‘The numbers are scary’: going net zero in Greater Manchester will cost £64bn

Electric vehicle charging posts on the car park of the Travelodge at Sandbrook Park

Making Greater Manchester’s energy supply carbon neutral by 2038 will cost £64bn, according to a new report. Plans to decarbonise energy infrastructure in the city-region have now been given the green light by local authority leaders.

A report approved last week estimates the cost of funding renewable energy projects such as solar power, installing electric vehicle charging points and retrofiting residential properties to make them more energy efficient. Greater Manchester has 15 years left to meet its net zero target.

More detailed proposals setting out specific schemes which will require public funding are expected to come forward, but it is hoped that the private sector will also contribute a significant sum. Of the £64bn required, around 70% is already accounted for, but this existing investment may need to be redirected.

However, a gap of £19bn remains for Greater Manchester to meet its goals. Local politicians hope the £12.5bn that the public sector has control or influence over locally can be used to leverage around £6.2bn of investment from the private sector.

Oldham chief executive Harry Catherall, who is the green city region portfolio lead at the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), said that despite the ‘enormity’ of the challenge, there is a ‘high degree of confidence’ that this strategy is achievable. He said: “I will acknowledge, the numbers are scary.

“Some £64bn is going to be required. I want to assure the combined authority that of that £64bn, some 70-odd percent of it is going to be through business-as-usual channels.

“The gap of £19bn, we recognise two-thirds of it, the combined authority will have a natural influence and so this business case is advising us to be very selective in how we invest our public sector investment to secure maximum private sector leverage to fill that gap of £6bn to £6.5bn.”

Last year, the GMCA launched a Local Area Energy Plan. A UK-first, the plan suggests specific steps, interventions and opportunities at a local level to decarbonise Greater Manchester’s energy supply and meet its net zero goals.

The strategic outline business case, which sets out how much it will cost to implement this plan, was approved by the GMCA on Friday (28 July). Local leaders also approved £2m of funding to offer residents energy-saving advice.

The Domestic Local Energy Advice Demonstrator project is expected to provide around 24,000 Greater Manchester residents with energy saving advice in person. The programme, which is funded by the government, will focus on ‘harder-to-treat properties’ and ‘hard to engage consumer groups’.

Joseph Timan, Local Democracy Reporting Service