Eon inks UK-first city wide decarbonisation deal  

Eon and Coventry City Council have launched a 15-year partnership to decarbonise the city.

The deal will see Eon become the city’s new strategic energy partner. It is believed to be the first such partnership to be drawn up in the UK.

Projects discussed for delivery include the creation of a 30MW solar farm, bringing solar power into schools across the city and the decarbonisation of a number of council vehicles and depots.

Work is also intended to include solar energy for public buildings, a push to electrify transport with greater electric vehicle charge point access for residents and improving energy efficiency across homes and businesses.

Chris Norbury, chief executive of Eon, said: “The energy transition is a way to regenerate the local economy and we’re convinced we can make a difference in and with our home city.

“This is not about designing a new vision for the future, it’s about getting on and delivering Coventry’s response to the climate crisis – making improvements across the city that people want and need.

“That could mean better insulation for homes, more energy efficient public buildings, shifting from fossil fuels to locally-produced renewable energy and, perhaps most importantly, creating thousands of good jobs.”

Eon has been based in Coventry for almost 30 years. As well as council funding, the partnership will also look to raise finance from the private sector.

Coventry City Council cabinet member for jobs, regeneration and climate change Jim O’Boyle added: “This is really exciting and completely innovative. No other city in the country is doing this. It will help Coventry move ahead with a range of projects that the council would not have been able to achieve on its own.”

He added: “We are already spearheading a number of major green projects, including the installation of hundreds of electric charging points – the highest number of any city outside of London. We have also developed a state-of-the art new materials recycling facility and we are well on the way to becoming the country’s first all-electric bus city.”

The council’s Draft Climate Change Strategy and Net Zero Routemap, published earlier this year, set out an ambitious vision for the city’s journey to net zero to create a more sustainable and prosperous future for local people.

Margot James, chair of the Coventry Climate Change Board, added: “I’m absolutely delighted with this decision. I believe that the council is really at the forefront of the drive to carbon zero and there are very few cities that have embraced true partnership working in the way Coventry has.”