Inverclyde Council have successfully completed the conversion of 97% of it's street lights to more environmentally-friendly LED lamps.

The council has spent almost £5.5 million overhauling some 12,000 lanterns and 1,200 columns in the last five years to improve lighting for residents and dramatically reduce energy consumption.

That has helped drive down the volume of harmful carbon emissions by 55 per cent, which is the equivalent of 1,655 tonnes of CO2 or 2.75 million kilowatts of electricity.

The switch to more energy-efficient LED street lights is also delivering an annual saving of around £300,000 in energy costs for Inverclyde taxpayers.

Councillor Michael McCormick, convener of environment and regeneration, said: "Fantastic work has been done across the council to reduce harmful carbon emissions significantly.

"LED lamps use half the amount of energy while ensuring our streets and roads are better lit, which benefits everyone.

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"We're committed to tackling climate change and we'll continue to do all we can to help reduce harmful gases being emitted into the environment."

The move to LED street lights is one of a number of measures taken by the council in recent times to reduce its carbon footprint.

Since 2012/13, CO2 emissions have fallen in each of the last eight years and are down by almost 50 per cent from 19,104 tonnes to 10,212 tonnes at the end of 2019/20.

As well as the move to LED lamps, the local authority has carried out improvements to buildings and invested significantly in electric vehicles with two-thirds of its car and van fleet now powered by electricity.

While significant progress has been made in driving down CO2 output, the council has now reached a point where it has exhausted all options at its disposal and expert assistance is required to uncover new ways to make further inroads towards the Scottish Government's zero emissions target by 2045.

At a recent meeting of the environment and regeneration committee, councillors agreed to bring in experts to help continue driving down harmful greenhouse gases.

Cllr McCormick said: "We've also invested heavily in things like our electric car and van fleet and associated infrastructure, including £85,000 recently on a dozen new charging points to support 'cleaner' vehicles.

"But we've reached a point where we've done all the obvious things to reduce emissions and we must now engage with experts to find new and maybe even innovative ways to improve our carbon footprint further."

The £100,000 funding approved by committee will now be used to commission a study on when and how the council can achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.