Prospect: Green Growth
From Future of Local Services to the Public
Summary
Green growth spans concerns about sustainability, climate change, biodiversity, quality of life and economic prosperity. It was a key (or perhaps the) driver for the next decade for a minority of participants, and surfaced as a major theme at the Summit workshop.
Stakeholders want to see a major drive to create successful local green industries, and to invest in energy efficiency as well as bold measures to reduce CO2 and minimize household waste.
Definition
This Prospect encompasses climate change, and also pollution, water, waste, agriculture, biodiversity, sustainable housing, parks, green businesses and many other potential factors involved in shaping the local environment alongside the future economy.
In Ipsos MORI / LGA consultations, economic incentives and arguments mostly came second to concerns about climate change and the pervasive impacts the latter could have on local areas. Typically however, as discussions would progress participants would cite economic factors as among the most likely to drive people towards more sustainable behaviours.
