Cannock climate target watered down in face of £4bn cost

Cannock Chase District Council made the pledge for the area to become carbon neutral in 2019

A council's target to become carbon neutral by the end of the decade is being altered after it was revealed it would cost over £4bn.

In 2019 Cannock Chase District Council made the pledge as part of its declaration of climate emergency.

But a costed action plan says it would require £4.7bn in capital investment to meet the target.

The local authority said the Covid-19 pandemic and current cost of living crisis had affected its plans.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said a report, produced by consultants AECOM, estimated the district as a whole produced the equivalent of 361,200 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year.

Cannock Chase District Council is itself responsible for a small proportion of this - 2,521 tonnes, or less than 1%.

The local authority's revised target would see it become carbon neutral by 2030, rather than a district-wide goal.

Cabinet members also backed plans for the district to join up with a county-wide target for carbon neutrality.

A dedicated budget for reducing carbon dioxide emissions is due to be established as part of the overall budget setting process for 2023-24, while a new strategy to reach net carbon zero by 2030 will be prepared and brought back to cabinet.

Councillor Justin Johnson, environment and climate change portfolio leader, told a cabinet meeting the action plan had been put back by two years due to the pandemic.

"The goal of [the district] becoming carbon neutral [by 2030] would cost £4.7bn, which is impossible for us to achieve on our own," he said.

"We must set our sights on goals we can achieve."

Speaking after the meeting Mr Johnson added: "We want to stress that cabinet is fully committed to achieving carbon neutrality.

"AECOM's plan is a helpful reality check on what will be needed to reach carbon neutrality and has provided extremely helpful information to guide us over the coming years."