“How could it be our responsibility?” The equity of Local Authority climate action in England

The majority of English Local Authorities (LAs) have set targets to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 or sooner, despite having no formal responsibilities to do so. However, it is questionable whether LAs are able to deliver these plans and targets whilst they are subject to significant operational pressures. This analysis applies the international “equity” framework of Common But Differentiated Responsibility and Respective Capabilities to the case of English LAs. The research evaluates responses from 28 semi-structured interviews with stakeholders from across levels of government, different sectors, and regions of England. We evaluate the drivers of inequalities in capabilities to implement climate action between LAs, and how these inequalities could be reduced through a number of governance interventions. Though the introduction of a statutory responsibility is frequently discussed in the literature, its perceived viability and equity have not been empirically assessed by stakeholders. We therefore evaluate stakeholder perspectives on whether this would be a fair mechanism for allocating responsibility to the local scale. We find that economic, social and political aspects of capability are interdependent, and that current governance arrangements tend to reinforce patterns of inequality in capability. We offer a series of policy recommendations to improve equity in burden-sharing between LAs, finding that funding reform and a well-designed and well-resourced statutory responsibility could be both effective and fair.