Local carbon budgets could play a major role in helping the UK meet its ambitious CO2-reduction targets, as Nick Appleyard explains

Councils this week made an offer‚ to the Government, which could see the UK’s ambitious climate change targets met through local carbon budgets.

The UK is committed to achieving a 34% cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 – a figure which must rise to 80% by 2050.

But the Government’s climate change adviser has warned that a ‘step change’ is needed in the pace of the implementation of measures, if this is to be achieved.

Which is why six of the country’s leading local authorities have teamed up to urge other councils to get on board and back the call for local carbon budgets – in an all-party campaign to continue local government’s lead in tackling climate change.

At the LGA’s annual conference in Bournemouth last July, climate change secretary, Chris Huhne, made an offer‚ to local government. Turning the tables, he asked councils to come back to him with a proposal outlining how local and central government could work together to meet the targets set out in the Climate Change Act 2000.

And that is exactly what the group of councils – Birmingham, Bristol, Haringey, Manchester, Newcastle and West Sussex – have done. Working together with campaign group, Friends of the Earth (FoE), their offer‚ calls on the Government to introduce the necessary legislation for local carbon budgets during this Parliament.

In a joint letter to the Liberal Democrat MP, the councils said this would empower local authorities nationwide to lead effective carbon-reduction strategies. These strategies would set out a partnership between the local authority, local stakeholders and national government, detailing the measures each would take. The partners would then have a duty to co-operate to ensure the strategy was successful.

Fair budgets‚ would be drawn up taking into account local commitments, as well as the need to meet carbon-reduction targets. Both the budget and strategy would be based on a combination of evidence, including timely emissions data and the opportunity to feasibly reduce emissions at local level.

Community panels and consultations would be used to ensure residents and other stakeholders had a say.

‘We think this offer of a nationwide system of local carbon budgets would introduce a coherent and co-ordinated approach to tackling climate change between local and national government, and between local authorities, and would deliver substantially on the task of meeting UK climate targets,’ the letter said.

Councils currently set targets for carbon emission cuts through their local area agreements under the National Indicator 186 framework. But Liz Hutchins, FoE’s parliamentary campaigner, told The MJ the indicator was set to be abolished by the coalition.

She added it was, therefore, vital that the local carbon budgets programme was put in place to support councils before this happened.

There is already broad support among councils, and local government minister, Greg Clark; cabinet office minister, Oliver Letwin; and environment secretary Caroline Spellman have all recognised the need for such a scheme.

However, there are concerns of where the necessary funding might come from, while budgets are tight. And councils are keen to avoid another top-down target set by Whitehall.

John Wood, chair of the Association of Directors of Environment, Planning and Transport’s environment group, told The MJ: ‘While the theory seems good, the practicality of doing it would pose some significant challenges to many local authorities.

‘It would not be sensible at this time to give local authorities another significant responsibility where the mechanisms and resources to carry this out in a responsible way are not available.’

However, he added the programme could work, and should be explored ‘providing the ability to manage and influence local emissions was possible within the resources available to local authorities, and there was a clear relationship to the bigger picture and overall objective’.

Ms Hutchins rejected fears over where the money would come from, saying there was a range of finances available to councils, including feed-in tariffs, road pricing and workplace parking levies. She said the responsibility to tackle climate change would not come cheap – pointing to the Stern report, which suggested it could cost between 1-2% of Gross Domestic Product – but the necessary measures could be joined up to meet other priorities, such as improving public transport networks, stamping out fuel poverty through home-insulation programmes, and boosting air quality and health by getting more people walking and cycling.

She said: ‘This is not about making additional cuts in carbon. It’s about making sure we meet our existing legal commitments. The evidence clearly suggests an area-based approach would be the most effective way.

‘Financially, this makes sense for a number of reasons. First, because local government is the most efficient spender of public money. And second, because local engagement would ensure money is spent on the right projects that are wanted locally – stopping wasteful, unwanted schemes.’

Only time will tell if this cross-party pitch to other councils can gather momentum, and whether the ‘offer’ was quite what Mr Huhne had in mind.

Meanwhile, the clock is ticking towards 2020, and the mammoth task of reducing emissions to meet national targets will not go away.