Mixed Findings For Liverpool As South Outperforms North On Sustainability

A new economic report has revealed a growing north-south divide between UK cities when it comes to environmental sustainability - with Liverpool being outperformed by locations in the South in terms of lower CO2 emissions per person and zero-emission commuting.

According to UK Powerhouse, a report by Irwin Mitchell and the Centre for Economic & Business Research (Cebr), cities in the South have the strongest economies in terms of GVA* and dominate in a number of key indicators relating to sustainability. 

The report says Liverpool will be in the top 10 for job creation in Q1 2021 - the quarter when the transition period in the UK’s current Withdrawal Agreement is set to have ended.

It does however reveal a mixed picture in terms of its environmental credentials.  

When it comes to carbon dioxide per capita, the latest figures reveal that Liverpool had reduced its year on year figure by 4.4% putting it in 12th place with a figure of 3.6 kt CO2 per person.

There were no locations in the North in the top 10 for the lowest CO2 per person.

Liverpool appears in the top 10 for the share of low emission transport** at 11%, however it fell to 30th place for share of population using zero emission transport***.  

The report looked at the areas with the highest number of solar panel installations. Liverpool had just 3,300, giving it a share of households of 1%. The 25% proportion of recycled waste placed the city fourth from bottom out of all English Powerhouse cities in the report.

Expert Opinion

“In the case of Liverpool, it performs well in terms of employment growth but it was a mixed picture in terms of environmental sustainability. It’s CO2 per person figure was the lowest in the North but it was behind on terms of share of the population using zero emission transport and waste.

“Earlier this year, the UK has announced its ambition to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050, the first major economy to do so. Liverpool has made great progress in this area and with the right focus and support; it can continue to lead the way in the North of England.”
Roy Beckett - Partner

Methodology Note

All forecasts in this report utilise Cebr’s central scenario. Cebr’s central forecasts are based on the assumption that an amended version of the Brexit withdrawal agreement will form the basis of the future UK – EU relationship. We further assume that a transitional arrangement will be put in place that allows a continuation of the current relationship without any major disruptions until at least 2021. On the immigration policy, we rely on the lower immigration population estimates assuming that a visa system will be implemented for EU nationals, but that the requirements (e.g. the minimum salary, the NHS surcharge payment, the application fees, etc.) would be more relaxed than they currently are for non-EU nationals requiring a visa.