Southwark “Off Track” to Reach Net Zero Target by 2030
Despite declaring a Climate Emergency in 2019, Southwark Council will not achieve net zero by 2030, a damning council document has said.
Papers presented to the council’s Audit, Governance, and Standards Committee (AGS) on 3rd February from BDO, an external auditing company, track the council’s performance against its plans and goals.
Assessing the council’s progress against its Climate Emergency programme, BDO said that its operational effectiveness was “limited”, and highlighted a number of concerns that was holding the Labour-run council back from meeting climate goals.
Its assessment of the council’s own progress report was that it “indicat[ed] that the borough is off track to reach net zero by 2030”
The report also claims that the steering groups that managed the climate action plan hadn’t met since February 2024, a year ago. It goes on to say that there are no “clear actions plans to address milestones that are not being met”.
Cllr Graham Neale, Liberal Democrat member of Audit, Governance and Standards Member, asked the consultants to confirm their findings at the meeting. They confirmed the council was “off target”, and that there were “no remediation plans to get back on target”.
Local climate campaign group Southwark XR had previously called the council’s climate emergency response “un-emergency like”.
Labour have recently come under fire for their climate credentials nationally, as Rachel Reeves was slammed by opposition parties and climate groups for supporting a third runway at Heathrow.
Commenting, Liberal Democrat Environment Spokesperson and AGS Committee Member Cllr Graham Neale said:
“This report is a damning indictment of what Liberal Democrats and local campaigners have been saying for years – that Labour are dragging their heels on the climate emergency. It could not be clearer that Labour are not treating this issue with the priority it deserves. Words are not enough – the climate emergency is an emergency, and demands action. Only the Liberal Democrats want to Go Greener Faster in Southwark”.