Cllr Paul Dimoldenberg, cabinet member for City Management and Air Quality, Westminster City Council, discusses how councils can reach sustainability goals through collaboration with supply chains.

As 2030 looms into view, the clock is ticking on local authorities’ net zero ambitions. The Local Government Association estimates that nearly two thirds of councils in England have set themselves a deadline to be carbon neutral 20 years before the national target. It’s likely that teams will already have prioritised some of the ‘quicker’ wins within their control, like embracing renewable energy and reviewing their real estate footprint. Attention will now be turning to far harder to tackle areas, in particular Scope 3 emissions – those arising from indirect emissions like waste management, procurement and supply chain logistics.

A 2022 study by Oxygen Finance found that these account for a whopping 96% of total emissions from local authorities, versus just 2% from council operations, and another 2% from purchased energy. Clearly, we cannot deliver net zero without the involvement and support of our supply chain partners. And this needs to be as much about the carrot as the stick – our experience has shown us that the best results come from working collaboratively with businesses.

Achieving together

Supply chain engagement is a fundamental part of our Climate Emergency Action Plan at Westminster City Council, and we have developed a responsible procurement strategy to work hand in hand with suppliers to achieve progressive carbon reduction targets. As a major London authority, we have significant buying power and we can and do use that to set stretching goals for suppliers around waste, air pollution and carbon emissions. But this model only gets us so far.

We have found that the best results come when there is a mutual sharing of risks and rewards – from operational to financial – with innovation supported and encouraged, as well as high standards demanded in how services are delivered. We’ve seen the benefits of this in our highways operations, for example. We have been working with our maintenance partner FM Conway to trial new materials and maintenance techniques on our road network which have the potential to significantly reduce the embodied carbon of operations. This recently resulted in a road surface course containing 92% recycled asphalt being laid in the borough, the highest ever on a UK road.

I mention this example because highways aren’t the first thing council teams might think of in connection with sustainability achievements, but it’s a good example of the kind of technical collaboration and partnership model we need to embrace with our supply chain if we want to make advances. It requires investment, in this case both from us and FM Conway to demonstrate proof of concept, i.e. what sustainability innovations can be delivered while maintaining quality and efficiency. It also needs the right kind of contractual frameworks that can allow for managed risk taking, based on evidence and data, and give suppliers the room to try something new.

As a council, we’ve made considerable progress, but we know the last carbon emissions to remove will be the hardest. That’s why local authorities will need to embrace new ways of working with suppliers, creating the space to test, trial and innovate together.