Two-thirds of local councils in England are not confident they will hit their net zero targets, according to a survey by the Local Government Association (LGA).
The association blamed it on a “bureaucratic system” of bidding for national government funding. They also called on political parties to back “a local approach” to deliver more value for money.
In a press release on Monday, the LGA said its survey found most councils (85 percent) have “little or no confidence in the approach to achieve net zero homes.”
Meanwhile, 80 percent have little or no confidence in the approach to achieve net zero transport, and 95 had little or no confidence that the goals can be achieved “in a way that is fair and inclusive to everyone.”
The survey also found that 9 in 10 councils believe there isn’t a sufficient financing plan in place to deliver net zero by 2050, with almost three-quarters of councils (73 percent) saying bureaucracy and uncertainty of government funding is unattractive to private investors.
One in four councils told the LGA they were “generally unsuccessful in bidding for net zero funds,” 60 percent of councils said they had been dissuaded from bidding because of the time and resources required, and 83 percent said they were “concerned by an excessive bureaucratic burden tied up with national funding pots.”
The LGA called on parties to “back local climate action, supporting a local approach that can achieve net zero by 2050 for half the cost of national approach and deliver three times the financial returns.”
Labour Councillor Darren Rodwell, environment spokesperson for the LGA, said, “Councils are leading transformative projects across the country, but their innovation is being strangled by the national approach to the transition to net zero.”
Mr. Rodwell said Whitehall “will not reach net zero without empowering councils to deliver local climate action in every village, town, and city.”
“With the right support, local areas could deliver net zero quicker and for less money, while boosting the local economy and ensuring local people benefit,” he said.
Net zero 2050 is a legal target approved by Parliament to reduce carbon emissions by 100 percent by 2050 compared to the 1990 baseline.
The Office for Budget Responsibility has said that the fiscal cost of net zero is around £20 billion a year in 2023’s money, equivalent to adding 21 percent of GDP to debt by 2050. The figure was calculated by taking the forecast savings resulted from the transition from the net costs.
Some economists have also argued that the transition to net zero will be more expensive than expected because the estimates of potential savings were too optimistic.
Panellists of an Economic Affairs Committee hearing also warned peers last month that costs could have been underestimated.
