Local councils have a key role to play in Britain’s zero carbon future according to a policy paper agreed by the Liberal Democrats.

The ‘Green Growth and Green Jobs’ paper, which was passed at the Liberal Democrat Conference in Glasgow on Sunday, outlines a number of ambitious policies. The motion calls for an expansion to the government’s ‘Green Deal’ and says all homes should be brought up to EnerPHit ‘passivhaus’ energy efficiency standards by 2050. The paper calls on local councils to create arm’s length local energy companies to produce, distribute and sell electricity and heat. It also says all councils should have carbon reduction targets in local development plans and that councils should be working with local businesses to maximise renewable energy investment opportunities in their area.

In July local Liberal Democrats outlined ambitious plans to make York the greenest city in the north of England. The Lib Dem Group called on Labour run York Council to commit to achieving the highest recycling rates in the region, introduce an ambitious carbon reduction programme, and examine setting-up a doorstep food recycling service and a council-owned renewable energy company. Group Leader Cllr Keith Aspden met with Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Ed Davey MP, to discuss the policy plans in Glasgow yesterday.

Speaking from Glasgow Councillor Keith Aspden, Liberal Democrat Group Leader in York, commented:

“This policy motion rightly puts local councils at the heart of the Liberal Democrat vision for a zero carbon Britain. It gives us the potential to make York the ‘Greenest City in the North’.

“Local councils like York should be leading the way, but since 2011 the Labour run Council has introduced a green bin tax, closed a recycling centre and overseen a rise in landfill tax and a fall in recycling rates. We need to reverse this decline and get York back to leading the environmental agenda. Ideas such as creating a local energy company and tackling fuel poverty by bringing all homes up to the highest energy standards should be brought forward.

“The Lib Dem plan for a zero carbon Britain will help to create green jobs, revive the economy, lay the foundations for new technologies, new industries and new, sustainable sources of prosperity, free the country from its dependence on fossil fuels and help tackle the grave threat of climate change.”

The policy paper, Green Growth and Green Jobs – Transition to a Zero Carbon, calls on Government to:

• Encourage local authorities to create arm’s-length local energy companies to produce, distribute and sell electricity and heat.

• Reinforce local councils’ existing responsibilities for promoting energy conservation and eliminating fuel poverty in their areas, encouraging building insulation and the use of waste heat from power stations for buildings.

• Give councils more control over public transport provision, to provide greater opportunities for local public transport to make full use of local renewable energy resources.

And said: Local government also has a key role in helping to make local companies aware of the new opportunities opening up and helping to match them with big companies – e.g. renewable energy installers – looking for local suppliers.

The full motion passed at Liberal Democrat Conference: Green Growth and Green Jobs (Transition to a Zero Carbon Britain Policy Paper):

Conference endorses the Liberal Democrat vision for a zero carbon Britain, which will help to create green jobs, revive the economy, lay the foundations for new technologies, new industries and new, sustainable sources of prosperity, free the country from its dependence on fossil fuels and help tackle the grave threat of climate change.
Conference endorses Policy Paper 109, Green Growth and Green Jobs – Transition to a Zero Carbon

Conference in particular welcomes the paper’s specific proposals to:
1. Strengthen the UK policy framework for green growth by:
a) Providing greater policy stability and promoting investor confidence.
b) Facilitating investment in low-carbon technologies and infrastructure, including:
i) Expanding the Green Investment Bank’s borrowing powers.
ii) Encouraging the creation of green financial products.
c) Developing and retaining a skilled and flexible UK workforce.
d) Promoting low-carbon innovation.
e) Ensuring that local government plays a full role in the transition to a zero carbon Britain.
f) Reviewing the contribution of the planning framework.
g) Ensuring that government takes a stronger lead in procuring low-carbon goods and services.
2. Press for a strengthened EU policy framework for green growth, including:
a) Binding EU and member state emissions targets, as part of a 2030 energy and climate package, reducing emissions by 50 per cent from 1990 levels.
b) Swift and ambitious reform of the EU Emissions Trading System.
c) Better use of EU funds to steer investment into low-carbon solutions.
3. Halve total energy demand by 2030 by:
a) Improving domestic energy efficiency, including:
i) Transforming the Green Deal into a comprehensive one-off programme to bring all homes up to the EnerPHit standard by 2050, focusing initially on households suffering from fuel poverty and homes in off-gas-grid areas.
ii) Offering differential final stamp duty rates on home transactions.
iii) Providing incentives to local authorities to reduce council tax rates for those who can demonstrate significant improvements in a home’s EPC ratings.
b) Targeting energy efficiency improvements in commercial, services and public sector buildings.
c) Encouraging and empowering domestic consumers to reduce energy use.
4. Decarbonise the power sector by:
a) Enacting as soon as possible a legally binding target for decarbonising the power sector by 2030, in the range of 50–100 g of CO2 per kWh of electricity.
b) Developing a more diverse and competitive generation and supply market.
c) Providing support for new technologies and business models through the Green Investment Bank.
d) Reducing planning barriers to renewable energy developments.
e) Helping onshore wind developers to engage with local communities.
f) Encouraging investment in offshore wind.
g) Promoting marine renewables.
h) Continuing the government’s cap on new dedicated biomass plants, and ending support for all new biomass for electricity generation after 2020.
i) Accepting that in future, nuclear power stations could play a limited role in electricity supply, provided concerns about safety, disposal of radioactive waste and cost (including decommissioning) are adequately addressed and without allowing any public subsidy for new build.
j) Prioritising construction of international interconnectors.
k) Investigating the development of a larger UK energy storage market.
l) Not allowing new gas-fired generation in the absence of a clear plan to recover heat for supply to industrial or commercial consumers or via a heat network.
m) Permitting limited shale gas extraction, ensuring that regulations controlling pollution and protecting local environmental quality are strictly enforced, planning decisions remain with local authorities and local communities are fully consulted over extraction and fully compensated for all damage to the local landscape.
n) Supporting the development of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology.
o) Promoting community energy projects.
5. Decarbonise the UK heat supply by 2050 by:
a) Reducing heat wastage.
b) Promoting district heating.
c) Ensuring that biomass is used for heating fuel rather than electricity generation alone.
d) Expanding the use of low-carbon gas.
6. Decarbonise the transport sector by:
a) Promoting walking and cycling.
b) Taking action to reduce private vehicle emissions, including:
i) Supporting ambitious EU emissions targets for cars, of around 70g CO2/km, to take effect in 2025.
ii) Supporting tighter EU emissions targets for vans.
iii) Developing a Vehicle Emissions Duty (VED) escalator linked to the EU targets with a subsidy for the cleanest vehicles, paid for by higher VED on the highest emission vehicles.
iv) Preparing for the introduction of a revenue-neutral system of road pricing and supporting local authorities introducing road pricing in congested areas.
v) Specifying that, by 2040, only ultra-low carbon vehicles will be permitted on UK roads for nonfreight purposes.
c) Extending electrification of the rail network where there are clear economic and environmental benefits.
d) Reducing bus emissions and promoting bus use.
e) Reducing aviation emissions by replacing air passenger duty with a per-plane duty, charged in proportion to the carbon emissions created by that journey.
f) Promoting international action to reduce shipping emissions.
g) Including international aviation and shipping emissions in the UK’s statutory targets to reduce emissions and the carbon budget framework.
h) Pressing for reform of EU policies in order to reduce support for unsustainable transport biofuels and end all support for food-crop-based biofuels after 2020.
7. Address emissions from industry by:
a) Encouraging greater efficiency in industrial processes.
b) Assisting energy-intensive industries to adopt low-carbon production methods and invest in energy-efficiency measures.
c) Ensuring that UK Trade and Investment and UK Export Finance withdraw fully from supporting all fossil fuel-related sectors, and instead increase support to exports of low-carbon technologies and services.
8. Take action to reduce carbon emissions from agriculture and land use, including:
a) Working with the European Commission to plan for a mid-term review of the CAP in 2017 to build on the current reforms.
b) Adopting a National Food Strategy to secure the production and consumption of sustainable and healthy food.
c) Expanding forestry.
9. Ensure that consumers gain from the transition to a zero carbon Britain by:
a) Ensuring that decarbonisation policies achieve their objectives cost-effectively and affordably.
b) Creating market-wide incentives for energy saving, or ‘negawatts’.
c) Promoting collective switching initiatives.
d) Assisting households suffering from fuel poverty.
10. Working for a globally coordinated international response to climate change including:
a) Playing a leading political role in the EU and international forums to secure an effective new climate treaty, containing emission reduction commitments from all countries, with the richer countries taking the lead, supported by a well-financed Green Climate Fund to provide assistance to poor countries.
b) Pursuing EU and international action to reduce hydrofluorcarbons (HFCs) and other ‘short-lived climate forcers’.
c) Promoting international action to end net global deforestation by 2020.