‘From town halls to Whitehall: climate and nature action must start locally’

Last week, an investigation by Aviva was published in The Guardian with the headline “Towns may have to be abandoned due to floods” highlighting the concern rising within the insurance industry about the impacts of the climate crisis. The day after, the Climate Change Committee warned that the UK must prepare for 2 degrees of warming.

With the Devolution Bill, the Labour government intends to create the structures of 21st-century local government. But they will fail if councils are not set up to tackle the missions of the 21st century – the climate and nature crises. 

Alongside a coalition of organisations, we’re proposing a new duty on authorities to contribute to meeting the climate targets set under the Climate Change Act 2008 and nature, water, waste and air quality targets set under the Environment Act 2021. This would swap vague, general duties that exist today for specific goals that will help turn national targets to action on the ground.

‘Councils have a lot of will to act, but not a lot of resources’

Labour has made the clean energy mission central to bringing bills down and creating jobs across the country. Local authorities have a major role to play in delivery and some are paving the way. For example, councils are key planning authorities with 67% producing mapping for either new solar, wind and district heat networks, providing reassurance for companies and community energy groups that work has already been done to understand which sites are feasible.

Councils will also be the key delivery partners for the, now delayed, Warm Homes Plan. There has already been success in the UK where long term funding means 12 out of 32 Scottish councils have 80% of their social housing at EPC C or above.

Councils also have an equal role to play in defending and improving the natural world. Some have been pioneers in providing space for nature. Bradford City Council is one such example – redeveloping their town centre to place green space at the heart of the town and the even more impactful peatland restoration on Ilkley Moor. Derby City Council turned a golf course into a wildlife haven, free for anyone to use and enjoy, while Lambeth’s Kerbside Strategy is replacing under utilised parking with tree planting and cycle storage. Councils have even supported the reintroduction of species, with beavers coming back into urban spaces in Ealing and Plymouth.

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But this action has come from pioneer councils, and often occurred in fits and starts – matching the short-term funding pots from central governments. Chronic budget shortages have left councils with a lot of will to act on the climate and nature emergencies but not a lot of resources. 

The whole purpose of a specific nature and climate duty would be to make sure that all of the public sector has the resource and support to radically reduce emissions, contributing to the carbon budgets set out in the Climate Change Act and to improve spaces for nature, thereby halting the decline of species by 2030 and reaching the longer term goals set out in the Environment Act.

‘This government must not turn a blind eye’

Precedents do exist. There is one authority in England that since its inception has had climate and nature duties – the Greater London Authority. If in 1999 the Blair government thought it crucial that new regional authorities must be set up with duties to act on the climate and nature crises, surely this government must not turn a blind eye, when the impacts of the climate crisis and ecological decline are so much clearer and more pressing.

In fact, local government in England sits as an outlier across the whole of the UK. Scottish, Northern Irish and Welsh (through the Future Generations Act and public sector 2030 net zero target) councils have some form of climate statutory duty.

As ministers consider the proposal, they should take note of the appetite for more specific environmental duties coming from councils themselves. The Local Government Association (LGA) has adopted a supportive position, after the overwhelming majority of the 150 councils that responded to a consultation on the topic backed the idea. This reinforces the calls from the District Council Network, in their General Election prospectus, London Councils, and ADEPT who have called for a statutory duty on climate change since 2022.

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Aviva summed it up by stating: “Our business is totally correlated with what happens in the environment.” All of the economy is. We need all of the 393 UK councils and mayoral authorities to prioritise tackling the climate and nature emergencies.

Missing out this crucial level of environmental planning would surely mean that our national nature and climate targets are missed by miles. But building environmental action from the council level up will help reshape our economy for the better. The prize will be the resilient, fairer and joyful communities we need to thrive in the 21st century.

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