Letter to candidates:
Scientific evidence increasingly points to an escalation of global climate breakdown, with dire consequences for humanity and nature. The scale of the challenge was encapsulated by the National Emergency Briefing in November 2025, when nine of the UK’s most prominent experts briefed an invited audience of more than 1,200 politicians and leaders from business, culture, faith, sport and the media in Westminster on the implications of climate and nature breakdown for health, food systems, national security and the economy.
The current war in the Middle East has thrown these risks into even sharper focus.
Local authorities can play an important role in addressing climate breakdown and building resilience to help communities cope with the impact.
Please outline how you would tackle the issues below, if elected as a Camden councillor in May 2026.
Climate Emergency Camden (a coalition of groups and residents seeking urgent action on the climate and nature crisis)will then publicise your answers, including by posting them on our website, to guide residents in their choice about who should lead our council for the next four years.
How would you:
1. Reduce the Council’s CO2 emissions?
2. Prepare the borough for more extreme weather events and climate-related emergencies?
3. Address carbon in the Council’s supply chains?
4. Tackle carbon produced in development and construction?
5. Guide residents and businesses to live and operate more sustainably?
Many thanks for answering these questions. Please email your answers to climateemergencycamden@gmail.com.
Answers submitted by April 20th will be published on our website and will inform our engagement with the Council after the elections. Climate Emergency Camden is keen to work with all Camden councillors to reduce carbon emissions and protect nature in our borough. We are also interested in your general thoughts and would be very happy to engage in a dialogue with you up to and beyond the elections.
.
RESPONSES WE HAVE RECEIVED FROM CANDIDATES:
LIBERAL DEMOCRAT CANDIDATE
Thank you for getting in touch, and for the work Climate Emergency Camden does to highlight the urgency of climate and nature breakdown.
Before responding to your questions, I want to be clear that the Liberal Democrats do not currently run the UK Government or Camden Council. We are, however, the official opposition in Camden, and we take that responsibility seriously. The commitments I refer to come from our 2024 national manifesto and our 2026 Camden Liberal Democrat manifesto, which set out what we would do if entrusted with responsibility.
I also bring my own background to this: I hold a Masters in Energy Policy and am preparing to begin a PhD in the same field, focusing on energy systems and decarbonisation. My colleague Cllr Tom Simon has also consistently championed retrofit and reuse over demolition on Camden’s Planning Committee, often as the only member doing so. That principle underpins my approach.
1. Reducing Camden’s Emissions
Our national manifesto commits to a ten‑year emergency home energy upgrade programme and ensuring all new homes are zero‑carbon. Our Camden manifesto commits to solar panels and battery storage as standard and prioritising retrofit over demolition. If elected, we would support:
- Retrofitting council buildings using a fabric‑first approach
- Electrifying the council fleet
- Ensuring all council‑owned EVs are vehicle‑to‑grid (V2G) capable, so they can support the local grid
- Requiring all new home chargers supported by the council to be V2G‑ready, and ensuring Camden’s public chargers are future‑proofed for V2G
- Publishing clear annual carbon accounts, and correcting the current practice where the council reports its own operational emissions without accounting for reductions in grid carbon intensity (a methodological error we have previously highlighted, as it makes Camden’s performance appear better than it is in reality)
2. Preparing Camden for extreme weather
Our Camden manifesto proposes a Rewilding Fund, thousands of new trees, and better flood‑risk reporting. We would support:
- A borough‑wide heat resilience plan
- Expanded Sustainable Drainage Systems, green roofs and permeable surfaces
- Community‑led greening and nature‑based cooling
3. Cutting carbon in supply chains
The national manifesto proposes a duty of care for the environment in supply chains. We would support Camden to:
- Require suppliers to report and reduce Scope 3 emissions
- Use carbon‑weighted procurement scoring
- Publish supply‑chain emissions data annually
4. Tackling construction and development emissions
Both manifestos emphasise zero‑carbon buildings and retrofit first. We would advocate for:
- Mandatory whole‑life carbon assessments
- A presumption in favour of retrofit
- Circular construction practices and material reuse
5. Supporting residents and businesses to live sustainably
Our national manifesto commits to skills, advice and incentives for the transition to net zero. Our Camden manifesto commits to overhauling recycling, improving waste systems, and boosting education and enforcement. We would support:
- A Camden Retrofit Advice Service
- Business decarbonisation support
- A Zero Waste Camden plan
- Community‑led climate action
6. Supporting active travel and sustainable transport
Our Camden manifesto sets out a joined‑up approach to transport, including improvements to cycling, walking and public transport. If elected, we would support:
- Expanding safe, well‑designed cycle lanes
- Increasing secure cycle hangars and improving their management
- Ensuring new transport schemes are co‑designed with residents
- Improving pavements, crossings and accessibility for pedestrians
- Supporting low‑traffic neighbourhoods where they are evidence‑led and community‑supported
- Continuing to expand EV charging infrastructure (with V2G capabilities), including innovative low‑cost solutions
- Active travel is essential not only for decarbonisation but also for public health, air quality and safer streets.
- Supporting community‑led initiatives that reduce school‑run traffic and improve air quality. For example, campaigns such as Green School Runs promote safer, healthier and lower‑carbon ways for children to travel to school.
Thank you again for the opportunity to respond. While we do not currently run Camden or the national government, our manifestos set out a clear, ambitious and practical path. We recognise that Climate Emergency Camden already engages constructively with Labour and Green representatives, and we would welcome the opportunity to also work with you to support meaningful climate action in the borough.
With best wishes,
Aimery de Malet Roquefort
Liberal Democrat candidate for Hampstead Town
.
FROM CLLR. ADAM HARRISON, ON BEHALF OF CAMDEN LABOUR
Reducing the council’s carbon emissions
Under Camden Labour, the council leads by example in tackling the climate crisis, including through significant reductions in the council’s own CO2 emissions.
Through our Carbon Management Plan and Climate Action Plan 2026–2030, we are systematically reducing emissions from our buildings, operations and fleet. These plans set out how we measure, manage and cut emissions across the council’s own estate, including offices, schools and leisure centres.
In practice, this means investing in energy efficiency and retrofit programmes, installing solar panels on public buildings, and transitioning away from fossil fuel heating. We are also electrifying our vehicle fleet and expanding electric vehicle charging infrastructure across the borough. More information is available here.
We have already reduced emissions from our own estate and operations by around 64% since 2010, and we remain firmly on track to become a zero-carbon organisation by 2030. Please see here for more info: https://www.camden.gov.uk/what-is-the-climate-crisis
Alongside this, we publish climate budgets to ensure transparency and accountability in how we fund and deliver carbon reduction.
Preparing for extreme weather and climate-related emergencies
Camden Labour recognises that the climate crisis is already impacting our borough through extreme heat, flooding and other risks. This is why adaptation and resilience are central to our Climate Action Plan 2026–2030.
We are taking action to protect residents, infrastructure and essential services from climate-related emergencies. This includes strengthening flood risk management, expanding green infrastructure, and designing our public realm to reduce overheating and manage surface water. We’re also prioritising support for those most vulnerable to climate impacts, including older residents and those with existing health conditions.
This approach integrates climate resilience into planning, housing and public health, ensuring that Camden is prepared for the increasing frequency and severity of extreme weather events.
Addressing carbon in the council’s supply chains
Camden Labour recognises that a large share of emissions sits within our supply chains. That is why we are embedding climate responsibility into procurement and commissioning.
The Climate Action Plan guides our work to ensure suppliers play their part in delivering a zero-carbon Camden. This includes incorporating carbon reduction requirements into contracts, encouraging suppliers to measure and report emissions, and using our purchasing power to drive greener practices. It is important to take a whole-system approach, working with partners, institutions and businesses to reduce emissions across the local economy, not just within the council’s direct control.
Tackling carbon in development and construction
Camden Labour is clear that new development must support our climate ambitions. Through our planning policies and Climate Action Plan, we are addressing both operational and embodied carbon in the built environment.
We require new developments to be highly energy efficient and aligned with net zero goals, while promoting retrofit and reuse to minimise embodied carbon. We are also encouraging low-carbon construction methods and materials. Our approach reflects the importance of buildings as a major source of emissions, and ensures that growth in Camden contributes to a sustainable, low-carbon future. For the coming period, our manifesto pledges us to “ensure all new buildings are designed and constructed to be net zero carbon and climate resilient in operation.” What we won’t do is say no to all new buildings that are proposed—we know that some buildings are increasingly unfit for habitation, having been badly designed in the first place, and that the carbon impact of a building’s operations is also important.
We have also pledged to remove high carbon advertising in spaces the council controls.
Guiding residents and businesses to live sustainably
Camden Labour believes that tackling the climate crisis requires collective action, and we want to support residents and businesses to make sustainable choices. For example, we provide energy advice, grants and retrofit support to help households reduce emissions and energy bills, alongside community programmes and initiatives such as the Camden Climate Fund.
We are also working with local businesses and organisations to promote sustainable practices, green skills and low-carbon growth. This work is rooted in the outcomes of Camden’s Climate citizens’ assembly, which highlighted the importance of enabling everyone in the borough to contribute to climate action.
.
LABOUR CANDIDATE
Cllr. Julian Fulbrook has shared with us the report of the all-party special panel which he chaired on the Circular Economy which touches on many issues to do with the climate emergency.
.
CAMDEN GREEN PARTY CANDIDATES
We received this joint statement from the Green Party candidates.
The Green Party believes that the climate and nature crisis is the greatest issue of our time. This global crisis demands a global response. The UK must play a leading role by strengthening international agreements and rapidly reducing its own emissions.
We also believe that local authorities have a vital role in addressing the crisis; in enabling understanding of the threat and collective action by communities and councils.
The following explains what our approach would be, if we can influence council policy after the May elections:
1. How would you reduce the Council’s CO2 emissions?
Camden Council currently takes account of its scope Scope 1 and 2 emissions only, ie. CO2 emissions generated within the borough by its own fleet of vehicles and from heating and powering its own buildings, excluding its housing stock. These are the emissions that the Council currently plans to reduce.
We would want the Council to have wider ambition for reducing its own emissions, by including consideration of its housing stock and Scope 3 emissions, ie. emissions caused by the purchase of goods and services which result in emissions generated outside of the Borough.
This requires a change in the way that the Council accounts for its emissions, and will enable planning for more significant reductions.
2. How would you prepare the borough for more extreme weather events and climate-related emergencies?
We would set up a Climate and Nature Taskforce within the Council to plan for climate adaptation and mitigation. We would start a programme of engagement and education with residents and businesses to enable an understanding of the likely results of the climate and nature crisis. We will enable communities to participate directly with planning for future changes, through democratically led decision making. We anticipate that the following list of measures will be included, but that this would be developed and expanded:
ADAPTING TO INCREASED HEAT
– planning for extreme heat events, to ensure that all vulnerable groups are assisted to escape the effects of heat build-up in homes and other spaces.
– providing community spaces accessible to all for refuge in heat waves.
– increased tree planting to reduce temperatures in buildings and streets.
– constructing and adapting buildings to enable regulation of heat; this can be achieved through ‘retrofit’ and a different approach to the design of new buildings.
ADAPTING TO INCREASED RAINFALL
– enabling all those who live in flood risk areas to have flood safety plans, including community wide warning systems.
– adopting a strategic approach to flood reduction measures, through adapting our buildings and land to attenuate and mitigate the risk of flash floods.
– develop a land use strategy that enables sufficient flood protection measures.
FOOD SECURITY
The failure of agriculture in the UK and globally due to climate breakdown and increased costs of imports are likely to result in food shortages in the UK. This will require a national response to both adapt the UK’s current agricultural and food systems and emergency planning for shortages. Given the lack of progress at a national level, the Borough should act on food security. We would
– set up an emergency panel on food security, to plan for what would happen in a food shortage.
– ensure industrial spaces are protected for storage of food
– provide long-term spaces to enable food co-ops to be set up throughout the Borough
– enable a ‘Right to Grow’, making it easy for communities to create community food growing spaces on public land and support local veg box schemes.
– support schemes that reduce food waste.
ECONOMIC INSTABILITY
It is likely that the economic system will be affected by climate and ecological breakdown. We need a local economy that is prepared for this, through a resilience strategy for business. This should focus on the diversity of small businesses that can provide affordable goods and services throughout the Borough, and the development of co-operative and collective models of mutual aid.
3. How would you address carbon in the Council’s supply chains?
We would overhaul the current Council procurement guidelines to prioritise the delivering of low-carbon goods and services. The current procurement strategy has a tick-box exercise which does not affect the current business as usual approach. We will also ask each council department to consider how it can reduce the carbon footprint of the services that it provides.
4. How would you tackle carbon produced in development and construction?
We would ensure that Development Control properly enforces planning policy to retain existing buildings, rather than demolish and rebuild them.
We would require ambitious targets to be met by new buildings in accordance with the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard.
We would ensure that planning frameworks and site allocations prioritise the retention and refurbishment of existing buildings.
We would ensure that the Council’s own developments are based on respect planetary boundaries.
5. How would you guide residents and businesses to live and operate more sustainably?
We would provide clear information to the public about the climate and nature crisis, and how to prioritise the health of ecosystems. This would include providing information about how to reduce energy use in the home, and the implications around consumption of goods and services, including food and travel choices.
We would enable community action across the borough. This would include:
– scaling up reuse and upcycling initiatives
– enabling full recycling throughout the borough; introduce more local sharing and swap schemes
– support community initiatives to increase biodiversity and wildlife corridors.
climateemergencycamden.org 