Delivering the UK’s 2030 target to cut carbon emissions requires a rethink of the role localities must play, according to a new report from the Green New Deal All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG).
Changes to national legislation can ‘unleash the potential of local initiatives, enabling them to scale up and flourish’, said the report authored by the APPG’s co-chairs MPs Caroline Lucas and Clive Lewis.
The Government’s commitment to a 68% reduction in carbon emissions on 1990 levels by 2030 must be made binding on all public sector organisations and agencies, with a regular reporting requirement, it concluded.
It also said local authorities should be required to produce Community Food Strategies along the lines taken by Scotland and Wales, ‘linking food security and climate security in a common programme’.
To meet the 2030 commitments, local authorities will need to have powers, resources and duties to make energy generating and energy saving the baseline of their planning and programmes, it concluded.
The Local Edge report followed from an APPG inquiry launched in autumn 2022 that focused on exploring and showcasing local leadership and to identify barriers to change at the national level.
To continue reading this article visit The MJ (£).
