Westminster City Council is trialling heat-reflective road surfaces to combat the urban heat island effect, as part of its broader strategy to achieve net zero emissions by 2040. The council is also exploring options for enhancing cooling through water infrastructure, and using nature-based solutions to increase resilience to climate change and air pollution.
The initiative was discussed at a recent meeting of the Climate Action, Environment and Highways Policy and Scrutiny Committee, where members reviewed the council's progress towards its ambitious climate goals and explored strategies for adapting to extreme weather. The council plans to monitor the temperature and evaluate the performance of the heat-reflective road surfacing materials being tested in the pilot project to inform future maintenance programs.
The council's commitment to achieving net zero emissions by 2040 is ten years ahead of the UK's national target. A report presented to the committee highlighted that citywide emissions have already been reduced by 17% between 2017 and 2022, largely due to the decarbonisation of the national electricity grid.
However, the report also recognised that Westminster faces significant environmental challenges, including poor air quality and vulnerability to climate change. Westminster's dense urban environment and historic buildings make it particularly susceptible to the urban heat island effect, where temperatures can be significantly higher than in surrounding areas.
To address this, the council is piloting the use of heat-reflective road surfacing materials. Traditional dark asphalt absorbs and retains heat, contributing to higher local temperatures. The pilot will test lighter-coloured materials designed to reflect more sunlight and absorb less heat, thereby reducing ambient street-level temperatures. The council has initiated a pilot project to trial heat-reflective (high-albedo) road surfacing materials. Installation is planned on two roads within Westminster by the end of the year, with ongoing temperature monitoring and performance evaluation to inform future maintenance programmes.
Beyond heat-reflective road surfaces, the council is implementing other measures to mitigate the urban heat island effect. These include:
- A feasibility study to assess the availability of public water sources and explore options for enhancing cooling through water infrastructure, including drinking water and bottle refill fountains, misting stations, and splash pads.
- Conducting a neighbourhood-level heat simulation model to assess how public open spaces retain heat and to identify opportunities for cooling improvements.
- The Greening and Biodiversity Action Plan (GBAP), published October 2025, will support the cool places pillar by promoting nature-based solutions to increase resilience to climate change and air pollution.
The council's approach to achieving net zero is informed by its Local Area Energy Plan (LAEP). The LAEP modelling suggests that to reach net zero, Westminster needs to:
- Substantially upscale the delivery of local clean heat via the roll-out of individual heat pumps and large-scale heat networks.
- Increase local renewable energy generation (primarily solar photovoltaics), including local community energy projects.
- Reduce local energy demand through building retrofit.
- Improve electrical infrastructure, including electric vehicle charging.
The council estimates that approximately £5.1 billion investment is required to reach net zero as a city by 2040. The council plans to ensure effective and equitable allocation of the £5.1 billion investment through strategic energy mapping, prioritizing projects that address the needs of vulnerable communities, developing a Green Finance Steering Committee, and utilizing the Westminster Climate Fund to support local climate action. The deployment of Westminster's low-carbon interventions could create a total of 48,016 direct local jobs, and an estimated £1.3 billion direct and indirect Gross Value Added (GVA).
The council is addressing the potential disruption and cost associated with building retrofits through several initiatives, including the Queens Park Avenues Healthy Homes project, the Westminster Retrofit Taskforce, piloting a Heritage Partnership Agreement, and developing a WCC Retrofit for Resilience Guide.
The council recognises that communities facing socioeconomic disadvantage across Westminster are disproportionately affected by climate and environmental risks. The council's Environmental Justice Measure demonstrates that high levels of deprivation in the borough are compounded by high levels of climate risk. In 2023, 8.8% of Westminster households experienced fuel poverty. The CAEH - PS Committee Report - Achieving Net Zero 2040 notes that the Local Area Energy Plan evaluated how net zero efforts would affect fuel poverty and suggested early action in high poverty areas to lower costs and reduce fuel poverty long term. The council is working to ensure that its net zero efforts benefit those areas with the greatest number of residents in fuel poverty.
