The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) has today set out the terms for a new investigation into the role councils can play in cutting carbon emissions and tackling climate change. It promises to produce a series of recommendations in the spring.
However, the report is unlikely to contain mandatory requirements for councils to follow. This has prompted Friends of the Earth and a number of councils to launch a campaign calling on the government to impose a duty on local authorities to produce climate change action plans.
Speaking at a conference hosted by Friends of the Earth, David Kennedy, chief executive of the CCC, said the new report will aim to identify areas where councils should focus climate change action, assess opportunities for emissions reductions, consider the green policy levers local authorities could deploy, and make recommendations on how government can encourage local authority action.
He added that it is likely the CCC will recommend some form of carbon targets for councils, but counselled that targets alone are unlikely to deliver deep cuts in emissions.
Earlier in the day, climate minister Greg Barker told the audience of local councillors that he has instructed the committee to report back on its findings by the spring. He added that the government's localism agenda means it is fully committed to supporting local authority efforts to tackle climate change.
The commissioning of the report comes at a time when action on climate change is widely held to be slipping down the agenda of local councils.
A report from the Green Alliance think tank last week found that 37 per cent of councils are currently "deprioritising climate change", primarily as a result of spending constraints.
The findings have ignited calls for the government to reinstate elements of the National Indicators framework for councils, which was scrapped last year. This removed a requirement for them to report on emissions reductions and local climate change policies.
Responding to a question on whether the government should mandate councils to produce coherent climate action plans, Barker said Whitehall is mandating councils to take action on a number of environmental fronts, including participation in the Green Deal energy efficiency scheme.
But he argued that further mandatory requirements are not necessary and will run counter to the government's localism agenda.
In contrast, shadow climate change minister Luciana Berger said that the CCC report is a "welcome start", but added that it will not place any obligation on councils to act. As a result, a clearer framework that requires local authorities to take steps to cut emissions is necessary.
Friends of the Earth used the conference to launch a new campaign calling for such a mandatory framework to be produced. It launched a new petition urging the CCC to advise councils on the specific scale and type of green actions they should be taking, and to recommend that the government place a duty on councils to take action on climate change and report annually on their process.
Barker also faced some heckling from the crowd over the government's controversial proposals to slash the level of feed-in tariff support for solar installations.
The minister said the proposed changes have been a "very difficult" decision as he remains fully committed to decentralised energy and the continuation of an effective feed-in tariff incentive scheme.
However, he insisted the popularity of the scheme, coupled with the excesive rates of returns enjoyed by some installers, means that it is vital that swift and deep cuts are imposed.
Many councillors remained unimpressed with the government's justification for the proposed changes – which could come into effect within six weeks – warning that large numbers of public sector, community and social housing solar schemes are now being shelved.
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