Voters say give councils more money for Net Zero to ease cost-of-living

New polling from UK100 reveals people in the UK overwhelmingly support Net Zero investment to reduce energy bills.

According to the YouGov poll, the public believes local leaders are best placed to tackle climate change but that they have too little powers and too few resources.

The poll results are released amid the ongoing Prime Minister race, suggesting voters want investment in Net Zero to be a priority.

Responding to the polling, Jason Torrance, Assistant Chief Executive at UK100, said: ‘The message to Conservative Party leadership contenders from voters is stark: they overwhelmingly want to see Net Zero action to help ease the cost-of-living crisis, and most trust local leaders to deliver it. But they are clear that the national government needs to give local councils more power and resources to accelerate action. While the results aren’t a surprise to us, they must serve as a warning to the next occupant of Number 10 that they cannot afford to abandon Net Zero.’

34% of respondents felt local leaders are best placed to tackle the climate crisis, but 54% said their local authority had too few resources to take effective action and 42% said they had too little power.

At the same time, 80% of respondents reiterated their support for boosting renewable energy projects to reduce energy bills

Chris Skidmore MP, Chair of the Environment APPG and a member of the Conservative Environment Network, commented: ‘The public want their next Prime Minister to prioritise climate, nature and the environment.

‘The latest polling demonstrates the public overwhelmingly supports climate action, particularly amidst a cost-of-living crisis. Communities also want to see more support for their local and regional leaders to deliver it. The latest UK100 report on Local Net Zero Delivery highlights just how much progress ambitious local authorities have made over the last year. It’s no wonder, then, that the public wants to see the next Prime Minister offer more support to unleash the full potential of local government.

‘It’s vital that politicians of all parties continue not only to work together to protect Net Zero but build on the positive progress that’s already been made to make people’s lives better through a clean energy economy.’

This comes as UK100 launches a series of reports on local authority net zero delivery – read our exclusive coverage of the clean air and nature reports here.

Photo by Karsten Würth