Report casts doubt over city’s 2030 carbon aim
IT will be ‘‘very challenging’’ for Birmingham City Council to hit its target of zero emissions by 2030, a report has claimed.
A Carbon Emissions Reduction Study says “it is not possible to achieve net zero carbon across the city by 2030 without significant carbon offsetting”.
But the council says it is still committed to becoming the first cityregion to become carbon neutral.
The report has been criticised by environmental group Climate Action West Midlands, claiming that the 2030 target has been undermined “by a handful of officers and out-of-town consultants”.
Last June the council declared a ‘climate emergency,’ agreeing to develop a plan for the city to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2030, or as soon after as possible.
The plan was intended to be developed by a Task Force and presented to the council for adoption in January 2020. But it has still not been developed, with Climate Action West Midlands calling on the council to do more to try and achieve the 2030 target.
The council claims it has taken action since the declaration of the climate emergency, pointing to significant investment in public transport to reduce dependency on private car and programmes such as the e-scooter launched last week.
Birmingham City Council’s Cabinet Member for Transport and Environment, Councillor Waseem Zaffar, said: “A report will be going to full council on the work that the Route to Zero Taskforce has undertaken. This will include reference to a report by Anthesis that suggests achieving net zero carbon for the city of Birmingham, as a whole, will be very challenging.
“Whilst the challenges of achieving the 2030 date are recognised, we are still committed to achieving net zero carbon as soon as possible and in advance of the national target of 2050 and the regional target of 2041 set by the West
Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA). The council will therefore work with neighbouring authorities with the aim of becoming the first cityregion to achieve net zero carbon and will not set a revised date until these discussions have taken place.”
Climate Action West Midlands said: “Birmingham has been written off as a ‘can’t-do’ city and denied the many benefits of action on the climate emergency.
“We are calling for a robust climate action plan – setting out in detail the ‘who, what, when, where, how’ aspects of achieving net-zero emissions, and all future work of the Climate Emergency Task Force to be available to citizens of Birmingham and involve meaningful participation.”