Manchester City Council spent nearly £30,000 on adverts around the city encouraging residents to live more eco-friendly lives last year, Mancunian Matters can reveal.
As part of the Take Action environmental campaign, 37 billboards, 62 lamppost banners, and a Town Hall banner were put up, beginning in October/November 2022.
The total cost to the council was £29,520.40, according to a Freedom of Information request.
The billboards and banners highlight measures individuals can take to reduce their carbon footprint. One banner reads: “We can walk, ride, recycle, shop and grow our war to zero carbon!”
The adverts formed part of the City Council’s Climate Change Action Plan, with a target for a 50% reduction in direct CO2 emissions between 2020 and 2025.
The City Council has already put in place investment of £227m for the current Action Plan, with an additional direct revenue investment of £800,000 secured for the 2022/23 budget.
But some have questioned how cost effective these adverts are, with concerns about how far they influence behaviour.
The advertising costs are equivalent to the average cost of a full property retrofit programme, according to Council figures.
Councillor Tracey Rawlins, Executive Member for Environment and Transport, said: “We want Manchester to be a zero carbon city by 2038 at the latest, making it a healthy, green living environment for our residents, and this target is at the heart of everything that we do.
“However, we cannot do it alone which is why our Zero Carbon Campaign supporting and influencing others in the city to make zero or low carbon choices to help us achieve our climate change ambitions for the city are so important.
“We used many free digital and partner advertising channels to extend the reach of our zero carbon messaging which meant that the campaign was a fraction of the cost that it would have been without the discounts from our partners.”
