Changing gear to carbon neutral - how will Scotland's cities make the change?

Scotland’s cities are turning towards carbon neutral strategies as activities ramp up ahead of the COP26 Summit in Glasgow later this year, but is it all talk, or are we seeing some real progress and will we be prepared to foot the bill?

This past month has seen a number of developments across Scotland’s cities as they set out their stall for creating carbon neutral communities for the future. Both Edinburgh and Glasgow have ambitious targets – both having set their sights on being carbon neutral by 2030, just a decade away. Yet the challenge is now to convert rhetoric to strategy and strategy to action.

Hot air or action?

Edinburgh has recently announced the appointment of Dr Sam Gardner as the new independent Chair of its Climate Commission. As well as the Commission, which includes representatives from academia, the public, private and voluntary sector, there is also an All Party Oversight Group on Sustainability and Climate Emergency and an on-going public consultation. A similar initiative is taking place in Glasgow, but what remains to be seen is whether these groups will have any real powers and will be able to make the tough decisions required. While there’s no easy answers to climate change, the sense of urgency is perhaps still not apparent - the City of Edinburgh Council, for example, won’t publish its City Sustainability Strategy until December 2020 at the earliest, though some initiatives are already up and running.

Hearts and minds

Winning over hearts and minds will be critical to the success of these strategies. In Edinburgh the city’s consultation showed that a high number agreed that their actions can help tackle climate change – but only 50% strongly agreed. Moreover, the consultation responses largely reflected parts of the population already aware of climate change and real challenge will come with engagement of people in more deprived communities and those without good public transport links. Recent YouGov national polling for Oxfam shows that while people are prepared to recycle more and use more energy efficient products, less than half were prepared to drive less (only 39% across the UK), buy more second-hand clothes or change our diets. Low Emission Zones (LEZs) at the heart of Edinburgh and Glasgow (Dundee and Aberdeen are scheduled to follow) will be the first real test for the public appetite to change their driving habits.

Footing the bill

The biggest obstacle facing Scotland's cities is undoubtedly finance. A recent report to City of Edinburgh Council predicted that the city could get 56% of the way towards its carbon neutral target with current technology and innovation – but at a huge cost of ￡4bn. ScottishPower recently commissioned Capital Economics to look at the funding required for Glasgow to meet its commitments, which included a ￡298 million for new electric vehicle charging points alone and a whopping ￡1.4bn for electric heat pumps. Other cities are following suit – Dundee has committed ￡375 capital funding over the next five years to cut its carbon footprint.

Infrastructure is undoubtedly the biggest cost in a long list of potential financial headaches and all Scottish cities have made play for ambitious pubic transport improvements, including new tram lines in Edinburgh and even proposals for a free to use public transport network in Glasgow. The scale of finances required looks beyond the abilities of local government. Of course, much can be achieved through new buses and cycling infrastructure, yet bus usage and cycling take-up remain stubbornly low.

While nobody can doubt the scale of the ambition of Scotland’s cities to tackle climate change, there are some significant financial, practical and communication challenges ahead. Leadership and significant public finance will be required, but it still remains to be seen whether these plans can be turned into a greener reality.