Local climate policy: Lessons from a case study of transfer of expertise between UK local authorities

This paper explores the progress of UK local authorities and the barriers they face in developing and implementing climate policy initiatives. The UK local greenhouse gas emissions statistics are reviewed and the effectiveness of a national scheme of knowledge transfer on sustainable energy development delivered by peer mentoring is evaluated. Local carbon dioxide estimates are now available in the UK and longitudinal data can be used to partly assess the progress of local authorities in implementing climate policy initiatives. However, there are currently insufficient years of reliable data for an historical analysis. The paper identifies the main barriers towards taking greater local action to reduce greenhouse gases as lack of time, lack of resources and difficulties in engaging with the wider community. It shows that the sharing of knowledge between local authorities is an effective way of encouraging stronger local action on climate change and that the effectiveness of these policies can now be monitored more closely through UK sub-national statistics data.