Peterborough's net zero by 2030 target is 'not achievable', councillor says

Can Peterborough reach net zero carbon emissions by 2030, the target set by the council when it declared a climate emergency in 2019?

Even reaching this by 2040, the revised target recommended by Peterborough City Council’s (PCC) energy consultants, would require an £8.8 billion investment into upgrading homes and providing alternate energy sources, experts say.

So, in other words, it’s “not achievable”, PCC cabinet member for finance Cllr Andy Coles (Conservatives) says.

“It doesn’t hurt to have a stretching target but it has to be achievable,” he commented. “My concern is that, from what the reports are saying, it’s not achievable.”

So is it worth sticking to the target at all?

What “net zero” would actually mean, first of all, is that the amount of harmful greenhouse gases emitted in Peterborough is at least equal to those removed from the atmosphere.

It doesn’t necessarily mean that emissions are totally cut, although heavily reducing them would certainly be required to achieve it.

Net zero for Peterborough 'not impossible', Greens say

This is "something that we need to work together as a city to achieve", PCC's Green Party group leader Cllr Nicola Day said, adding that it’s “not impossible” while it won’t “be easy”.

That's why it's “so important that our targets are reviewed on a regular basis and we are tracking our progress towards them," she continued.

Labour group leader Cllr Dennis Jones agreed that he's in favour of pushing the council’s Conservative-led administration towards the target.

“We must surely do all we can to secure the future of our planet for our children’s children,” he said, but added that city-wide net zero is a “mammoth task” and that the council obviously don’t have £8.8bn to hand.

Council's road building schemes 'incompatible with net zero targets', Lib Dems say

Liberal Democrat Cllr Nick Sandford has, meanwhile, taken up the issue with the council’s administration and the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA) from which it receives funding.

He is particularly concerned by the money the council has committed to highways schemes such as the A1260 Nene Parkway Junction improvement scheme.

“Fundamentally, a council that is serious about getting to net zero carbon by whatever date should not have a £20 million road building programme,” he said, adding that there is “no plan in place for tackling city wide carbon emissions”.

Cllr Sandford raised his concerns at a CPCA meeting this month as the Nene Parkway scheme among others will be funded by the authority.

“Combined Authority policy is to reduce car traffic by 15 per cent by 2030, so my question is how will there be any chance of reaching those targets if in Peterborough we continue to see a focus on large highway schemes which in the medium to long term aren’t going to reduce traffic but could actually increase it?” he asked.

Combined Authority says walking and cycling schemes will receive a ‘positive welcome’

Deputy CPCA leader Cllr Anna Smith (Labour) responded that the authority is committed to walking and cycling schemes and that it will shortly recruit active travel officers to this end.

“We really want to ensure that everything we do has components that ensure a real alternative to the private car so that nobody feels that the private car is the only option,” she added.

Asked about schemes such as Nene Parkway, CPCA leader Nik Johnson (Labour) said that they were “highlighted as priorities long before I arrived as the mayor”.

He added that projects with active travel components will get a “very positive welcome” from the authority and that in the case of Nene Parkway it was “looked on more favourably as a whole” after new footpaths and improved bike routes were added to the scheme.

Conservatives say road building doesn't mean 'we're not considering climate change'

But PCC leader Wayne Fitzgerald (Conservatives) and cabinet member for transport and climate change Marco Cereste (Conservatives) don’t see the elements of the schemes that involve creating new roads as incompatible with reducing carbon emissions.

“I think we need to dispel the idea that just because we’re spending money on roads we’re not considering climate change,” Cllr Cereste said while discussing Nene Parkway at a council meeting.

“We as a city intend to grow and that’s the way we as a city become sustainable.”

Cllr Fitzgerald agreed that, “from the climate change perspective, the longer cars are queuing, the more pollution they’re emitting. So the quicker the vehicles can move through the junctions, this is what this is about.”

Asked whether keeping net zero by 2030, or indeed 2040, as a target is worth it, he said that “our desire would be to do it, but whether or not it’s physically possible is an ongoing debate.”

He added that, since 2019, “the financial landscape has changed for local Government” and that “if the opposition parties say that’s not good enough; well, tell me what your idea is then because I’ve only got so much money to work with”.

Labour group leader Cllr Jones said that the council should “take heed of the new hierarchy which puts pedestrians and cyclists at the pinnacle”.

“We can no longer afford to continue to build better roads at the expense of those whom we must encourage to cycle, walk and use public transport to further reduce harmful emissions,” he added.

Green leader Cllr Day agreed that “we need to make it easier for people to walk and cycle around the city and increase the infrastructure for electric vehicles”.

Peterborough City Council ‘fully committed to reducing our carbon emissions’

Cllr Cereste says that the council “remains fully committed to reducing our carbon emissions”.

Examples of this include trialling an electric gritter, appointing a principal climate change officer and PCC’s highways partner swapping to fossil-free fuel.

The council has also secured £15 million Government funding towards delivering a a low carbon heat and electricity system for businesses and public buildings in the city centre, he said, and is holding climate debates with residents.

All of this will “bring vital benefits for our city, including reducing fuel poverty, improving physical and mental health, improving air quality, stimulating our economy and creating jobs,” Cllr Cereste continued.

Additional suggestions supplied by members of the public during a PCC consultation on net zero include better buses, banning parking around schools, planting more trees, making recycling easier and making garden waste bin collections free.

Ultimately, whether or not PCC’s specific targets are achievable and worth having are a matter of opinion.

But one thing is clear from councillors across the political spectrum: climate change is a global emergency and cannot simply be ignored.