Light and Power.

Eco chief Cllr Jon Burke said: “Whether through the largest urban tree planting programme in the country, our work to decarbonise the land transport sector by reallocating roads towards green spaces and low carbon transport, or by addressing emissions from consumption – through our new object lending library, forthcoming Low Plastic Zone, and the UK’s largest drinking fountain programme - we are proud to be showing that work to tackle the climate emergency must continue, despite the challenges we face as a country at the moment.

“By committing to redirect our current spend on electricity of £6.5m per year towards overwhelmingly domestic energy supply, this decision not only means that the many Hackney schools who procure energy alongside the council are decarbonising, but also represents a vote of confidence in the UK renewables industry and the many high-skilled, secure jobs of the future it is creating.”

The council is also set to install an additional 182 electric vehicle charging points this year, alongside a feasibility study into delivering chargers on every street in the borough, and is also converting all street lamps in the borough to energy-efficient LED bulbs by 2022.

Mayor Phil Glanville, said: “Even in the difficult times we are living through we must still take the long-term action we need to reduce our energy consumption and switch to cleaner energy.

“In our 2018 Manifesto, we committed to transforming the way we generate, consume, and purchase our energy, and just two years later, we’ve become one of the first councils in the country to be completely powered by clean electricity, showing significant progress towards meeting our stretching targets of 45% decarbonisation against 2010 levels by 2030, and net zero emissions by 2040.”