Climate change blog - bringing the Seventh Carbon Budget home: what can local authorities do right now?
We were delighted that Emma Pinchbeck, Chief Executive Officer of the Climate Change Committee (CCC), was able to attend a recent ADEPT Climate Change Board meeting to present on the Seventh Climate Change Budget. In this month’s blog, Policy Officer David Dale, reflects on the information shared by Emma and her team and outlines what local authorities (LAs) can do with it.
Earlier this year the CCC unveiled its Seventh Carbon Budget, setting a target of 87% emissions cuts by 2038–2042 compared to 1990 levels. This figure includes the aviation and shipping sectors which by their nature are huge challenges. This carbon budget is ambitious, it’s timely and it puts a clear spotlight on the pivotal role of local authorities in making it happen. The CCC has commissioned follow-up reports on local authority mitigation and adaptation and we await these with interest.
Making the case for place – why the Seventh Carbon Budget matters
The CCC has refined its trajectory to net zero across the economy, and Emma Pinchbeck highlighted key sectors where progress is needed. These areas include surface transport, buildings, agriculture and land use, power and industrial processes.
Of these areas, key stand-out points included:
- Surface transport, especially cars and vans, must decarbonise rapidly through electrification.
- Residential and non-residential buildings must transition from gas boilers to heat pumps at scale.
- The power sector must continue transitioning from fossil fuels to renewables to support the electrification movement.
- Agriculture and land use need a combination of dietary shift, carbon capture through tree‑planting and peat restoration projects as well as incentivising farmers to deploy wider lower‑carbon techniques.
She also identified that hard‑to‑abate factors and sectors including cement, ceramics, aviation, steel and heavy industry will rely on alternative fuels, carbon capture and engineered removals.
What does this mean for local authorities?
Emma highlighted several critical areas where local and devolved governments will and can play a central role in supporting low carbon options and behaviour change.
Within transport systems and charging infrastructure, LAs can accelerate EV uptake through planning and provision of more widespread charge‑point networks, especially in built‑up areas without off‑street parking. Local authorities can also help in promoting behaviour shifts back towards the wider use of public transport, walking and cycling.
Many people in the webinar identified the issue of terraced homes and apartment living and the challenge posed to charging an EV vehicle. Emma echoed these complexities and also the cost of installing heat pumps for residential properties.
One the of most impactful pieces of takeaway information for me was the fact that low carbon options must become the best financial choices for home and car owners. Making the environmentally-friendly choice the obvious one, regardless of how an individual feels about climate change. Local authorities need to give careful attention to using positive and plain language in their communications with residents and businesses, as our April blog highlighted.
For commercial and residential properties, a comprehensive heat pump rollout is required with the CCC’s pathway assuming around 50% of homes having them by 2040. Importantly for many of us with questions around this ambitious figure, the modelling includes even older, hard‑to‑adapt homes, with air‑source heat pumps, electric‐resistance heating or district heating on the table as potential solutions.
But as we know identifying opportunities, streamlining installations, securing grants, changing mindsets and raising community awareness all rest on local leadership. LAs are well-placed to support targeted financing schemes, create advice ‘hubs’ and coordinate grants to help households switch. Making the case for place includes all of the challenges of bringing the community with you on changes that, if not essential now, will become increasingly urgent as the years pass.
Land‑use strategy, rural engagement, power distribution and grid readiness
The Seventh Budget and CCC experts envision farmers as partners, helping to plant native trees, restore peatlands and grow alternative crops. To achieve these ends LAs must embed these plans in achievable and actionable business strategies and approaches and support the additional co-benefits like biodiversity, climate adaptation and flood resilience.
A doubling of electricity grid capacity is anticipated by 2040 to support EVs and heat pumps. The CCC identified that local authorities can act as a conduit between network operators, businesses and communities, ensuring timely grid connections and alignment with local deployment plans.
Applying the twin levers of supply and demand
Emma emphasised that 66% of household emissions reductions come not from behaviour but from making the right product choices. These obviously include EV vehicles instead of petrol consuming combustion options and heat pumps instead of gas boilers when existing units fail or are renewed.
The power and therein the desired results, lies in getting the supply chain right, enabling residents and drivers to choose low-carbon technologies easily and affordably rather than trying to tax, ban or heavily legislate.
In the Seventh Carbon Budget finance, in particular that from private capital, does a great deal of heavy lifting. CCC analysis shows that 80% of the investment needed will come from private sources and within this, the role of public sector is to:
- De-risk projects through clear regulation, grant mechanisms and lower borrowing rates.
- Mandate system reform, such as shifting energy levies from electricity onto gas, significantly lowering operating costs for heat pumps and EVs and improving the business case for them.
This could provide a fast, market-driven route to diffusion, faster than relying solely on subsidies or regulation.
Public support
Crucially, the CCC’s insight and Emma’s data shows that strong public support for the pathway exists, but it comes with conditions.
Households want simplified, confident messaging for example "choose EVs and heat pumps when your car or boiler is due for replacement". They also demand fairness and help for low/no income households. We were shown that public readiness increases if messaging also links to health, cost savings, and resilience, not just climate numbers. Again, reiterating that crucial point, that lower/zero carbon choices become the obvious ones regardless of how a person feels about climate change.
For local authorities, this means working with trusted voices to translate national targets into everyday choices.
What can ADEPT members do now?
1. Integrate CCC targets into local authority plans by ensuring upcoming transport strategies, local plans and housing risk assessments align with the carbon budget's pathway.
2. Mobilise local grant schemes and financial enablers. From smart loan schemes to local advice services, LAs can bridge the gap between private finance and resident capability.
3. Build district-level infrastructure readiness and lead engagement with grid operators to speed up heat pump and EV charging connections in growth areas, retrofits and rural zones.
4. Empower rural communities to co-design environmentally-friendly projects, including tree planting, peatland restoration, agroforestry to ensure that revenue streams reach farmers and landowners.
5. Amplify clear and comprehensive messaging that LAs are a trusted messenger on the path to tackling climate change and tie messages into health, wellbeing and cost-saving.
Emma’s presentation showed that the CCC’s Seventh Carbon Budget injects a fresh urgency into the national net zero mission, but it requires local action to make it a reality in the given timeframe. Electric mobility, low-carbon heating, rural land-use transitions and equality in options are all areas where local authority powers, insight and partnership are vital.
Local leadership is not just part of the response it is absolutely central to its success.
Further information
Author
- David Dale, ADEPT Policy Officer
