Author: Judith Russenberger

8th August 2023

The importance of transition pathways to net zero: part 1 – local authorities

325 of the UK’s 409 local authorities (including counties, boroughs, districts etc) have, as of 2022, a climate action plan – most with a net zero target date. The  Climate Change Committee comments that the Sixth Carbon Budget can only be met if Government, regional agencies and local authorities work together. Whilst local authorities only have direct control over 2-5% of local emissions, their influence, through regulations, provision of services,  and influence over the activities and lifestyles of residents and local businesses is significantly higher. 

Local authorities “…key power and duties are:

• An overarching role to support the economic, health and social wellbeing of communities 
• planning powers over buildings and transport 
• Enforcement of building regulations 
• Powers to ensure buildings meet basic energy efficiency standards 
• Duties to prevent homelessness and prevent hazards in housing
• Duties to manage risk including climate risks such as flooding
• Duties and powers to protect the environment, wildlife and heritage 
• Duties to collect and dispose of waste
• Borrowing and investment powers” https://www.theccc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Local-Authorities-and-the-Sixth-Carbon-Budget.pdf

These give local authorities wide scope to control and influence emissions in their area and to achieve their net zero target dates at various levels:-

1. At the most basic level, local authorities can control the emissions over which they have direct control – ie from their own buildings and infrastructure – insulting council buildings, installing energy efficient lighting, including street lighting, and switching to a renewable electricity supplier, installing solar panels and or heat-pumps, installing water efficient showers, taps etc. And from their operations – eg ensuring successful reuse and recycling programmes; and  from  travel – swopping to an electric vehicle fleet including recycling lorries, street cleaning vehicles etc, as well as through encouraging and enabling staff to walk or cycle or use public transport for their  commuting journeys.

B) local authorities through seeking out and specifying low carbon standards in their procurement processes, and through again specifying low carbon standards when commissioning work, they can reduce the carbon footprint of their operations. This might range from requiring all stationary to come from recycled sources, requiring all laptop and phone batteries to be both recyclable and recycled, to requiring that furniture be repaired rather than replaced as the default option.

C) local authorities can use their powers to ensure that transport infrastructure in their area supports active travel and public transport over private motorised transport. They can control developments in their area ensuring they enhance the sustainability whilst reducing carbon emissions. By so doing they will also enable other local organisations to reduce their emissions as regards customers and consumers travel patterns.

D) if the local authorities are doing all the above successfully, they can showcase how other organisations and groups in their locality can do likewise, sharing experiences and good practice.

E) local authorities can have a role bringing together people and organisations enabling them jointly to better address the issues of climate change and the means by which emissions can be reduced. and the means by which the affects of climate change can be mitigated. 

F) They can inform and encourage local residents to adopt climate friendly lifestyles – for example promoting the reuse, repair and recycling materials; incentivising use of local services; promoting the installation of solar panels. 

For more information visit: https://ashden.org/storage/2020/08/31-Climate-Actions-for-Councils.pdf

“As a trusted source of information, the Council can encourage changes in consumer habits, highlight practical information and advice that people can act on and be supportive of action that residents wish to take on climate change . The role of the community is key in dealing with the Climate Emergency. The wholesale change that is required in the way that the economy and society is organised cannot come simply through the local authority trying to shout loudly; it requires action from people to pressure all levels of government, as well as businesses and corporations big and small to change the way they operate.” https://richmond.gov.uk/media/19300/climate_change_strategy_report_2020.pdf

What actions have local authorities undertaken?

Retrofit homes to make them more energy efficient: “The Manchester Climate Change Framework 2022 estimates that housing makes up circa 30% of the city’s total carbon emissions. Retrofitting the city’s housing stock will also provide essential in lowering resident energy bills during the cost-of-living crisis, improving the health of our residents and improving standards in the city’s existing housing stock…To meet the city’s 2025 zero carbon ambitions, 84000 properties will need to be retrofitted in some way. The average cost of a full property retrofit programme could be between £25,000 and £30,000.…£83m has been spent on energy efficiency improvements to Council properties in north Manchester since 2005 leading to a 49% reduction in CO2 emissions (from 55,000 to 28,000 tonnes of CO2) in the homes that have received investment.…Investment in the Council’s own stock to date includes: external render and insulation for 1600 solid wall properties; ditto 14 high rise blocks of flats; 580 homes fitted with heat pumps; 2350 roofs fitted with solar PV systems;  8 retirement blocks with solar thermal panels; 300 blocks of flats with low energy lighting – high and low rise;11,000 homes with high efficiency condensing boilers; 11,900 homes with double glazing; 5,100 homes with cavity wall insulation; 7,000 homes with loft top-up insulation; £12m has been secured in external grants to help fund energy improvements since 2010.” https://www.manchester.gov.uk/news/article/9102/manchester_to_tackle_low_carbon_housing_retrofit_challenge

Nottingham City Homes has pioneered the Energiesprong approach in the UK, transforming 60 homes into warmer, more desirable places to live. This scheme is designed to unlock zero carbon retrofit at scale, paid for by energy and maintenance savings and delivered by a new high-tech industry with guaranteed actual performance, comfort and costs long term – resulting in warm, affordable, desirable homes for life.  Homes are fully insulated using offsite manufactured wall and roof panels in conjunction with pre-assembled ‘energy pods’ providing low-carbon, high efficiency heating, hot water and renewable energy production. Gravesend Borough Council is exploring this scheme too. (https://www.energiesprong.uk/newspage/energiesprong-uk-supporting-new-kent-based-heat-pump-project-tackling-fuel-poverty-in-hard-to-retrofit-homes) 

Local heating schemes: Swaffham Prior has led the way in the UK, to be the first village to develop a rural heat network. The mix of air source and ground source heat pumps have capacity to supply 1.7MW of heat to 300 homes located in Swaffham Prior. The Swaffham Prior Heat Network project was started by Swaffham Prior Community Land Trust, to address fuel poverty and local environmental issues caused by the village’s reliance on oil heating… Alongside the significant grant funding provided by Heat Network Investment Project and Heat Network Development Unit, Cambridgeshire County Council have made a strategic investment in the project and owns the energy company and heat network assets

Solar panels for leisure centres: “Work to introduce solar power to three Freedom Leisure sites across South Somerset was completed in 2022… [with] solar panels have been installed at Westlands Sports Centre (Yeovil), Wincanton Sports Centre and Goldenstones Leisure Centre (Yeovil). This work is part of a development plan which will see over £6 million invested across the three sites to improve environmental efficiency, customer experience, accessibility, services and facilities.” (https://www.somerset.gov.uk/environment-and-food-safety/climate-and-ecological-emergency/south-somerset/) 

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Investing in renewable energy projects: Cambridge County Council has installed solar panels on its key office buildings and has invested in a 12MW solar park at Triangle Farm, Soham, both generating clean energy and delivering over £350,000 per annum net revenue to support the delivery of council services. Further plans include developing another site at North Angle Farm with a 30MW capacity solar farm. (https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/residents/climate-change-energy-and-environment/climate-change-action/low-carbon-energy/large-scale-renewable-energy-and-storage/north-angle-solar-park)

Enabling investment possibilities: “West Berkshire Council is the first local authority to issue a bond direct to the public –  Community Municipal Investment (CMI) bond. The CMI allows residents and community groups to invest directly with the Council to fund green projects. Investments can be as little as £5 and investors will earn a return of 1.2% over a five year term, with the capital returned in instalments across the investment term.The scheme is attractive to bondholders because it facilitates their investment in local green projects in a way that involves only a small degree of investment risk, together with the potential to earn a return – which is why the Council is already seeing strong demand for the bonds.The money raised will be used to fund the installation of solar panels on Council owned buildings including at Greenham Common and local schools. These projects are part of West Berkshire Council’s ambitious plans to become carbon neutral by 2030.” (https://www.womblebonddickinson.com/uk/insights/news/wbd-advises-west-berkshire-council-uks-first-community-municipal-investment)

Divesting pension funds from fossil fuels: Waltham Forrest, Southwark, Islington, Lambeth, and Cardiff have all divested.

Reducing car use and traffic congestion: Nottingham City Council operates a Workplace Parking Levy payable by employers that provide 11 or more workplace parking places (ie for work vehicles, staff commuting to work, suppliers, or, for colleges, students). The cost per workplace parking place for 2023 – 2024 is £522. The funds raised (over £90m for the last 11 years) has funded improvements in public transport. (https://www.transportnottingham.com/policies/nottinghams-workplace-parking-levy-10-year-impact-report/)

Funding electric buses: Norwich is to have one of biggest full electric  bus depots in England after Norfolk County Council secured funding for 70 electric buses together with the necessary infrastructure for the bus depot. (https://www.norfolk.gov.uk/news/2023/03/electrifying-funding-will-bring-70-zero-emission-buses-to-norwich) First Bus, the bus operator, is also working closely  with Leicester City Council, City of York Council, the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, Norfolk County Council, Portsmouth City Council and Hampshire County Council.

Electric vehicle charging points: Birmingham City Council is providing an initial 394 fast (22kw) and rapid (50kw) charge points across the city, with a follow up to increase this to around 3,600 in 2022-3,  in collaboration with the private sector charge point deployment on private land such as supermarkets, retail outlets and fuel stations.(https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/info/20013/roads_travel_and_parking/566/electric_vehicles/2)

Divesting pension funds from fossil fuels: Waltham Forrest, Southwark, Islington, Lambeth, and Cardiff have all divested.

Why not check what your local authority is doing? 

If you feel that they are not doing enough, or if you feel that their policy is more about words than actions, or of their targets seem flimsy – “Objective: plant more trees …. Target: more trees planted” – then take the time to ask questions. 

The following is an interesting insight into the power of activism.

“The growing activism of groups such as Extinction Rebellion (XR) and Friends of the Earth in relation to climate emergencies poses a risk to organisations in terms of reputation and litigation. Not aligning statutory strategies and key policies to climate declarations is not only contradictory, but also leaves an organisation open to accusations of green washing. Strategic reviews of how much work it would take to make organisational police ‘climate compliant’ should be done at the earliest opportunity when thinking about carbon neutrality.

Over the coming year Local Planning Authorities will increasingly be challenged on their climate credentials, their decisions and their performance”. https://www.localgov.co.uk/Getting-to-net-zero/50352