Date of the report
January 2025
Author of the report
SWM, in collaboration with the Midlands Net Zero Hub and CDP
Purpose of the report
This report provides a summary of the progress that local (and combined) authorities in the Midlands are making against various aspects of climate action. It gives local authorities and their supporting organisations, including with whom we have collaborated, the Midlands Net Zero Hub and CDP, a clearer idea of:
- Good practice emanating from local authorities that could be scaled-up or replicated elsewhere.
- The influence that policy is having on local authority activity.
- Gaps in progress whereby further support or funding is required.
- Patterns of progress, e.g. against different climate action themes, or in different locations (urban vs. rural, county vs. district, etc.).
It can also help supporting organisations, such as national Government (DESNZ, Defra etc.), the Local Government Association (LGA), and the West and East Midlands Combined Authorities to better understand where their support would be most welcomed.
Process
This year SWM worked with CDP on a benchmarking approach that covered the whole Midlands area (71 councils and two combined authorities). CDP were responsible for overseeing the council’s submission to the benchmark, including the questions asked, portal used to capture responses and provision of scores for those councils that contributed. In total, 39 councils contributed to the benchmark exercise (just over 50%).
Each of these 39 councils also received a bespoke report tailored to their local authority, providing recommendations on what we think they should do next with regards to accelerating climate action. SWM wrote these reports, alongside the overarching report published here.
SWM also ran 12 Roadshows that focused on some of the most challenging issues raised by the benchmark, including Scope 3 emissions, climate adaptation, funding options and decarbonising heat. These brought councils together to share good practice and learn from each other, as well as ask questions of experts.
Download the overarching report
The overarching ‘Climate Action in the Midlands’ report includes:
- How councils are performing against a range of different themes, similar to those of our Roadmap to 2030.
- Recommendations against each of these themes.
- 18 case studies demonstrating good practice against these themes from across the region.
- Overarching recommendations for councils on what they should do as initial first steps, dealing with issues around governance, strategy and communication.
- Recommendations for supporting bodies on what they should do to support councils with their climate action work.
- Key resources and datasets
Please contact SWM at enquiries@swm.org.uk for more information.
