The race to net zero will play out in ‘local issues’ – we must not ignore them

The government’s decision not to intervene in plans for a new coal mine in Cumbria faced fresh scrutiny on Tuesday after the business secretary admitted there was a “slight tension” between the planned plant and the UK’s climate goals.

Plans for the UK’s first deep coal mine in 30 years were first given the green light by Cumbria county councillors in 2019. It emerged earlier this month that Robert Jenrick, secretary of state for housing, communities and local government, opted not to use his powers to “call in” the decision for review – despite the government’s pledges to rapidly decarbonise the UK’s economy. Speaking to a parliamentary committee, Kwasi Kwarteng admitted there was “a slight tension between the opening of this mine and our intention to decarbonise.”

His comments came a few days after The Independent reported that a North Yorkshire woodland faces the axe over plans to expand a water bottling plant.

Danone, the French food conglomerate, bought a majority stake in popular British water brand Harrogate Spring Water last year, and the two companies are now seeking permission to cut down public woodland planted by children in order to expand their existing bottling site. Harrogate Council will decide on whether to approve the companies’ plans on 26 January.

Though the building of a new coal mine would have much larger climate implications than the destruction of a woodland, both issues highlight the role that local decision making will play in the battle to meet net zero.

Prof Piers Forster, director of the Priestley International Centre for Climate at the University of Leeds and a member of the UK’s Climate Change Committee (CCC), tells The Independent: “The UK has done a pretty good job at decarbonising our economy, but that has really come from industrial policies of taking out coal and building more renewables,” he says. “What has to happen if we want to continue this decarbonisation journey is we have to take a far more local approach.”

According to official figures, the UK’s CO2 emissions have fallen by almost 28 per cent since 2010. Much of this decline has been driven by a shift away from burning coal to generate electricity. Since 2010, carbon emissions from coal power generation have fallen by 80 per cent in the UK.

However, the UK is still not on track to meet its net zero target. To achieve greater cuts, the government will need to continue to cut carbon from its power grid. But it will also need to do much more to tackle emissions in other sectors of the economy, including transport, housing and agriculture, according to the CCC report.

The need to tackle emissions from these sectors will increasingly involve decisions made at the local level, Green party peer and former leader Natalie Bennett tells The Independent.

"Every local struggle, every campaign to save a forest, to stop a road, to prevent airport expansion, is crucial,” she says.

“It's no longer a case of what can be sacrificed and what can be saved. We now have to take every possible step, everywhere, to protect the fragile remnants of biodiversity on this hugely nature-depleted planet, to prevent carbon emissions, and help nature to store them wherever we can.”

But local leaders require more support in order to understand how to make decisions that are in line with the UK’s net zero goal, says Prof Forster.

“There are situations where it would have been good for the government to step in, as with the building of the Cumbrian coal mine,” he says. “But that can’t be the answer for everything.

“By far the better solution is to really make sure that local authorities understand what the government’s priorities are.

“We have to give our local authorities appropriate long-term financing to be able to take part in the net zero delivery, and we have to give them the flexibility to be able to to make the changes appropriate for their communities.”