Councils have statutory duty to combat climate change

Councils across the UK have been advised to have a statutory duty to tackle climate change. The government advisors have recommended that councils can make cuts in greenhouse emissions such as housing, cars and traffic around the UK. 

Yet councils have fought back saying that the struggle with cuts has put a strain on finances and if the government wants the issue of climate change to be combated, more financial help should be offered. 

The government is expecting to have tighter carbon budgets for the UK by 2050 which had reached 80% emission back in 1990.

“We’ve got national carbon budgets with ambitious emission cuts built into them, and if we weren’t to address the cuts local authorities can make, we’d not meet the targets,” David Kennedy, the chief executive of The Committee on Climate Change said. “Local authorities can have a very big impact in areas such as improving energy efficiency in buildings, sustainable travel and waste management,” he told BBC News. 

Councils have cut energy use by nearly a third and have invested in wind turbines, biomass boilers and solar panels for schools. Many people are now insulating and investing in solar panels. 

“With the massive spending cuts councils face, they’re having to take very tough decisions at a local level,” LGA senior advisor Abigail Burridge said. “Some councils have struggled to access some of the funding pots that are there – and some things cost more in certain places, such as in rural areas where public transport costs would be high,” she told BBC News.

Matthew Warcup