Council set to push back net zero target date

City councillors will be asked to move the target, which was adopted in 2019, from 2030 to 2040

A council is poised to push back a city's net zero carbon deadline by a decade.

Peterborough city councillors will be asked to move the target from 2030 to 2040 at a meeting on Wednesday.

The original goal was adopted in 2019, and it committed to "ensure that all strategic decisions, budgets and approaches to planning decisions are in line with a shift to zero carbon by 2030".

The revised date follows a feasibility study undertaken last year which found 2040 is the earliest plausible date for the city to reach net zero.

The study suggested that even if the date was pushed back to 2040, some £8.8bn investment would be required, said the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

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

Councillors will be asked to formally adopt the 2040 target, ahead of the creation of a city-wide decarbonisation plan.

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

A goal of net zero does not mean no greenhouse gases will be emitted, but that they are at least equal to those removed from the atmosphere. 

As well as drawing up a city-wide action plan, the council says it will investigate ways in which to bring about "real tangible decarbonisation project" that contribute towards net zero. 

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