Carbon budgets for councils?

Councils play a major part in UK climate emissions.

To get serious about climate change every council will have to do its bit to cut CO2.

Friends of the Earth groups have been running the Get Serious About CO2 campaign in their local area, calling for every council to do its bit to tackle climate change.

We've had great successes so far with councils signing up to:

• cut their emissions by 40% by 2020
• produce a climate change action plan.

But to combat climate change every council will have to act to cut their emissions, and Government will have to give councils more support.

We're calling for local carbon budgets for every council - that's a budget limiting how much carbon the local area can emit.

If councils had local carbon budgets, we'd be much more likely to meet our national targets in the Climate Change Act to reduce climate-changing emissions.

Local carbon budgets would mean councils could better plan green local action like:

• insulating homes
• improving public transport
• fitting more green energy.

And they would provide more certainty for local businesses to invest in our low carbon future.

The Government is seriously thinking about local carbon budgets and how they would work.

We need to help them make up their minds by taking action to make sure carbon budgets:

• Are for every council
  Councils can't opt out of climate change
• Come with financial support
  To fund climate-saving projects
• Are set in line with the latest science
  So we can avoid dangerous climate change.

This is a fantastic opportunity for the Get Serious About CO2 campaign.

Backing for budgets

Local carbon budgets for councils have broad backing including:

• The Local Government Association
• The Energy Saving Trust
• The Carbon Trust

But we need pressure to make sure local carbon budgets are serious and do the job that's required.