Climate ambition and respective capabilities: are England’s local emissions targets spatially just?

Figures & data

Table 1. Overview of indicators in the ambition and capability composite Indicators (Co-I).

Co-I	Dimension addressed	Indicators
Ambition	Action to date	Historic reductions in LA CO2 per capita emissions (2005–2019); (BEIS, 2021b)
	Future action	Projected future reductions (2020–2050); (own analysis)
Capability	Socioeconomic baseline	Indices of Multiple Deprivation 2019; (Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government, 2019)
	Economic capability	LA spending power (2019/20); (Brien, 2022)
	Likelihood of implementing plan	CEUK Climate Plan Quality Scores; (CEUK, 2022)
	Technical capability	Percentage of LA area emissions in scope of council control; (BEIS, 2021b)

Figure 1. Comparison of emission pathways in each target scenario, assuming constant emissions after the achievement of original net zero targets. ‘CCC BNZP’ refers to the Sixth Carbon Budget ‘Balanced Net Zero Pathway’ (n = 301).

Figure 2. Comparison of emissions reduction pathways aggregated by LA type, and compared against the CCC BNZP scenario (sample: n = 311, in which unitary authorities: n = 54, metropolitan boroughs: n = 36, London boroughs: n = 33, district authorities: n = 178, and CAs: n = 10; indexed to 2019 = 1.0).

Figure 3. Comparison of emissions reduction pathways aggregated by region against the CCC BNZP pathway (n = 301; indexed to 2019 = 1.0).

Figure 4. Choropleth indicating the difference between capability and ambition scores by LA (n = 301).

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. (2021b). UK local authority and regional carbon dioxide emissions national statistics: 2005 to 2019. Retrieved May 2, 2022, from https://data.gov.uk/dataset/723c243d-2f1a-4d27-8b61-cdb93e5b10ff/uk-local-authority-and-regional-carbon-dioxide-emissions-national-statistics-2005-to-2019

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Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government. (2019). English indices of deprivation 2019. Retrieved May 2, 2022, from https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/english-indices-of-deprivation-2019

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