‘We need to fight climate change from the ground up’
There are many ways we can reduce our carbon footprint and help fight the climate and biodiversity crisis, explain Professor Alistair Griffiths and Malcolm Anderson
What does this target mean?
To put it simply, this target means that we aim to capture and reduce more greenhouse gas emissions than we emit. In 2024, RHS total emissions across scopes one, two and three were 25,240 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.
Despite promises of global action, greenhouse gas emissions have continued to rise since the short-term reductions seen during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and 2024 was the first recorded year to exceed the 1.5°C warming target agreed in the Paris Agreement in 2015.
Keeping warming to below 1.5°C is important because it will significantly reduce the risk and damage caused by climate change. Exceeding 1.5°C could push us beyond climate tipping points where we could see breakdowns of major ocean circulation systems, possibly bringing abrupt, irreversible, and dangerous impacts for humanity.
To become climate positive means that we will all need to play our part in a global drive for change and as part of that, the RHS itself needs to rapidly reduce our own CO2 emissions, including those from our suppliers and visitors to our shows and gardens. We will need to support and increase renewable energy and technology and maximise carbon capture and storage in our gardens.
One of the biggest impacts the RHS can make is to work with the more than 30 million UK gardeners and others to take action in their community, school, workplace or home to become climate positive gardeners.
What is the RHS already doing to meet this target?
Since we initially launched our sustainability work in 2021, we have worked hard to understand where we can reduce our emissions, so that we know where to act for the biggest impact.
New build projects across RHS sites have included ground and air source heat pumps, green roofs, rainwater harvesting, low energy lighting and many passive measures such as thermal mass, building orientation and solar shading. Our energy contracts are 100% renewables-based, and in the last twelve months we have installed over 440kW of roof mounted solar panels across our estates, which are working well.
We have carried out a full refurbishment of Weatherhill Cottage, a heritage building within the gardens at Wisley, in which we shifted the building’s EPC rating from G to A without affecting the aesthetics of the building. We replaced a failing old oil boiler with an air source heat pump, replaced windows and doors, insulated floors and roof spaces, and managed to divert rainwater from the roof into a nearby water feature, helping us with our water neutrality target.
We have established a five-year postdoctoral Peat-Free Fellowship and are supporting four PhD students conducting research into the transition to peat-free horticulture. They are working closely with UK growers who collectively produce half a billion plants annually, alongside growing media manufacturers and government bodies to accelerate this shift. Research findings are shared through our peat-free hub for growers and gardeners, an annual industry conference, and technical workshops.
All five RHS Gardens – Bridgewater, Wisley, Rosemoor, Hyde Hall, and Harlow Carr – became peat-free in June 2025. Our retail outlets will follow by the end of 2025, with significant work underway to address supply chain challenges. In the absence of government legislation on a peat ban, the RHS has introduced concessions at its world-renowned Flower Shows to support growers in the final stages of transitioning to 100% peat-free practices, with full compliance expected by 2028.
Since launching its Strategy in 2021, the RHS has taken major steps to improve sustainable travel to its gardens. The percentage of visitors arriving by car has fallen by 5%, while those travelling by bus, on foot, or by bike has increased by 368% – an uplift of over 200,000 people. To support this shift, the RHS has ensured that all its gardens are now served by public bus routes, stopping either on site or within a short walk of the entrance, with services running at least seasonally and, in some cases, year-round. In addition, the RHS has partnered with transport operators to promote car-free travel options and is actively working with local authorities to improve and raise awareness of active travel routes and access to its gardens.
What will the RHS do next to meet this target?
We have carried out assessments of all of our buildings and have plans in place for the replacement of all of our fossil fuel boilers, especially oil-fired ones, to reduce our carbon footprint, and we will continue to invest in renewable energy generation across our buildings, carparks and where appropriate land.
Outdoor powered equipment (such as tractors and lawn mowers) can be very polluting, so we have been trialling professional electric gardening machinery across our gardens and will be replacing diesel and petrol equipment wherever possible.
We are working with the National Future Gardens group on further developing the BGCI Climate Assessment Tool to evaluate climate risk and resilience of plant diversity across all RHS Gardens.
We’re running a project to calculate greenhouse gas emissions, sequestration, and storage across our garden landscapes, which will inform the RHS’ greenhouse gas accounting and Scope 4 (avoided emissions) reporting.
Electric vehicle charging stations for visitors are being rolled out to all gardens.
We have appointed a five-year postdoctoral student within our RHS Science team to look at measuring and minimising greenhouse gas emissions and maximising the carbon capture and storage on our land. They will also develop a Planet Friendly Sustainability Calculator for both RHS Gardens and for UK gardeners. Other science team members will look at more nature-based solutions to help us adapt and mitigate, so as to become climate-resilient.
Why should gardeners care about this?
Scientists have made a clear link between rising greenhouse gas emissions and more extreme weather conditions, making a more difficult environment in which to grow plants and for both ourselves and wildlife to live healthy and happy lives.
The RHS can only do so much with its own physical infrastructure improvements, and we will do everything that we can to reduce our own operational greenhouse gas emissions and carbon capture and storage on our lands. However, one of the biggest impacts we can make is to inspire and support the 30 million gardeners in the UK to all do their bit by being more energy-savvy, reducing, capturing and storing carbon through planet-friendly gardening. Join us with our 10 ways to save the planet through gardening.
What can I do about climate change in my garden?
Gardening in a changing climate
How to go peat-free
