A huge £40 billion is needed by Glasgow City Council to meet its net zero emission targets by 2030.
The amount almost 20 times what the council spends annually on its services with this year’s ‘net service expenditure’ standing at about £1.9 billion.
Scottish Greens councillor Lana Reid-McConnell told a meeting yesterday it needs to be all “hands on deck” to get plans underway to secure finance.
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Among the projects being earmarked for a potential ‘greenprint for investment’ developed for COP26 are the Glasgow Metro, district heating and the Scottish events campus expansion.
The challenges and opportunities of finding funds to achieve the council’s goals of helping the planet was presented to the net zero and climate progress monitoring committee yesterday.
A paper put in front of city politicians said: “The council has set a target date of 2030 for the city to achieve net zero carbon emissions. An estimated £40 billion of new investment is required to ensure that that happens. Glasgow is therefore not short of climate ambition. It is, however, short of the capital with which to mobilise that ambition.”
Speaking at the meeting, Scottish Greens councillor Blair Anderson asked about the availability of funding in the near future for major infrastructure projects.
A council officer said public sector finance won’t be able to deliver the capital for major projects alone - and investors are needed.
He said achieving the ambitions needs to be done in “collaboration” and “partnership.”
Options for possibly generating money to pay for projects include borrowing from the UK Investment Bank (UKIB), community municipal investment and partnerships with the private sector.
A paper said the council “must progress its work on climate finance with urgency and pace.” Officials are to “now work intensively to finalise a climate finance framework in the coming months” to be presented to committees before being approved.
The council has been been in discussion with other cities to share ideas on potential funding.
An official said Glasgow was on a “similar path” to other cities.
Thanking officers for their work, Councillor Angus Millar, SNP, said Glasgow is “at the forefront among UK cities in engaging with these concepts and opportunities.”
He stressed there is a need for the local authority, council family and engaging partners to move at “significant pace.”
Committee chair councillor Reid- McConnell said she echoed the call for “urgency” and said it needs to be all “hands on deck.”
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