Press

Local councils are struggling to make progress on net zero, research by a campaign group has found.

Too many local authorities are failing to take enough action to reduce emissions from the transport sector, writes the co-director of Climate Emergency UK.

Today, Climate Emergency UK publishes their first analysis report of their Council Climate Action Scorecards, “Scorecards Successes: What factors enable climate action within UK local authorities?”. This report was commissioned by Climate Emergency UK (CE UK), from sustainability consultants Anthesis. It identifies the key characteristics of councils that encourage further climate action, and one of the report’s core recommendations is that climate action must be a statutory for UK councils. 

Following the publication of the Council Climate Action Scorecards in 2023, Climate Emergency UK has now released the updated draft methodology for a repeat scoring of councils on the actions they are taking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This is the first step towards the second Council Climate Action Scorecards, which will be published in Summer 2025.

In its progress report released today, the Climate Change Committee (CCC) has been clear that increased climate action is necessary as “only a third of the emissions reductions required… are currently covered by credible plans.”

Findings come days after ministers scrapped plans to force private landlords to upgrade their properties by 2028.

Climate leadership and governance are crucial to improving council climate action, according to a new report published by Climate Emergency UK, and both would be made easier if councils had a fully funded statutory duty to deliver Net Zero. 

Just 11 per cent of buses across nine devolved English regions and the Greater London Authority (GLA) are currently zero emission vehicles.