Alan Ewens 

December 13, 2021

The government’s targets for decarbonising the economy and reaching net zero by 2050 have been much publicised and heavily discussed with regards to both their ambition and feasibility. Whatever policies the government decides to pursue to reach its targets, issues such as public transport, recycling rates and town planning will adopt greater importance. For this reason, the work done by local authorities play an important role to play in the route to net zero.

How climate friendly is your local area?

The environmental organisation Friends of the Earth has undertaken a project to assess each local government area on how climate-friendly it currently is. This project uses data from a wide range of local authority and national government sources - ranging from census data on public transport use to GIS mapping of tree cover. The project ultimately focusses on five different aspects of environmental policy: transport, waste, housing, energy and nature, and highlights how much needs to be done by local authorities to reach a net zero target of 2030.

Net zero at a local level

If nothing else, this project shows that the availability of data collected at a national and local government level can not only be used to show the progress of policies designed to bring about net zero at a local level but can also allow greater public scrutiny of those policies, as the data is freely available for use by anyone.

Find out how your Local Authority is doing...

If you are interested in finding out how your Local Authority is doing according to the Friends of the Earth project, visit their website.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this blog represent those of the author, Alan Ewens, and are not those of recycle-more, Valpak Limited or any other organisation.