Standard content for Members only
To continue reading this article, please login to your Utility Week account, Start 14 day trial or Become a member.
If your organisation already has a corporate membership and you haven’t activated it simply follow the register link below. Check here.
Council leaders have pledged to reach net zero in their communities by 2045 at the latest and have called on government to “get out of our way”.
The UK100 group, which brings together city mayors and council leaders, has unveiled a pledge signed by 41 of its members to neutralise their own emissions by 2030 and those of their residents and businesses “as soon as possible (and by 2045 at the latest)”.
But in a webinar launching the commitment some of the signatories stressed the financial constraints to achieving this goal.
Bristol mayor Marvin Rees gave the example of the 35,000 affordable homes the city has pledged to build by 2036, saying: “Ferociously efficient net zero homes are more expensive. So, what do we do? Do we have a scheme that has 240 net-zero homes rather than 280 in total?”
He added that the authority was currently in a position where it was having to consider dipping into funds earmarked for decarbonisation in order to balance the books in the immediate future.
He called for government to “frontload that investment in decarbonising our city systems” enabling regions to create jobs and ensure “whatever recovery comes our way is decarbonised, pro-nature and pro-inclusive”.
He added: “Government can also de-risk investment. Give us the platform to get private sector investment.”
His call was backed by Shirley Rodrigues, deputy mayor for energy and environment, Greater London Authority, who said: “Devolve the powers and funding to local authority leaders and city mayors because we know what needs to happen, we know what the solutions are, we’ve got our plans – just get out of our way and let us get on with it.”
Nigel Topping, high level action champion for COP26, also spoke at the event and said clear ambition from the regions can help to spur on governments.
“When local authorities and businesses commit it affects the way national governments think. We know the Japanese government’s commitment to net zero by 2050 recently has been very strongly influenced by over 160 of its local authorities committing to net zero by 2050. Sony even threatened to move away from Japan if the government didn’t ratchet up its ambition on renewable energy.”
Topping also revealed that a group of 30 asset management funds, with $9 trillion of assets under their management, had collectively committed their projects to net zero by 2050 at the latest. He called on leaders to put pressure on local government pooled pension funds to do similarly.
Carl Ennis, chief executive of Siemens UK & Ireland, which is partnering with UK100, stressed the important role of energy networks in developing local net zero plans.
He said: “It has to be an integrated approach. The role of the network operator is changing and there is real engagement with Ofgem at the moment to get them to consider themselves as more than just a wires business but also a solutions business.
“We do have to challenge the network operators to become system operators and it’s that challenge that is making them think about how they engage.
“We’re changing what has been a top-down model of energy delivery for many years to something that has to be bottom-up at best but in an ideal scenario in both directions.”
UK100 has also launched a Collaborating for Net Zero Knowledge Hub – a platform for case studies on how different areas are taking action on decarbonisation.
UK100’s director Polly Billington said: “These ambitious local leaders have pledged to do everything within their power to reach net zero emissions as soon as possible in a way that benefits their communities with new jobs and skills. From Edinburgh to Cornwall, local leadership, alongside funding and powers is key to winning the Race to Net Zero.”
Please login or Register to leave a comment.