Andy Street is the Conservative mayor of the West Midlands.
BIRMINGHAM – A year ago in Glasgow, we showcased a zero-emissions train built in the West Midlands to drive home the role cities and regions must play in tackling the climate emergency. It’s fair to say that maintaining a clean slate of progress hasn’t been a straight forward path since, as we’ve been hurt by two Conservative leadership contests and up until our third prime minister.
Now, as the COP27 climate talks begin, we at Rishi Sunak have someone with a commitment to net zero by 2050 and the ability to use markets and innovation to take us to that destination.
More important than the earlier questions about whether Sunak will attend the summit are the important decisions he will make — including how local leaders like me can help protect the planet along with jobs and public services. .
Sunak need look no further than the West Midlands to see how promoting economic growth and protecting the environment can go hand in hand. We cut emissions for the fifth of seven years after 2010 at a time when our local economy grew by 35 percent. Almost 100,000 workers are employed by more than 5,000 companies in the region’s low carbon sector generating £12 billion in revenue each year.
We are at the forefront of brownfield regeneration through our “brownfield first” policy. By building affordable eco-friendly homes on long-abandoned sites — unlocked and made commercially viable thanks to the money we put on the table — we’re protecting our precious greenbelt for future enjoyment. generations. Additionally, we know that relatively densely populated cities where facilities are well shared are more energy efficient.
Transportation, of course, will be critical for cleaner and greener growth. Trains, trams, cars and buses — the West Midlands leads them all. We are also making progress in active travel with our Cycling and Walking Commissioner Adam Tranter, who is featured in our popular hiring scheme across the region. We are accelerating the provision of electric vehicle charging infrastructure, working with various stakeholders to advance our giga-factory plans, which will build the next generation of batteries, and collaborating with the likes of Jaguar Land Rover and Aston Martin, whose multi-billion. pound investments lower the cost of net-zero vehicles. It is encouraging to see the UK government providing another £211 million in funding for battery research, which will help the sector deliver 100,000 jobs directly and indirectly through the wider battery supply chain by 2040.
As well as shifting travel habits towards public transport, we ensure that our existing, familiar forms are cleaner. We will deploy an electric bus fleet, making Coventry the first “all-electric city” and Western Europe’s largest hydrogen bus fleet in Birmingham and the Black Country. In these difficult times – with the cost of living challenges facing our economy – taking alternative transportation options makes financial sense as well as environmental.
The PM says his government is committed to cutting household living costs by rolling out home insulation and we know from our own experience in the West Midlands that this is the right move. Our pioneering retrofit schemes reduce energy consumption while ensuring our residents are helped to stay warm and safe and local businesses are better placed to thrive. We are currently running two government-funded retrofit projects targeting nearly 1,000 low-income households this winter. The Green Alliance think tank estimates that the government would need to spend an extra £2.9 billion a year to get retrofitting housing on track, giving us a sense of the scale of action needed to really get the needle.
In fact, whether it is brownfield, transport or retrofit, it is important for the central government to support us to provide more powers and funds. Local leaders around the world – whether mayors, prime ministers or governors – have a huge collective role to play in dealing with the climate emergency, so because they can do so much to lead change, we must do so. that their share is easy for them. Some would argue that we are best placed, given our directly elected mandate, proximity to on-the-ground reality and outright stability, if the recent spate of Cabinet ministers is anything to go by. indicator.
Delivering clean growth is a social, economic and indeed electoral imperative for myself as mayor here in the West Midlands. The same is true for Sunak if he wants to stay true to the promises he made to the British public and go on to win the next general election. In the cause of a planet-saving, job-creating green growth agenda, he has my wholehearted support.
