The Government is failing to support local authority action on climate change and nature, according to a new report.
No government action has scored a green rating in the past two years from the Blueprint Coalition, an influential group of local government, environmental and research organisations.
The group warns this lack of support jeopardises meeting national and local net zero and nature restoration targets.
The new Blueprint Progress Tracker shows that there is insufficient support for councils to be able to deliver across all the key areas needed if they are to meet net zero and nature restoration targets.
Barriers include fragmented, short-term and competitively allocated funding, a lack of clarity and direction in key policy areas and delays to essential guidance, the new report found.
Sandra Bell, senior sustainability analyst at Friends of the Earth, said: 'The Government has called on councils to do their bit to address climate change and restore nature but hasn’t provided nearly enough funding or support to help them get the job done.
'This is not only setting the government up to miss its own national climate and environment targets but is short-sighted too as local action can both create jobs and improve community wellbeing.
'And underfunding local authorities at a time like this, when a council-led energy efficiency scheme could help millions of people make vital savings on their energy bills, couldn’t be a bigger missed opportunity.'
