Peterborough council to push back net zero carbon target by 10 years

Peterborough City Council (PCC) is poised to push back its net zero carbon deadline for the city by a decade.

Councillors will be asked to officially change the target from 2030 to 2040 at a meeting next week.

They adopted the original goal in summer 2019, committing to “ensure that all strategic decisions, budgets and approaches to planning decisions are in line with a shift to zero carbon by 2030”.

A separate goal, to make the council’s own activities carbon neutral by 2030, remains in place.

The revised 2040 goal for the city has already begun to appear in council literature after a wide-ranging feasibility study undertaken last year found that it’s the earliest plausible date for net zero in the city.

But even then, some £8.8bn investment would be required, it suggested.

On Wednesday (17th January), councillors will be asked to formally adopt the 2040 target ahead of the creation of a city-wide decarbonisation plan.

This plan, due in draft form by late summer, will initially focus on bringing about efficiencies in buildings and heating, as well as transport, waste, industrial processes, land use and energy generation.

Future iterations may also include aviation from residential and business travel and goods and services purchased outside Peterborough, including shipping, PCC says.

A goal of net zero doesn't mean that no greenhouse gases should be emitted, but that they are at least equal to those removed from the atmosphere.

The council acknowledges that it can’t control the emissions of the whole city – nor pay the multi-billion pound bill that would come with it.

But it can help through policy making, it says, as well as supporting other organisations to reduce their emissions through feasibility studies, applying for external funding and “communicating, educating [and] inspiring best practice and behavioural changes”.

As well as drawing up a city-wide action plan, PCC will also investigate ways in which to bring about “real tangible decarbonisation projects” that contribute towards net zero.

It was awarded £2.75m by government agency Innovate UK last month to contribute to this project.