Welsh councils call for continued investment to meet net zero target
The organisation which represents local authorities across Wales has called for continued funding to meet the Welsh Government’s target of a net zero public sector by 2030.
To date, 18 councils have received support from the government’s Low Carbon Heat Capital Grant, helping to decarbonise 70 public buildings – including schools, care homes, offices, leisure centres and community facilities.
These projects have replaced fossil fuel heating with low carbon systems such as heat pumps, improving energy efficiency, cutting emissions and reducing running costs.
Transition
The Welsh Local Government Association’s Climate Change Support Programme, also funded by the Welsh Government, is working with all 22 councils in Wales to support the transition to net zero over the next five years.
Heating buildings and running vehicles make up a big part of the emissions that councils directly control – but this usually adds up to only 2–9% of all the emissions in a council’s area.
Councillor Lis Burnett, WLGA spokesperson for Climate Change, said: “Councils have already shown what’s possible – 70 buildings have been decarbonised, and more are ready to follow.
“But to meet the net zero target by 2030, we’ll need sustained investment to scale up this work.”
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Improving energy efficiency and reducing emissions is clearly a good thing, but it would be nice if there was a little bit of transparency about the cost, particularly when Council and Welsh Gov budgets are stretched. No mention of cost in this article, and no mention of cost on the Welsh Local Government Association website either.
Might be some very cheap solar panels available soon thanks to Trump.
What’s the full cost of this package , no one tells us how must each school or other buildings will cost. For the Vale of Glamorgan offices in Barry how mush will that cost and why when 80% of staff work from home
Wouldn’t a smarter question be – why aren’t they subletting that unused office space? That’s a regular income to pay for these upgrades and it’ll support the local economy.