Climate Change Hub

Read the Climate Change Blog >ADEPT recognises that the climate crisis must be at the heart of our work.

Climate change and the environment is one of our three strategic priorities. With more than two-thirds of the UK’s councils declaring a Climate Emergency (or equivalent), local authorities recognise they hold a pivotal role in meeting the net zero carbon emissions target by 2050.

Critical to this is delivering solutions at scale and pace. There are many innovative solutions to the issues we face – anyone can plant one tree, but how do you plant one million trees over ten years? How do you replace gas central heating in five thousand homes in a year? What does this mean for the supply chain and workforce skills?

The UK will host COP26 in November 2021 and this gives an opportunity to lead, to accelerate climate change targets and influence other nations.

ADEPT has a key role to play in bringing local authorities and others together, to share knowledge and learning on the most effective actions to tackle emissions and overcome barriers. Local authorities have three main influences: to lead in our own operations; to enable a low carbon region with our programmes, policies and decisions; and to inspire business and residents to take climate action themselves.

We are forging ahead with various climate change activities. In June 2019, we launched Preparing for a Changing Climate: Good Practice Guidance for Local Government, a practical guide designed to assist local government with preparing for the impacts of change adaptation. We published a Policy Position on Climate Change at the same time. We published a Green Finance Toolkit for Place Leaders in May 2020, and a Policy Position on Clean Growth in June 2020. We have developed a signposting toolkit for members and published various blogs and case studies. We have hosted regional climate change workshops that bring local authorities together to share good practice, and workshops with our corporate partners to share issues across our sectors and places. Our leaders have also contributed to various national conferences and virtual events.

We worked with other local government and green organisations to develop shared policy asks of government: A blueprint for accelerating climate action and a green recovery at the local level. We continue to collaborate with the group. We are also working with corporate partners and government departments to develop proposals for net zero / economic restart Live Labs to drive green recovery and renewal as local economies come back from the Covid-19 emergency.

Most recently, ADEPT responded - along with partner local government, environmental and research organisations - to the EAC inquiry into net zero, where we emphasised the essential role of local authorities to delivering long-term, sustainable emissions reductions for local places.The ADEPT President, Paula Hewitt, also spoke at the Westminster Forum 'net zero' conference, where she outlined the priorities for net zero strategies at a local and regional level.

We believe that councils need the powers and resources to accelerate climate action and a green recovery: find out more and show your support.

ADEPT’s Climate Change Hub brings together our work and resources on climate change and sets out our key areas of focus. You can also read our Climate Change Blog.