The lengthy list of ‘priorities' facing councils never seems to shorten and the one of choice at any given time often depends on the conversation taking place – financial sustainability, housing pressures, social care and now, for many, local government reorganisation.
Most of these are immediate concerns and inevitably risk dragging councils' attention away from a particular long-term global priority. A priority where so much of the solution lies in local initiatives – decarbonisation and climate change.
Our round table participants felt the need for decarbonisation is urgent and should be the enabling driver of future resilience, energy security, public health, and economic innovation using language that positions decarbonisation not just as a ‘nice to have' but as essential local infrastructure. Place-based decarbonisation unlocks jobs, supply chains, local industrial strategies, and energy independence, said our participants. The narrative risks decoupling climate ambition from local economic benefits when in fact they are tightly linked. As one said: ‘Place-based decarbonisation isn't a side mission. It's the mission. It is common to local economic renewal, public health, energy security, and climate targets.'
In addition, unitaries and strategic authorities will be operating at scale, ensuring more conversations with government are dovetailing and are more strategically focused. This could also help with government departments' tendency to direct councils to targets that conflict with climate initiatives, as having services consolidated in one organisation offered the opportunity to more easily identify such conflicts and provide challenge back to Whitehall.
It's a priority that continues to bubble away in the social and political spheres despite other crises grabbing the headlines. Whether it is Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch's prophecies of us failing to hit our net zero targets or Labour's climate change secretary Ed Miliband launching plans for solar panels on hospitals and schools, the simmering goes on.
In much the same way, councils are continuing to plug away at trying to provide climate solutions in their areas, but how successful is the process proving?
The MJ and technical services expert Equans brought together a group of senior local and central government leaders with first-hand knowledge of the topic on the fringes of the recent MJ Future Forum event in Hertfordshire, to assess progress and offer suggestions for next steps.
As one participant said, there are no shortage of great council-led initiatives taking place around the country – whether it's Bristol's city-scale decarbonisation programme or Equans' work with Dudley MBC to build the UK's first net zero neighbourhood – but there is little coordination across the sector. ‘There is a real disconnect of the sum of the parts,' they said.
Every possible initiative is being done by a council somewhere but ‘no one is doing everything', they added.
And capturing this learning promises to avoid mistakes being made. While some councils have ended up investing in expensive initiatives, such as energy from waste plants which are nowhere near the communities that could benefit from the scheme, there are examples of authorities – such as Nottingham City Council – where they've got it right.
Others around the table pointed to continued silo thinking in councils which is preventing the decarbonisation agenda from running seamlessly through all the authority's work. This, said one voice, was exacerbated by central government departments, where priorities are equally disjointed, forcing council officers to focus on targets unconnected to climate priorities.
Nonetheless, one senior local government officer pointed to a simple solution at their authority where every initiative had to be tested against priorities such as climate impact before being signed off.
It was also noted that social housing retrofit investment is growing due to significant government grant availability and social housing provider budgets being aligned to deliver net zero. One participant said that in many local authority areas this investment could provide a catalyst for wider investment by local authorities using the Government's Warm Homes: Local Grant programmes. This focus on place based, cross tenure retrofit investment can help to reduce cost of delivery through improved economies of scale. It could also improve long-term supply chain confidence to invest in local skills development.
There was a feeling from some around the table that the move to unitarisation and the emergence of more strategic authorities offering the potential for some of these challenges to be addressed. Services will be delivered in a single authority, helping greater joining up, they argued.
In addition, unitaries and strategic authorities will be operating at scale, ensuring more conversations with government are dovetailing and are more strategically focused. This could also help with government departments' tendency to direct councils to targets that conflict with climate initiatives, as having services consolidated in one organisation offered the opportunity to more easily identify such conflicts and provide challenge back to Whitehall.
However, the counterpoint was quickly made that the risk exists of weighty services such as adults and children's social care sucking the life out of any financial considerations around climate action.
Until now, argued one participant, districts have been free of the ample financial headaches associated with care provision, offering the space to invest in innovative climate projects.
But, key to so many council climate goals is the active support of communities and residents.
‘You need community buy-in very early on,' offered one officer. ‘We need community centric design, but we are not great at it.'
The need for resident and community support is particularly crucial for housing retrofit programmes. ‘Customer engagement for retrofit is damn hard,' the officer added. ‘They don't understand what we are offering them. ‘We need community champions. It's the only way to get people to come on board.'
However, there was a recognition around the table that the sector and its suppliers were often poor at fostering that buy-in, with retrofit ‘after-care' invariably weak when things went wrong. In addition, vulnerable residents were often put off by the thought of being lumbered with technology they feared they would be unable to use.
So much, agreed the gathering, was down to trust being nurtured among residents and across communities by both councils and providers. Yet, there was a timely warning of the risks the sector faces of scuppering this trust in its eagerness to get the public to buy in.
One participant was quick to point out that only around 1% of UK homes were unable to have heat pumps installed as replacements to gas boilers. ‘Sure, you can put them in…' shot back another. Their point? That if homes hadn't been adequately insulated – a process that could prove extremely costly to homeowners – the new technology was far from guaranteed to keep properties adequately heated.
A third voice backed this up by saying heat pumps didn't address the scourge of damp and mould in often cold and drafty social and affordable housing. For many present there was a public relations job to be done to illustrate the benefits of the technology on offer.
One way proposed was through councils demonstrating the benefits through retrofitting their own assets. ‘Local authorities have plenty of assets that need to be decarbonised,' said one.
‘Councils need to bring their own assets to the table.' This, it was noted, would also help with attracting the private investment needed to get projects off the ground.
As well as the need for clear agreements to reassure private providers, investors needed to have confidence in the long-term funding pipeline. And local authorities, with their assets, could provide this confidence. Bristol City Council's ‘One City Climate Strategy' is one of the initiatives leading the way in this regard, said one participant.
It has created a district heat network, a series of underground pipes to deliver affordable, low-carbon heat and energy across the city, and aims to get around 65,000 buildings to connect to it. Owning more than 28,000 homes itself, the council has brought the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of these properties up to EPC C or above.
By taking these bold initial steps, Bristol's ‘City Leap Energy Partnership' is on course to attract £424m of investment to the area in the first five years of operation, so the city can avoid around 140,000 tonnes of carbon emissions. The ultimate aim is to attract £1bn of investment into Bristol's energy system. It was these kinds of initiatives that one round tabler said would create a ‘ripple effect' for councils' net zero missions.
But another highlighted that community reluctance and private sector reticence were only part of the problem. Internally, there could be political resistance. One officer spoke of their experience of being prevented from even using the phrase ‘climate change' in official documents. Thankfully, it seems such resistance is not widespread, with others around the table pointing to positive net zero initiatives from Dudley to Dorset.
Yet, councils will have to work hard to bring communities with them, attract in adequate private investment and navigate the potential pitfalls of fledgling technologies.
But with plenty of good work taking place, there is no need for councils to continuously reinvent the wheel. There is much they can learn from each other.
Round table attendees
Patrick Allcorn – Head of local net zero demonstration and delivery, Department of Energy, Security and Net Zero
Jan Britton – Executive director of place, Dorset Council
Susan Halliwell – Chief executive, Bracknell Forest Council
Tom Hook – Executive director of corporate resources, Oxford City Council
Mathew Jellings – Senior relationship director, Equans
Richard Marsh – Director of place, Mid Devon DC
Alice Monty – Sustainability director, Equans UK & Ireland
Andy Piper – Head of sustainability, VIVID Housing
Andrew Spencer – Energy & carbon services director, Equans UK & Ireland
Michael Burton – Editorial director, The MJ (chair)
Paul Marinko – Deputy editor, The MJ (reporting)
COMMENT
Unlocking place-based climate action
Mathew Jellings, business development director of Equans, comments on the discussion
As local government contends with financial constraints, service pressures, and ongoing reorganisation, we recognise that councils remain central to delivering the UK's climate ambitions. The round table discussion highlighted a crucial perspective – place-based decarbonisation is not an optional initiative, it is critical infrastructure for resilient, healthy and economically secure communities.
Across the country, pioneering local programmes – from Bristol's heat network to Dudley's net zero neighbourhood – show what's possible when innovation meets commitment. Yet, too often these initiatives operate in isolation. The sector needs stronger strategic alignment, improved knowledge sharing, and consistent national direction to turn promising pilots into scalable systems.
The conversation highlighted that climate action is as much about people as it is about technology. Community trust and participation are key – particularly in retrofitting homes. Success depends on listening to residents, involving them in the design of solutions, and ensuring technologies are user-friendly and effective.
Local authorities must be supported to embed climate thinking across all services and to decarbonise their own estates, demonstrating leadership while unlocking wider investment. New opportunities emerging from unitarisation may support more joined-up approaches – but scale without shared purpose is not enough.
Councils, government, and industry must work together to weave a more connected climate response – building on what already works, and avoiding repeated mistakes. Perhaps it's time to create a national Climate Decarbonisation Hub: a shared resource of insights, best practice, and tools to support every council on the journey to net zero.
This is not about managing decline, it's about shaping the future of place. The challenge is complex, but the direction is clear.
