Four years after councils in the UK started formally declaring a climate emergency, a series of scorecards published by Climate Emergency UK has shown the majority of local authorities are “underperforming” when it comes to action on climate change.
“A lack of funding and government policy U-turns are some of the barriers to effective local climate action.” The top-performing authorities were the Greater London Authority and the West Midlands Combined Authority, which both scored 65%. “This demonstrates that, when a national government provides greater support, funding and power to local authorities, the climate action of every local authority in that nation increases”.Credit: Jane Barlow/PA
The worst performing authority was Tamworth, which declared a climate emergency in November 2019 but scored just 8%. Ms Pickering said: “These scorecards are an essential tool for councils and campaigners alike to show them what is possible for local climate action and encourage councils to go further, to mitigate and adapt to the climate and ecological emergencies we are facing.”