Andrew Carter
Chief Executive of Centre for CitiesAndrew Carter, Chief Executive at Centre for Cities, highlights the environmental benefits of urban living, emphasising city density’s role in reducing emissions. Drawing on global examples, he advocates for greater autonomy for UK metro mayors to transform transport, housing, and energy systems, enabling cities to lead in achieving Net Zero targets.
The Environmental Advantages of Urban Living
Urban living is good for the environment. Dense areas that are well-served by public transport make it easier for people to reduce their car use. City flats and terraced homes consume energy at half the rate of detached homes.
Cities are responsible for generating a large share – 40 per cent – of the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions, based on 2021 figures. This is not surprising, considering they are also home to more than 50 per cent of the population and 60 per cent of economic output.
However, emissions are much lower on a per capita basis in cities than they are elsewhere. And cities have led the way in reducing the UK’s climate-related emissions. Urban emissions fell by 53 per cent in the last 17 years (2005–2022) – more than in the rest of the country.
Despite good progress, there is still a long way to go, and cities will need to make an outsized contribution if the country is to achieve its Net Zero ambitions.
The advantage that cities have over other parts of the country is their density. UK cities need to make more of this advantage.
European cities show the way – for example, Liverpool is only just over half as dense as Naples. Bringing the density of UK cities in line with European counterparts would speed up decarbonisation.
Learning From European and International Cities
European cities and their mayors also have many more powers, resources, and autonomy to make the decisions that will deliver Net Zero.
What would look different if the metro mayors of the UK’s big cities had more of this autonomy? Drawing inspiration from other places around the world – as Centre for Cities did in its recent research – there are three ways in which metro mayors can lower greenhouse gas emissions. They can change how people move around, how and where new homes get built, and how homes and industries are powered.
The Mayors of Paris and Lille in France have introduced policies to encourage people to move around the city more sustainably. A regional tax on employers’ payrolls helps to finance public transport maintenance and upgrades. The result is that public transport users pay less and receive an attractive alternative to travelling by car.
As well as building at density, cities like Melbourne in Australia and Montreal in Canada have also legislated to build new homes whose energy efficiency standards exceed national requirements.
To power our cities differently, we can look to Japan, where Tokyo’s city-level statute books require all new developments to be fitted with solar panels. Or to the Netherlands, where Rotterdam has mapped the cost-effectiveness of alternatives to natural gas by district and made this available to the public. Additional powers like these need to be devolved to UK mayors.
The Need for Greater Autonomy for UK Metro Mayors
By using their existing powers to their full extent, UK mayors can, however, go some way to match the accomplishments of their European counterparts on Net Zero. They can use their planning powers to encourage places to build upwards, and to locate places that will benefit from upgrades and new homes in areas well-served by existing public transport networks.
The Government is proposing to give UK metro mayors a new statutory requirement to draw up spatial development strategies – similar to the power already held by the London Mayor. A good move.
UK mayors also have the power to take bus routes and the frequency of bus services back into the city’s hands, thanks to legislation that allows them to opt for bus franchising over deregulated bus services. After the success of the Bee Network in Greater Manchester, other metro mayors have opted to run their buses using the franchising model.
Provided it is well subsidised, a reliable bus network can be the lifeblood of local economies across major cities in the UK, as it already is in London. Crucially, it also helps people switch from using their car to more environmentally friendly forms of transport.
However, when it comes to imposing payroll taxes or instituting city-level legislation, UK metro mayors don’t have those options. They should.
The fact that cities don’t have the autonomy or the resources to make the most of the advantages that cities possess to lower emissions and exceed national targets, means the UK will find it more of a struggle to meet its climate targets overall.
It may seem surprising that planning rules or autonomy over local finances would make a difference. But cities’ advantage over the rest of the country in reducing emissions relies on them being able to make meaningful decisions about how people move around, how and where new homes get built, and how homes and industries are powered.
This article appears in the new edition of the Chamber UK Journal, click below to sign up to our newsletter to read the full edition online!
