After a summer of downplaying the issue, we welcome that Andy Burnham has clearly signalled that climate action is central to the government’s agenda – mirroring his leadership on environment and net zero as Mayor of Greater Manchester.
We are also pleased to see this government recognising that it needs to act on significant popular support for climate, which is often much higher than MPs believe. However, from our research and partnerships across the North of England, we believe the Prime Minister should go further, think outside the ‘net zero’ box, and work to properly join up the agendas we know he cares about.
Reindustrialisation is the floor, not the ceiling
Burnham sees the green transition as the ‘best chance we will ever have to reindustrialise Britain’, but we have a chance to do a lot more than reindustrialise. Most people know that net zero is not only about industrial mega-projects and scaling up renewable energy projects. They want a wider range of opportunities for transforming their towns, cities and rural areas into healthier, fairer and more sustainable places.
Indeed, our research has shown that there is a great deal of social energy being devoted to initiatives to generate just, transformative action in response to the climate crisis. These initiatives range from large municipal projects to transform transport, to community energy schemes, to projects supporting refugees while promoting sustainable food systems, and many others. Many of these initiatives are not about reindustrialisation but repairing the built, natural and social infrastructures that have been eroded under past governments.
Austerity-hit communities need more than cash
The announcement of £30 million for ‘People’s Power’ community energy projects is intended to ‘help people make the change by creating jobs, lowering bills and bringing power back to them’. But £30 million is a drop in the ocean when we look at the entrenched, multifaceted challenges communities are facing.
The ability to pursue collective projects, whether they are community energy or better public spaces, varies greatly between communities and depends a lot on the resources and capacity that already exist. Given the deep inequality in the UK and the decimation of social networks and spaces over decades of austerity, it will take more than giving money to people and telling them to go forth and take control. It will take dedicated polices that enable and support people to pursue low-carbon living, and that re-build and repair local capacity that has been eroded by cuts, poverty and political disaffection.
To truly deliver all the benefits that place-based, community-owned energy holds – and to hold steady against rising political backlash – these types of initiatives must be at the heart of the government’s climate strategy and be properly resourced.
We know that across North of England and beyond there are already so many people, communities and organisations delivering this kind of transformative climate action on the ground, in spite of the challenges. Imagine what could become possible if they were properly supported, funded and able to thrive.
Image credit: Libraries Team via Flickr.
