Valuing the multiple benefits of local authority climate action in the UK

Dr Joshua Lait, Prof Timothy J. Foxon, Ruaidhri Higgins-Lavery, Dr Andrew Sudmant.

The UK Government aims to address the challenge of climate change by delivering low-carbon electricity, warm homes and local power, whilst meeting other higher-level policy goals such as tackling the cost-of-living crisis, creating good jobs, supporting healthy living, and enhancing national security. This requires the development of tools and frameworks for assessing policy impacts of measures that address multiple goals and deliver multiple benefits simultaneously.

Research shows that clean energy and climate policies can deliver multiple social, economic and environmental benefits. Assessment of measures to meet the UK’s 2033-2037 climate targets for six city regions across Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and England suggest that these could yield up to £164 billion in net benefits, with most of these benefits relating to social outcomes such as improved health, reduced congestion, and warmer homes. Recognising these additional benefits is particularly important for energy demand-side policies which can otherwise look costly or politically difficult to elected officials.

Improving the adoption of policy impact frameworks can help local and combined authorities in the UK to identify and select measures which maximise the multiple benefits of climate action. This policy brief provides new analysis on what motivates the adoption of these frameworks, how different assessment approaches vary, and how community groups and other stakeholders view these frameworks and tools, drawing on research by the Energy Demand Research Centre (EDRC) and the Edinburgh Climate Change Institute (ECCI).

1. Broad political and public support for low-carbon measures is needed to deliver the UK Government’s Clean Power 2030, Warm Homes Plan and Local Power Plan. Highlighting multiple benefits can help create both political and public support, as part of wider conversations about climate action with different types of people and organisations.
2. Evidence shows that assessing multiple benefits can aid the case for investing in climate action, help identify synergies between policy areas, and enhance the political feasibility and public acceptance of stronger measures. Highlighting the multiple benefits of energy demand solutions can shift public debate from sacrifice to local gains, especially when linked to warm homes, cleaner air, safer travel, and affordability.
3. Tools to assess these impacts and benefits have proven useful for local authorities to communicate the wider impacts of climate decisions, link to other policy goals such as housing and economic development, and improve collaboration with delivery organisations.
4. The incorporation of multiple benefit assessments in local policymaking is occurring in a top-down manner, limiting democratic debate on which benefits should be prioritised.
5. The distribution of the benefits, costs, and impacts of climate action matters to the UK public. Our joint research, including a public dialogue event with Scottish local climate action groups, found support for linking the multiple benefits of low-carbon policies to wider goals such as healthier lifestyles, safer streets, and prosperous communities.

1. Multiple benefits of energy demand solutions need to be identified and communicated more to create public and political support and trust.
2. Public and communities need to be included in deciding the criteria for multiple benefit assessments.
3. National guidance for local authorities is needed on how multiple benefits can be assessed, including that different assessment tools could work in a complementary way. For example, multi-criteria decision analysis can help identify synergies with other policy goals during policy design, while monetising benefits can strengthen the business case for action.
4. One way to do this is to issue supplementary guidance to the Treasury’s Green Book for local authorities on multiple benefit assessments. The Green Book is the Government’s guidance on the process of assessing the costs, benefits and risks of different policies for achieving government objectives.
5. As a longer term plan, regulation could be explored to mandate assessment of the multiple benefits of climate action.