Campaigners call for coalition cash for local eco-initiatives

Green budget needed from Chancellor George Osborne, say environmental campaigners. Photo: altogetherfool

I try not to dabble in fiscal policy, but it seems like everyone’s an armchair economist these days. RBS nationalised? Should have let it fail. House prices rising? Global insurance scam. Poor people can’t heat their homes? Blame central banks. Even ‘Page Three girls’ comment on budget forecasts (honest – check out the Sun around April).

As I suppose we’d all agree, economics is both quite simple and quite complex, and of course macro-economic policies to do not translate directly into micro-economic realities. Nonetheless, we all have our ideas about where money should be directed, particularly in terms of specific public services. And rightly so.

As you might imagine, at Hackney and Tower Hamlets Friends of the Earth we’re keen that Hackney Council put more resources into green initiatives.

We say this because we believe that it can benefit the council, and therefore all of us in the borough. For example, when Councillor Mischa Borris was in office (for the Green Party), we supported her amendments to the council’s budget. These included a council energy audit with a 3% energy expenditure reduction target. That proposal alone had an estimated saving of £100,000. (To the best of my knowledge, the council haven’t yet implemented such an audit, which in these belt-tightening times would seem like a win-win option).

In many cases, we see green measures as ‘invest to save’ items, a policy which Hackney Council rightly supports. Indeed, Camden’s feasibility report for a 40% carbon emissions reduction by 2020 showed that although around £800m would be needed in capital expenditure between now and 2020, from 2020 – 2030 the council could expect over £900m returns, and clearly those returns would continue substantially beyond 2030.

And it’s not just that we want to save the council money – supporting a local green economy would help us all by helping Hackney: research by Carbon Descent shows that almost 400 jobs could be created in Hackney by insulating homes and installing greener energy.

We know that Hackney Council are serious about tackling the borough’s environmental footprint – witness the Hackney Labour Party manifesto commitment to establish “a dedicated environmental sustainability unit.” However, current government cuts to local government and the removal of the performance framework for local action on climate change (National Indicator 186) means that councils are struggling to prioritise action on climate change, even though it could save them money in the long run.

That is why we’re lobbying the government to support local carbon budgets, which would see every council helped to achieve the locally appropriate, locally-coordinated emissions cuts needed.

Not only that, it’s hard to see how the coalition are going to be the ‘greenest government ever’, and meet the challenge of the Climate Change Act, without stepping up and providing the finance for a step change in local action on climate change.

Local carbon budgets would mean that local people, businesses and institutions like schools and hospitals could shape the low carbon future of their own communities – tailoring solutions that work locally. And that means that we all have a better chance to be better armchair economists.