Councillor Roger Harmer gives an update on Birmingham's progress towards net zero

Thank you Lord Mayor. 

It is now over 6 years since, a climate emergency was announced in this very chamber and approved unanimously. The following day the Government committed to reducing emissions by 100% by 2050. 

Commissioners are once again critical of progress made, and I have to agree with them that the Net Zero plan, which is still yet to be completed, is well overdue. What does this say about the way that this council reacts to an emergency?  

It’s doubly bizarre, seeing as streamlining and improving the council’s energy usage and budget lines could return significant financial savings as well as carbon savings. 

I raised an eyebrow when I read on page 11 that the council are “exploring options to source high quality renewable electricity” on our corporate estate. The Liberal Democrats have tabled detailed plans in several budget amendments calling for investment into solar panelling on council owned buildings which this Labour administration have rejected every time. Had that been done back in the years, when the Golden Decade was still an aspiration for the Labour administration, we would now be making money from that investment, and we would have cleaner energy. 

There is good news, we welcome the delivery of £24.8m investment from the Social Housing Decarbonisation Funding (SHDF) to improve the energy efficiency of 2,076 council homes, and the ECO partnership that has delivered energy efficiency projects in over 3,000 homes. Given that the vast majority of our Council homes need huge investment following years of neglect by this Labour administration, there is the opportunity to do both at once and share costs such as scaffolding.

There’s a bit of greenwashing going on in the section dedicated to our fleets. During recent cabinet meetings where a new fleet of diesel waste trucks were approved, I expressed my frustration about our failure to move to electric waste vehicles. Urban waste trucks are ideally suited to electrification, doing relatively short daily routes at low speeds and benefiting hugely from the reduction in maintenance costs inherent in EVS. So whole life cost should be lower than the whole life cost of a diesel vehicle, as it is now for buses. But to secure that benefit you need a strategic partnership with a manufacturer to given them the confidence to transition – rather than just buying off the shelf, so at that point it becomes clear why it hasn’t happened, this incompetent Labour administration only does off the shelf purchasing.  We are told that change is coming, and we will be getting the benefits of strategic purchasing soon; this is an area that will be a great test case of that.

The same could be said for the Tyseley waste management facility which “is a significant emitter of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in Birmingham and a key contributor to the council’s scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions”. From 2028, this council will be under closer scrutiny by Government due to the UK Emissions Trading Scheme. 

On the topic of transport, the report cites that “in 2022, transport contributed 31% to the City’s territorial greenhouse gas emissions. To achieve net zero, we will need to fundamentally change how people and goods move around our city.” 

Well, we all know this to be true, and yet progress is moving at snail's pace. The fact is, Birmingham is not a well-connected city, and public transport is far from adequate. We will not get cars off the roads until public transport offers a competitive alternative in terms of time and cost, and we will not get people walking and cycling more until our roads are safer. 

We know that transport is managed as a partnership between this council, Transport for West Midlands and the West Midlands Combined Authority, but the contribution to delivery by this Council has been lamentable and bizarrely, the cabinet portfolio was removed as a standalone and amalgamated into what is now unarguably the biggest portfolio with conflicting interests. 

The 2024 State of the Region report noted the West Midlands is off-track on net zero transport goals, especially for short car trips under 2 miles, many cycling and walking projects have been slow to materialise or are incomplete, and as ever, ambitious plans have been set without clear delivery timelines or proper resource. 

As ever, planning speeds off in the fast lane whilst delivery gets stuck on the hard shoulder. 

Thank you Lord Mayor.

(check against delivery)