Eight in ten councils surveyed by the Local Government Association
have been affected by a climate-related incident in the last five
years – with just over 23,000 properties in England affected by
flooding in the last five years.
The LGA said councils have been working hard to develop
policy and action to tackle climate change since the Government
laid plans in June 2019 to reach net zero carbon emissions by
2050.
The Climate Change Survey 2020 assesses what
actions councils have already taken to mitigate and/or adapt to
climate change. It also asks what policy changes would enable
them to do this more effectively in the future.
The survey found that nine out of 10 councils had since
declared a climate emergency, and around 80 per cent had set an
official target for the authority to become carbon
neutral.
The most frequently identified barrier to tackling climate
change was funding (96 per cent), followed by legislation or
regulation (93 per cent) and lack of workforce capacity (88 per
cent).
Cllr David Renard, LGA environment spokesperson,
said:
“Councils recognise the urgent need to tackle climate
change and are making active changes to benefit the environment.
This includes tackling harmful air pollution by devising clean
air zones, encouraging the use of electric vehicles through
promoting recharging points, and installing energy saving
measures across council’s own building stock.
“However, national climate change targets are unlikely to
be met unless councils are given long-term funding, devolved
powers and easier access to complex government funding
pots.
“Now is a crucial time for local authorities to be able to
act and work hard to tackle climate change. Drawing up and
implementing new policy, hiring and training specialist staff and
communicating this messaging to residents all come at a cost at a
time when council finances are already stretched.
“We want to work with the Government and business to
establish a national fiscal and policy framework for addressing
the climate emergency, supported with long term funding.”
Notes to editors
The survey was conducted by the LGA in February 2020 and
closed in October 2020. The full responses can be found in the
survey, Climate
Change Survey 2020.
