Councillor Rowena Champion

ISLINGTON has topped the list of councils across the country for its work to tackle climate change in the borough.

In a nationwide ranking released this week by Climate Emergency UK – a charity that monitors councils’ progress against their climate plans – our borough came first among “single tier” councils for its efforts to decarbonise buildings and transport, increase biodiversity and get people involved with tackling the biggest challenge of our time.

Councillor Rowena Champion, Islington’s climate chief, told the Tribune it was an “Islington achievement”, won not just by dedicated council staff , but by local people and businesses working to make Islington greener.

“Climate change is already impacting us here,” said Cllr Champion, noting a Met Office report last week that warned the UK could see 45-degree heat in coming years.

“We know that we are one of the boroughs in London most impacted by climate change.

“We’re a very dense borough, we’ve got a lot of people who live in flats, a lot of concrete, little green space.”

But this, she added, is an “opportunity” that pushes the council to think about climate action “holistically” across all of its priorities – not just in the climate team proper, but in areas like public health and children’s safety, too.

Cllr Champion said: “For example, if you can make a space in a street that feels like a community space, it not only benefits people who walk through, but it can have an impact on social isolation, it can allow children to move around more freely.

“You can get an 80-year-old man sitting under a tree getting to know someone as they walk past.”

There are similar “co-benefits” from retrofitting – that is, updating old buildings to be more energy efficient.

“Retrofitting means warmer homes, which addresses fuel poverty, damp and mould.

“So when we’re looking at something because of climate action, we think about how we can use that for other areas as well. How can we look at it holistically?”

That is to say there may not be a singular, big dream golden ticket initiative that has made Islington one of the country’s most climate conscious councils.

Rather, it is down to the gradual, consistent threading of climate action through everything the council does.

Getting residents involved in designing the changes to their own environments is another priority, and something that the recent Islington climate panel – where a randomly selected group of residents took part in weeks of education and brainstorming for how to build a more climate-resilient borough – put centre stage.

“We’re no longer looking at climate change as something we just tell people about. It’s about how do you actively engage and bring the energy of young people, businesses, local people into that space?

“The biggest thing for us is finding ways of making people feel that they can make a difference and they can contribute.”

This could be anything from encouraging people to plant a tree pit, or working with organisations in the community, like Arsenal, to reach those who might be less likely to engage with the council directly.

So, what’s next?

The council will “continue deepening the way we engage across Islington”, Cllr Champion said, including by making sure those who want to take action aren’t blocked by bureaucracy.

Other new schemes will see more work with young people, more solar panels on schools and an extension of the heat network that currently warms homes in Bunhill from waste-heat produced by the Underground.