Four out of five councils have been hit by a “climate-related incident” in the last five years – including 23,000 properties flooded, a study reveals today.
The Local Government Association's Climate Change Survey 2020 found about 80% of town halls had set official targets to become carbon neutral.
But 96% blamed a lack of cash as a barrier to tackling climate change, with 93% saying legislation or regulation hampered efforts.
The LGA highlighted moves to create clean air zones, ban cars from some streets at peak times and install vehicle charging points as examples of where councils were making progress towards slashing emissions.
LGA environment spokesman David Renard said: “Councils recognise the urgent need to tackle climate change and are making active changes to benefit the environment.
“This includes tackling harmful air pollution by devising clean air zones, encouraging the use of electric vehicles through promoting recharging points, and installing energy saving measures across councils' own building stock.
“However, national climate change targets are unlikely to be met unless councils are given long-term funding, devolved powers and easier access to complex government funding pots.
“Now is a crucial time for local authorities to be able to act and work hard to tackle climate change.
“Drawing up and implementing new policy, hiring and training specialist staff and communicating this messaging to residents all come at a cost at a time when council finances are already stretched.
“We want to work with the Government and business to establish a national fiscal and policy framework for addressing the climate emergency, supported with long-term funding.”
A Government spokesman said: “The UK is a global leader in tackling climate change, becoming the first major economy to commit to reaching net-zero emissions by 2050.
“We are also bolstering our resilience to climate change, providing a record £5.2billion investment in flood defences and ensuring vital infrastructure is resilient to extreme weather.”
