Tilly Campbell recently completed a dissertation at the University of Leeds examining how cross-sector collaboration is supporting local
authorities with the delivery of climate action. She interviewed a number of figures in the SECA area, and this blog outlines her research and key findings.
SECA co-founder Geoff Barnard kindly participated in research I was conducting on behalf of the University of Leeds in 2024. I wanted to explore why local authorities have shown such varied ambition and responses to climate action, understanding how different stakeholders collaborate and finding ways for individuals and grassroots organisations to encourage and support our local authorities in delivering on the issues that matter most to us. The research took many twists and turns along the way, but here are some findings I wanted to share.
With the deliberation of COP29 in the latter half of 2024, there has been a renewed focus on collaboration and cooperation at the international level. While this is necessary, the importance of local climate action is often forgotten. The UK’s independent Climate Change Committee (CCC) estimates that more than half of the emissions reductions needed to reach our climate commitments rely on people and businesses taking up low-carbon solutions – decisions made locally and individually. The CCC reiterates that local authorities (LAs) have the capacity to influence one third of these local emissions through their internal operations and their role in shaping local businesses’ and residents’ behaviours. They are uniquely embedded within their communities, so they have expertise and knowledge when deciding what climate initiatives work for their specific regions. After all, the varying geographies and demographics around the UK highlight the redundancy of a one-size-fits-all approach to local climate action.
Southampton Civic Centre
The research revealed a significant variation in local authorities’ responses to climate action. Some LAs are still calculating their internal emissions and drafting strategies, while others are deeply engaged in the implementation phase, collaborating with the private and third sectors to reduce emissions and create more resilient communities in their regions. Many LAs in the Southeast are actually ahead of the curve in addressing local climate action as a main priority. The primary and secondary research conducted during this research unearthed a series of structural and contextual barriers that are preventing LAs from implementing local climate policies.
A summary of these barriers has been outlined in the table below:
| Barrier | Key findings |
| Funding and Finance | Ongoing inflation, austerity measures, and the aftermath of the pandemic have severely impacted LAs’ finances. Additionally, LAs are required to compete against one another to access climate-related finance, which hampers their ability to collaboratively deliver meaningful, long-lasting impacts. |
| Local Governance | Governance structures slow down decision-making due to rigorous mechanisms, processes and scrutiny for approved sign-off. |
| Increased Responsibilities and Competing Priorities | There is a lack of clarity on roles and responsibilities within LAs due to a lack of statutory duty. The lack of a legal obligation to take local climate action, combined with financial constraints, means LAs lack the time, resources or capacity to implement climate initiatives. As a result, resources are primarily allocated to statutory duties like housing and education as a priority. |
| Political Support and Lack of Leadership | Previous inconsistency and backtracking on climate-related targets over recent years at the national level have lessened the mandate for LAs to act. Local economic development and investment have been hamstrung by the lack of direction and political support from the national government |
| Information Constraints | There have been significant efforts to make climate information more accessible. However, there is an information barrier for local authorities who are struggling to gather information about the economic costs and benefits of implementation. Concrete information is required to identify tangible risks. This would help illustrate the business case for the cost of inaction. |
| Lack of Skills and Expertise | Due to financial limitations, LAs have been forced to cut climate teams. The loss of personnel has resulted in a critical shortage of skills and expertise for implementing local climate action. |
| Engagement with Wider Community | Community engagement remains a barrier, but to a lesser extent, due to climate change becoming widely accepted in mainstream discourse. LAs still have the challenge of setting up processes that ensure productive dialogue and consistent feedback loops between the wider community and local authority. |
Despite this bleak picture, I remain optimistic, as there have been steps in the right direction since I conducted the research. A change in government has signalled a slight shift in priorities relating to the climate agenda and local climate action. To list a few:
- Labour’s commitment to an 81% reduction in GHG (a 3% increase on the previous target) implies a shift in priority and ambition towards the climate agenda.
- The appointment of Ruth Davis as Special Representative for Nature, and the government’s commitment to a target of protecting 30% of land and sea for nature by 2030signals a more holistic approach to climate action and resilience that goes beyond reducing GHG emissions.
- Finally, and what I believe to be the most promising, the government has increasingly begun working more closely with combined authorities and devolved powers. This will give regions more autonomy to make climate action decisions that best suit their geographies and demographics.
Looking forward then, how can we, as individuals and grassroots organisations, continue supporting our LAs to implement and deliver on the climate issues that matter to us? Sometimes we can feel powerless to address top-down barriers that LAs encounter, from finances to governance structure, and internal issues over responsibility and accountability. But there are things we can do. Climate Emergency UK, who contributed to this research process, encourages us as environmentalists to write to our MP to support a statutory duty on nature and the environment. This notion is gaining momentum because a statutory duty would likely include the requirement for all councils to have a named lead Councillor for Climate, ring-fenced funding for climate action, and guidance for councils on what to do and how to report and measure their Net Zero work. It would give them the authority to deliver their targets and ensure that climate change remains a priority.
In terms of how we can support our LAs with the use of bottom-up action, the research uncovered that there are countless examples of fantastic collaboration on climate action occurring all over the UK. One example to emerge from the research was the Sussex Bay movement powered by civic organisations to recover 100 miles of the Sussex coastline. Another example was highlighted by the director of Transition Town Worthing, where residents’ local climate action included embedding a circular culture with the use of repair shops, and community allotments.
More generally, the issue appeared to be that a lot of this community action was not necessarily being captured by our LAs and recognised as a contribution to their own climate strategies and agendas. We must continue to inform our local councils and authorities about the great work that is happening on the ground and how this aligns with their own climate goals. I concluded that more formal channels, processes and lines of communication between LAs and third-sector environmental groups are needed to facilitate this dialogue and enable that incredibly important local activity to be captured.
Tilly Campbell can be contacted at Tillycampbell99@gmail.com.
The photo of Eastbourne Town Hall is a Wikimedia Commons image by Paul Farmer.