Oxford City Council welcomes latest Committee on Climate Change report

The City Council joins calls for ministers to reboot the economy after the pandemic with urgent action to tackle the climate emergency.  

The report is the government’s statutory adviser’s annual assessment of the UK’s progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The report finds that while some progress has been made, much more needs to be done in the next 12 months to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and avoid dangerous climate change. 

This year, the annual progress report recognises the impact of unexpected national and worldwide events that have occurred since the last report – most notably the current coronavirus pandemic. It provides the Government with comprehensive advice to rebuild from the pandemic by accelerating the transition to a low-carbon economy. 

Oxford City Council response

In January 2019, the City Council declared a climate emergency, and in Autumn 2019 was the first UK city to hold a Citizens’ Assembly on Climate Change which explored how the city should move towards net zero ahead of 2050. In December 2019 the council welcomed the findings of the Citizens’ Assembly and set out an interim programme of 53 responses to the recommendations.

The City Council is calling on the Government to do the following:

• Focus on a green recovery to ensure the environmental benefits of lockdown continue, and we can build back better
• End the sale of all new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2032 at the very latest
• Provide local government with funding to introduce more footways and segregated cycle lanes to ensure a proper shift away from private car use
• Launch a nationwide energy efficiency programme and provide funding to local authorities in order to ramp up the delivery of energy efficiency measures
• Make changes to national policy and standards in areas such as building standards, commercial buildings, and in the private rented sector
• Provide greater policy certainty for investors in renewables and additional funding and incentives for renewable projects, especially solar

Transport

The report highlights the importance of urgently decarbonising transportation. The UK’s chief advisers on climate change call for the ban on the sale of petrol and diesel cars to be brought forward by three years to 2032 “at the latest” and an increase in car taxes, as they urge ministers to seize a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity presented by the coronavirus crisis.

Oxford’s Charter for Cleaner Air, launched by the City Council, Greenpeace UK, and Friends of the Earth, called on the Government in 2018, called on Government to “end the sale of all new petrol and diesel cars and vans earlier than 2040” and “revise the tax regime and provide fiscal incentives to help people and businesses adopt cleaner vehicles”.

In Oxford, the City Council has been working with partners Oxfordshire County Council on proposals for Oxford’s Zero Emission Zone to restrict polluting vehicles and Connecting Oxford to reduce private car use, with investment in electric charging infrastructure, electrification of our own fleet, support for local businesses, and support for investment in electric taxis and buses across the city. Additionally, the council has been investing in cycling, by installing more cycle racks across the city.

The City Council has co-hosted two annual Electric Vehicle summits in the city. In addition, the production of the Electric MINI in the Cowley plant further highlights Oxford as a leading the way for electric transport.

Following the coronavirus pandemic, the City Council has committed £234,000 to kick start work on measures needed to enable pedestrians and cyclists to safely maintain social distancing in the city –this includes £100,000 of CIL funding to make emergency changes to support more people to walk and cycle, and a further £134,000 of Government funding.

The £134,000 of Government funding is part of a wider £3m investment across Oxfordshire, including Oxford city centre, issued to Oxfordshire County Council by Central Government, as part of £250m of funds nationally to encourage safe pedestrian and cycle movement in cities.

The council is calling on the Government to:

• End the sale of all new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2032 at the very latest
• Provide local government with funding to introduce more footways and segregated cycle lanes to ensure a proper shift away from private car use

Buildings

The Committee on Climate Change has recommended a national programme of building renovation as part of a wider plan to reduce the environmental harm of the built environment. Advisers call for national plan for insulating the UK’s draughty homes, which would also create thousands of new green jobs as the country emerges from the coronavirus recession.

Latest data on carbon emissions shows that 81% of the total greenhouse gas emissions in Oxford comes from buildings. Residential buildings are the largest contributor to emissions at 29% of Oxford's total emissions.

The City Council is moving towards a zero-carbon building system across eight areas – Council buildings, Council housing, new homes, community buildings, commercial buildings, private rented sector, planning standards, and building standards. The council has recently started work on Oxford’s first zero carbon homes.

Oxford City Council has taken on powers to improve the energy efficiency standards of commercial and private rented properties across Oxford.

The City Council has accepted the delegation of powers from Oxfordshire County Council relating to enforcement of Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) in the domestic private rented sector, and enforcement of the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) in commercial properties.

Oxford City Council’s newly adopted Local Plan 2036 includes an ambitious carbon reduction policy that requires new developments in Oxford to go 40% further than the national government targets on carbon emissions. This will rise to 50% after 2026 and, in the case of new residential development, zero carbon from March 2030. If the Government were to bring forward new stricter building standards, this timeline to net zero build as standard could be accelerated.

The council is calling on the Government to:

• Launch a nationwide energy efficiency programme and provide funding to local authorities in order to ramp up the delivery of energy efficiency measures
• Make changes to national policy and standards in areas such as building standards, commercial buildings, and in the private rented sector

Renewable Energy

The report states that energy networks must be strengthened in order to support the electrification of transport and heating.

In Oxford, the City Council is piloting two major projects to support the electrification of road transport and to trial a smart grid. The £41m Energy Superhub Oxford (ESO) will trial the world's largest hybrid battery system which will balance the grid by enabling greater use of clean, renewable energy sources, and will predict overall demand on the private wire network to support the management of future fleet charging.

Additionally, the £40m Project LEO will trial a smart grid will develop a new model for the way in which local energy systems in Oxfordshire are managed and measured.

The City Council is also generating the equivalent of 12% of its annual electricity consumption from PV on its own buildings, as well as Leys Pools and Leisure Centre, Rose Hill Community Centre, Horspath Depot and St Aldate’s Chambers as well as other sites. The City Council has also installed solar PV on 214 council houses.

Oxford City Council funds the Low Carbon Hub, a social enterprise that develops community-owned renewable energy projects and supports low carbon groups in Oxfordshire. The City Council has a revolving loan fund agreement to fund projects prior to community share offers to put such schemes in local community ownership. The Council will continue to support the installation of renewable energy in and around the city and keep under review investment and other fiscal opportunities to support the community renewable energy network in and around the city.

The council is calling on the Government to:

• Provide greater policy certainty for investors in renewables and additional funding and incentives for renewable projects, especially solar

Building back better after the coronavirus pandemic

The backdrop of the report highlights the impact that the coronavirus has had on everyday lives, as well as on the environment. The recovery to the pandemic will determine whether or not the world gets on track to avoid dangerous climate change and reverses the alarming loss of nature.

The implementation of lockdowns has provided a temporary respite for the environment, with nature flourishing and global CO2 emissions falling by an estimated 8% this year – which roughly equates to the reduction in emissions that is required every year over the next decade. However, unless urgent steps are taken to decarbonise the economy, these emissions are likely to sharply rebound during the recovery period.

In Oxford, the 65% decrease in air pollution levels during the pandemic, due to the increase in home working, walking and cycling.

The CCC highlights that we are now facing once in a lifetime opportunity to address the climate emergency and build back better in the recovery to the pandemic. Structural and systemic changes are needed to build in emissions reductions, while at the same time delivering economic recovery and new, low carbon jobs.

During this time of recovery, the council fully agrees that both in Oxford, and across the UK, there needs to be a focus on a green recovery to ensure the environmental benefits of lockdown continue, and we can build back better. The economics of decarbonisation have not changed - and the evidence shows that government spending on low carbon can produce more jobs than high carbon alternatives, while also reducing emissions.

Following the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the City Council programmes to tackle climate change will be revised, though the ongoing £100m capital investment programme on low carbon measures will continue. The Council remains committed to becoming a Zero Carbon Council and city.

"Britain’s economy is walking a tightrope right now and households all over Oxford need a full and fast recovery. The Government should listen to its own experts today. Ministers should take effective climate action to reboot our economy, recover from the pandemic, and rebuild our country as Zero Carbon Britain. With the UK hosting key United Nations climate talks next year, it has the chance to be a leader and earn the respect of the world.

Oxford’s Citizens’ Assembly on Climate Change said that the responsibility for true climate action was shared by local councils, government, businesses, and citizens. Unless Government provides funding and powers to councils to take climate action, the City Council will always have one hand tied up our back. It isn’t right that our zero carbon ambitions, reflected within our climate action and sought by Oxford’s citizens, should be undermined by a timid Government.”

Councillor Tom Hayes, Deputy Leader, Cabinet Member for Green Transport and Zero Carbon Oxford

“The Committee on Climate Change’s annual report to Parliament provides an important analysis of the links between climate action and economic recovery from the pandemic. The key message is that the two are closely linked. I welcome the very high priority given in the report to the need to refurbish buildings and to alternatives to private car travel. These are issues on which Government needs to do more to give local government the powers and resources to make rapid progress. This will create sustainable jobs.” 

Nick Eyre, Professor of Energy and Climate Policy at the Environmental Change Institute (ECI), University of Oxford

The full Committee on Climate Change’s 2020 Progress Report to Parliament can be viewed here.