News: Tackling the Climate Emergency in Solihull

In 2021, Climate Emergency UK undertook the first nationwide assessment of local authority climate action. Through this assessment, it was revealed that Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council (SMBC) is rated as one of the nation’s highest performing local councils when it comes to having a strong and robust climate action plan in place, ranking 5th out of 409 local authorities in the UK, and 2nd amongst single tier local authorities. SMBC have prepared an evidence pack to support their submission to the 2023 Climate Emergency Scorecard process.

In the 2023, one of the elements considered in the process is around net zero being embedded in a Council’s corporate plan. The SMBC evidence pack outlines that net zero is embedded in the Council Plan, their Annual Report and their Draft Economic Strategy.

Accelar has worked alongside economic development firm SQW Ltd to develop the draft economic strategy for Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council. The draft strategy sets out the pathway for the Borough to achieve its existing plans and deliver economic growth of national significance. Accelar led on the key requirement that the strategy is aligned to the borough’s climate change prospectus, low carbon energy framework and Net Zero Action Plan.

The Council Climate Action Scorecard results will be released in Autumn 2023. You can see the results of where your local council ranked in the 2021 assessment here.