Local authorities

The London Pension Fund Authority has only 2% of its entire holdings invested in fossil fuel companies

A total of 20 local authorities have won funding totalling £40 million to clean up old buses. They will retrofit buses with technology to reduce tailpipe emissions of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), helping meet minimum emissions standards and tackle air pollution. They include West Yorkshire Combined Authority, Bristol City Council, Oxford City Council, Transport for London […]

Local authorities across England could save up to £35 million every year if a plastic bottle deposit return scheme (DRS) was introduced in England. The news comes after Environment Secretary Michael Gove recently launched a consultation to seek views on how such a scheme – where a small charge is returned to customers for each […]

Local authorities in England could be allowed to charge utility companies by the hour to carry out roadworks on selected routes. New government proposals aim to halve the delays motorists face caused by utility firms digging up busy roads. According to the Department for Transport, the 2.5 million roadworks currently carried out each year cost […]

The government’s draft plans to tackle air pollution in the UK has been criticised as “weak”, “toothless” and “inadequate”. The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) published the air quality plan today after it lost its High Court battle to delay it until after the general election. While the government has not committed […]

Cities in the UK should be given more power to raise the bar on green new-build housing. The UK Green Building Council’s (UK GBC) latest paper proposes government should allow local authorities to take leadership of delivering sustainable new homes and communities to tackle the housing and climate crises. Its release follows the government’s scaling […]

Nearly 450 buses in England will be fitted with green technology to cut harmful emissions. A total of 18 local authorities will share £7 million under the Department for Transport’s Clean Bus Technology Fund. They had to show evidence the technology would cut emissions by at least 50% to win the funding. They will retrofit […]

An extra £3 million to fund low carbon heat technologies have been awarded to local authorities across England and Wales. DECC revealed the 55 local authorities that will share the cash, which will support 74 projects aimed at providing more efficient heat to buildings and potentially lowering heating bills while cutting emissions. Heat will be […]

Communities could be in a position to make a profit from low carbon technologies, if local authorities had more power to influence government. That’s the view of researchers at Sheffield Hallam University, who analysed the Government’s community energy plans. The Community Energy Strategy published last year, allows individuals and local communities to make important contributions […]

DECC yesterday confirmed the 24 local authorities that will receive a share of the £88 million fund to improve energy efficiency in households across the country. The cash, which was increased from the initial £20 million, will be used to install measures such as solid wall insulation and efficient heating systems in around 32,000 households. […]