Friday 14 February 2020

Local authorities ‘are uniquely placed to help businesses hit net zero’

Local authorities are uniquely placed to help businesses drive towards net zero by 2050.

That's the suggestion from Polly Billington, Director of UK100, who spoke to future Net Zero at Green Alliance's 'Countdown to COP' event in London earlier this week.

She said local authorities and councils can use their planning and procurement powers to make climate action a reality in a way that "meets the ambitions, aspirations and needs of their community".

Ms Billington noted the fact most local authorities already have strong relationships with people and businesses in their immediate region means they are "key partners if National Government really wants to meet net zero".

She added: "There's a reason why we've got local government because local places are slightly different from each other so we've got to have solutions that work for those places.

"The reality is business has got a lot of solutions for local authorities and local authorities can send very strong signals to business about what kind of businesses they want in their community and how they can be more sustainable."