Islington Council says more national funding needed to meet net-zero ambitions

Cllr Rowena Champion. Photograph: Islington Council

Islington Council says it needs ‘more national funding and economic incentives’ to meet its net-zero emissions goals by 2030, as two-thirds of councils warn they will miss their climate targets.

Concerns were sparked back in March by revelations from the Local Government Association (LGA) that only a third of councils are confident they will hit their net zero targets on schedule due to the lack of a “sufficient” funding plan.

Speaking at a conference in July organised by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy, Cecilia Booth,  the executive director of corporate services and section 151 at Peterborough City Council, stated that her “immediate instinct” is to say that “we [local authorities] can’t afford net zero” when looking at the pressures on councils’ purses.

Speaking to the Citizen, Cllr Rowena Champion, the executive member for environment, air quality and transport, said: “We want a greener, healthier Islington and are strongly committed to tackling the climate emergency.” 

She highlighted how funding from the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme had helped the council “transform” the borough’s waste and recycling centre by installing more than 800 solar panels to end the centre’s reliance on gas. 

But she added that “to deliver a net zero Islington, we need more national funding and economic incentives and we look forward to working with Government to make this happen”. 

The Town Hall declared a climate emergency on 27 June 2019, when a motion committing the council to working towards making the borough net zero carbon by 2030 was unanimously passed.

The Council’s Vision 2030 strategy, set out in November 2020, includes plans to decarbonise transport, energy, waste management, buildings and the environment.

The Town Hall has also signed the UK100 Net Zero pledge, a network for “influential” leaders across the country.

The idea is that they will collaborate and agree priorities for changes to the law and regulations through discussions with national decision-makers.

The LGA’s survey, which polled more than 300 councils, revealed a quarter of councils are generally unsuccessful in bidding for net zero funds from Whitehall.

It also found that forty per cent of respondents said central government’s overall work with their local council on net zero had not given them any confidence at all of achieving a ‘just transition’.