Camden Council is due to hit its target of replacing all streetlights with LED lamps as part of its goal to achieve net-zero by 2030.

Only 2% of streetlights are yet to be changed, with roads in Hampstead the last to be updated. The programme is due to be completed in March this year.

Since June, 2020, around 7,500 carbon-saving LED lights have been installed across Camden.

The council estimates that this has reduced the borough’s carbon emissions from streetlights by 30%, and energy consumption by 15%, as of October 2021.

It claims that the new lamps run on only 30 watts, down from the 100 watts required previously.

Cllr Adam Harrison, cabinet member for a sustainable Camden, said: “The completion of our LED streetlighting project marks a significant point in the progress of our plans to do everything we can to make Camden a zero-carbon borough by 2030.

“In 2019 Camden declared a climate emergency. Put simply, this is the most serious threat that our planet, its people, and all forms of life face. Carbon dioxide emissions across the council’s estate and operations have fallen 51% over the last 10 years, but we know we need to go further.

“The replacement of older, less efficient streetlights is an integral part of our ambitious five-year climate action plan and the LED technology we are using provides advances that include energy and maintenance savings, along with greater lantern longevity and less light pollution.”

Dorothea Hackman, a Camden resident and chair of Camden Civic Society, said that while the changing of the streetlights is “wonderful”, she queried: “How come Camden is getting around to it a decade late?

“I’m really happy they’re doing it, but it seems to me that they have these very small things that they do, which are nevertheless welcome because they’re good, and they’re just allowing the outrage of construction all over Camden.”

On the council’s climate action plan, Cllr Harrison said: “In November 2021 we published our first annual review of the climate action plan to provide an update on our progress.

“As well as taking the opportunity to refresh, where needed, the plan to reflect the development of the climate programme, it contains our key achievements to date as well as a dashboard that shows the progress currently made against key commitments, a direct recommendation of the Camden Climate Citizens’ Panel.”