Cities and utilities around the world have been called to switch their street lighting to LEDs by 2025.

The Climate Group has launched a campaign to encourage local governments, cities and utilities to welcome the carbon and cost benefits of installing LEDs.

It stated cities that have installed LED street lighting achieved energy savings of between 50%-70% and these savings increase when combined with smart controls.

Major cities want to upgrade to LEDs, it added, however they want more support from government and financial institutions to help make the switch.

Mark Kenber, CEO of The Climate Group said: “Our global trials and stakeholder consultations have shown that, when it comes to tackling climate change, LEDs are the lowest of the low hanging fruit and easiest to implement. It’s technically proven, commercially viable and already resulting in major savings for cities around the world.

“With the number of street lights around the world likely to hit 350 million by 2025, local governments, utilities and financial institutions need to work together to ensure that all new and existing street lights are LED – or of equivalent energy efficiency – by 2025.”