The LGA is committed to supporting local government to continue on this journey, and our climate change hub brings together an overview of our sector-led improvement offer of support to help councils continue to provide strong local leadership on this important issue.
Key messages
- It is essential that as a nation we tackle climate change and protect our natural environment. We need to continue to improve air quality, protect against flooding, and ensure our transport, planning, waste and energy policies are sustainable.
- For our part, the LGA is committed to supporting local government to continue on this journey, and our climate change hub brings together an overview of our sector-led improvement offer of support to help councils continue to provide strong local leadership on this important issue. Our hub also includes information on upcoming events as well as relevant publications and best practice case studies.
- Transport contributes 30 per cent of the UK CO2 emissions. We need to design places that encourage active travel and see a large-scale electrification of the vehicle fleet. This is a big challenge for councils to embrace, and we can only do so with long-term guaranteed infrastructure funding.
- Housing is another key area where we can make a significant contribution to net zero. The Government’s preferred option for the proposed new Future Homes Standard does not go far enough to achieving this ambition and may result in costly retrofitting to new dwellings in the future.
- The Government’s Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) which is used to monitor the energy efficiency of homes illustrates how the social housing sector is leading the way. In 2017, social housing stock had an average SAP rating of 68, compared to the private sector which had an average rating of 61.
- Responsibility does not rest with the individual alone or councils. The Environment Bill included a commitment for retailers and manufacturers to pay for recycling and disposing of packaging in household waste. We welcome the commitment to do this, but the next steps must provide clarity for local government on the full funding of costs.
- A key component of clean growth is the creation of green jobs. Our Work Local proposals set out our proposals for a more coordinated and place-based employment and skills system which can be achieved by devolution and integration led by combined authorities and groups of councils.
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