UK councils “ignore climate change threat”

Hundreds of local councils across the United Kingdom are ignoring the threat of climate change and taking no action to address the rising carbon emissions of their residents, a survey by the Guardian newspaper suggests.
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Only a handful of councils polled said they were taking significant steps to tackle greenhouse-gas pollution, with half admitting that they had no plans to encourage more environmentally friendly behaviour.

The survey results come just weeks after climate-change minister Ian Pearson said that local authorities were at the forefront of the country’s efforts to combat global warming.

Launching new figures in November which showed that households’ emissions were higher than from the industrial, commercial and public sectors in about a third of local governments, Pearson said: "Everyone has a role to play in fighting climate change and reducing emissions."

 

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