Manchester City Council has backed plans to halve the city's greenhouse gas emissions in the next five years.

The move comes as part of Manchester's commitment to becoming zero carbon by 2038 at the latest.

Councillor Angeliki Stogia, Executive Member for Environment, said: "The next five years will be critical if we are to avoid the catastrophic impacts of climate change and this action plan sets out how we will play our full part in tackling the challenge of our lifetime."

She added: "We are keen to engage with Manchester people, community groups and businesses to keep building on this plan, going further and securing extra resources to support it wherever possible."

Some of the plans to reduce carbon emissions in the city include:

Spending £15m on the second phase of a Carbon Reduction Programme which will cut carbon emissions from council buildings.

A new investment fund of £1m will be created to plant new trees across Manchester.

The Council is also aiming to cut 7,000 tonnes of carbon emissions a year through large scale solar and wind power energy schemes.

The Council will initially replace half of its refuse collection vehicles with 27 new electric bin lorries.

Replacing the city’s street lighting with low energy LED lighting.

Jonny Sadler, Programme Director for the Manchester Climate Change Agency, said: "The Manchester Climate Change Agency will give our all to get every community, every school, every organisation and every Government department together on this journey, focused on making Manchester one of the first zero carbon cities in the world.

"That the City Council is adopting this framework alongside publishing its own action plan is a real statement of intent."