Camden’s climate budget faces £200m funding gap ahead of 2030 net-zero target
Highgate Library is one of many buildings being decarbonised. Photograph: Camden Council
Camden Council is confronting mounting costs linked to decarbonising the borough as the Town Hall publishes its second official climate budget.
From retrofits to electric vehicles (EVs), the council is upholding a 2019 pledge, following its declaring of a ‘climate emergency’, to “do everything it can” to help make the borough net-zero carbon by the end of the decade.
But its latest eco strategy makes clear the “funding challenges” these ambitions present, with the estimated costs of areas like school decarbonisation now being revised up by almost £30 million.
The Town Hall still needs to find £198.3m in order to meet its emission reduction goals by 2030, due to inflating project costs and strained council funding.
These encompass electrifying the council’s fleet of vehicles, making energy-efficiency upgrades to corporate and public buildings, and other measures aimed at cutting fossil fuel use.
To plug the gap, Camden is bidding for more grant funding and government support, alongside extra borrowing in the form of community municipal investment “bonds”.
These are loans issued by local authorities through a crowdfunding platform, giving residents a way to support low-carbon schemes.
Government funding from the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) has already been used for the £1.9m retrofit of Highgate Library, where air-source heat pumps, LED lighting and insulation have been installed, and the £1.3m retrofit of Acland Burghley and Eleanor Palmer schools.
According to the budget report, 45 per cent of the borough’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions come from schools.
A further £3 million was secured to upgrade heating systems at the Maiden Lane Estate near York Way, while the borough also benefits from the government’s Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF).
But the latest report warns that these highly-competitive grants are “oversubscribed” and therefore not a guarantee, while only covering a fraction of projected costs.
SHDF, for example, contributes £1.5m to the planned decarbonisation of 140 social homes, less than a third of the estimated £5.4m total.
The report adds that the cost of achieving a zero-carbon borough would amount to more than £10bn, “far exceeding available council budgets”, and cautions that the council itself can only influence around a third of emissions.
“Our [approach] therefore seeks to galvanise climate action by everyone living and working in Camden through our Climate Action Plan (CAP) 2020-2025,” it stated.
The CAP, subject to yearly reviews, shows that “good progress” continues to be made, while an updated CAP is also underway which will outline more initiatives up to 2030.
Since 2010, the borough has more than halved its CO2 emissions, which fell from 35,000 tonnes per year to roughly 12,000 in 2023/24.
Camden’s second climate budget will be voted on at a meeting of the full council tonight.