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Cutting carbon for sustainable growth

Sarah Stopforth, assistant researcher at the New Local Government Network, writes about how local government has an essential role to play in coordinating and supporting national initiatives aimed at decarbonising the country’s economy.

Low carbon is the only way that growth in local economies can be put on a sustainable setting. This was the opinion of a group of local government carbon experts and practitioners brought together for a recent roundtable held by the New Local Government Network (NLGN). 

A low-carbon economy is energy efficient and produces minimal greenhouse gas emissions. It can boost sustainable local economic growth through encouraging a reduction in energy and water use for businesses, investment in clean energy generation and providing local training opportunities in new environmental technologies and installations. 

Councils can harness their assets to generate power, saving money over the long term as well as introducing competition of supply into the system, which should lower energy bills for both commercial and residential properties. In this way, local authorities can generate income, save money and pool resources with partners, access external low-carbon funding (such as central government’s Green Deal) and manage demand for future energy crises (for example, through improving flood defences or investing in energy-efficient housing). The benefits of a low-carbon economy for local places, councils and citizens are plentiful. 

Local authorities are well-placed to coordinate the low-carbon economy in their areas, for example by partnering with nearby universities, who are well-placed to design, develop and evaluate low-carbon initiatives and inform policy and initiatives within the locality. The benefits for different stakeholders must be mutual to yield bigger and more impactful results, especially where local authorities do not have the capacity to invest themselves. There is a fundamental role for councils to act as the ‘trusted friend’ between parties and to initiate conversations that lead to collaborative outcomes. 

Local authorities can directly invest in areas such as energy, transport and waste services. For example, where waste disposal services are within the remit of local authorities, there are opportunities to invest in waste as an energy source – bioenergy – to supply, or supplement supply in, the local area. Local authorities are also in a useful position to promote greener transport through control of their fleet. For example, Transport for London has introduced hybrid buses, and Birmingham City Council is planning to move its fleets to gas or electric and encourage taxis to switch their fuel to liquefied petroleum gas. 

Political priorities may present a key stumbling block for local authorities to navigate. In the current economic climate, the case for prioritising a low-carbon economy must be justified, especially if resources, time and expenditure are initially invested seemingly at the expense of other key services. 

Framing the low-carbon economy as part of a preventative measure to better public health and wellbeing outcomes should be an essential part of the ‘sell’. Investing in a low-carbon economy can also address fuel poverty and ensure residents live in suitable, affordable and energy-efficient housing. Both of these should have a positive impact on demand levels on local public services and therefore generate savings for the public purse. For example, air pollution is a particular public health problem in cities and urban areas which can, in part, be prevented through cultural shifts towards a low carbon economy. Substituting fossil fuels for renewables contributes to cleaner air standards and helps address many causes of asthma and heart or lung damage, ultimately saving the NHS money downstream. 

Nationwide, there is a rising problem of fuel poverty, particularly during harsh winters, which can be addressed through a low-carbon approach. For example, establishing a district heat network is a useful way for local authorities to transport heat efficiently throughout local communities and to manage demand across seasons and commercial and residential properties throughout the day. It also leads to lower domestic and business energy bills. Delivering affordable, low-carbon heat is essential to combating fuel poverty. 

Investing in a low-carbon economy for sustainable growth is hugely positive for local authorities and their citizens. The benefits are plentiful. To achieve this, it must be made relevant for the council, its citizens and the market involved. Linking the benefits of a low-carbon economy to a preventative approach to public health is important for a low-carbon economy to move up the political agenda. To this end, framing a low-carbon economy as part of the solution for better health and wellbeing outcomes for local populations is paramount.

“Framing the low-carbon economy as part of a preventative measure to better public health and wellbeing outcomes should be an essential part of the ‘sell’.”

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