Five years ago the City Council made a pledge that Nottingham would become a carbon neutral city by 2028. Despite significant financial problems in local government and wider society, those leading the work say they are still standing by the target. Local Democracy Reporter Joe Locker reports.
The UK and much of the world will be as much as 22 years behind Nottingham if the city hits one of its most high-profile and much-debated targets. It was in 2019 that Sally Longford, the former deputy leader of the council and portfolio holder for energy and environment, first made the pledge that the city would become carbon neutral by 2028.
This is more than two decades ahead of the 2050 target for the UK set by the Government and for the world through the United Nations.
To become carbon neutral, the exact amount of carbon dioxide (C02) released into the atmosphere must be balanced through absorption or removal.
The goal is seen as a crucial one in the fight to halt and reverse harmful climate change worldwide.
The same year the council formally declared a climate and ecological emergency, and a 251-point document was published to outline how the city could achieve the goal.
However, in the years since the city’s businesses and residents have battled the Covid pandemic and the cost of living crisis, while the council declared itself effectively bankrupt in November 2023 amid serious financial troubles.
Despite the challenges Cllr Sam Lux (Lab), the council’s executive member for carbon reduction, leisure and culture, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “We are still standing by the goal.
“At the moment we are really focusing on what we can do ourselves, because that goal does depend on partners and government.
“We’ve had 14 years of underinvestment and now it feels like the times are changing.
“We as a council have reduced our emissions by 77 per cent since 2007, so we are actually already over three quarters of the way there. That in itself is really remarkable in itself despite all the challenges.”
The council itself is primarily focusing on reducing emissions across the transport and domestic sectors.
Emissions across the Nottingham City Transport (NCT) fleet have already been reduced through the introduction of bio-gas buses and, more recently in April, the introduction of 24 electric buses.
Cllr Lux says she is also anticipating funding for the retrofitting of social homes with energy-efficient measures will increase “significantly”.
She said 7,000 social and private homes have already been improved since 2007.
Many of these homes receive energy from the city’s district heating network, which was set up decades ago in a bid to reduce heating bills and cut emissions.
The network today provides heating and hot water for 5,000 homes and more than 100 businesses across the city, with energy created from the burning of household waste at the Eastcroft incinerator.
Figures show a mere three per cent of all domestic energy comes from district heating networks, and the Government wants to increase this to 20 per cent.
However, questions have since been raised over the sustainability of the incinerator-powered network.
A recent BBC report revealed incineration is now the dirtiest way the UK produces energy following the abandonment of coal.
Cllr Lux said the council is awaiting advice from the Government on its plans for incineration, but the authority has been conducting a study in the meantime to draw up ideas for the future.
Considerations include the potential expansion of the incinerator, or moving away from incineration by producing the energy from alternative sources such as the River Trent.
“We are not quite sure what those are, but one example that has been floated is the River Trent, and could we take energy from the river,” she said.
“We want to make sure we make the most of that opportunity and make sure [the network] is upgraded and using the cleanest sources that it can.”
In the private transport sector Cllr Lux said the introduction of clean-air zones – or Ultra-Low Emissions Zones (ULEZ) – are “certainly not on the cards”, owing to the success of the Workplace Parking Levy, which places charges on employers who provide workplace parking.
Outside of the council’s own work, Cllr Lux is hoping to better engage businesses and residents.
While the council has reduced its own emissions by more than three quarters, the city itself has only reduced emissions by 46.6 per cent since 2005.
“We could do a lot more with the business engagement space,” she added.
“It is difficult for smaller businesses who struggle with costs. I want to start a local campaign to help.”
The Nottingham Green Partnership also launched a crowdfunding appeal on Monday (November 18) at Nottingham College.
The partnership, first formed in 1992, now consists of more than 40 organisations working across Nottingham to develop, share, and encourage carbon reduction strategies.
Alongside the council it has planned a climate assembly across four weekends in 2025, with hopes it will be representative of the city’s diverse make-up.
Sally Longford, who is now the vice-chair of the partnership, says she hopes the crowdfunder will raise £20,000 to get as many people and organisations as possible to attend.
“I think there’s a lot of work to do,” she said.
“The Green Partnership will play an important part of that. There are a lot of organisations within the city that have embraced the idea of CN28.
“Before we made the announcement [in 2019] the Green Partnership had very, very weak attendance, but nowadays we struggle to find rooms big enough to seat everybody.
“The people that live in the city need to steer where we are going and they need to play a part as well. That is the purpose of the crowdfunder launch.
“If you are a mum and you’ve got childcare expenses, then that would be covered.
“If you cannot afford to get into town on the bus or tram, then that would be part of the funding.
“We know a lot of our people are not necessarily very well off, and in order for them to give up their time they need to be looked after.”
