Free public transport and green home schemes needed to tackle climate crisis, says major citizens’ survey

Citizens in South Wales, Essex, Aberdeenshire and County Durham were asked how they think UK should get to net zero

Free public transport and schemes to help people green their homes are among actions recommended by a major new report asking citizens how the UK should get to grips with the climate crisis.

People from the South Wales Valleys, Essex, Aberdeenshire and Tees Valley and County Durham offered their views on how the country should reach net-zero emissions by 2050 during a series of panels held over the past 18 months.

Their opinions have now been combined to produce a report offering more than 100 recommendations for how the country can tackle the climate crisis in a way that is fair for all.

The report calls for upgrades to local public transport and policies to make it free to use by 2030 – with free bus travel by 2025 as a first step.

It also calls on the government to launch a £7.5bn annual green housing scheme, similar to its flagship Help to Buy Scheme, to help people replace their gas boilers with green alternatives and make energy efficiency improvements to their homes.

In addition, it urges ministers to introduce a “right to retrain” scheme to help workers in high-carbon industries move into green jobs.

The recommendations come after the UK’s own advisers warned that the government does not have the plans in place to turn its lofty climate promises into action. The UK has also come under fire for abandoning its green homes grant scheme just six months after it was launched.

Caroline Lucas, co-chair of the commission behind the report, said the measures outlined could tackle emissions while tackling inequality in the UK.

“We will all be affected by the changes we need to make to tackle the climate and nature crises, but some will be affected more than others,” she said.

“We can’t afford to fail in this endeavour, but we will not succeed unless the plans we make are fair to everyone and make the UK fairer for all.”

The series of UK climate juries were organised by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), a think tank based in London. The findings of all four juries were relayed to the think tank’s cross-party environmental justice commission, which produced the new report.

Jurors taking part in the panels came from all walks of life and many had little pre-existing interest in the climate and nature crises. They together spent hundreds of hours listening to expert speakers before coming up with their recommendations.

Monika, a mother of two from Hartlepool and member of the Tees Valley and County Durham climate jury, said taking part in the exercise had led her to make planet-friendly changes to her everyday life.

“I just started to look at the world around me in a different way,” she told The Independent.

“I’ve got a sizable garden so I’ve created my own vegetable bed where I’ve started to grow carrots and purple sprouting broccoli. I’ve also started to grow wild flowers and it’s such a lovely feeling to see bees and butterflies in the area around my house.”

She added that she didn’t believe ministers were doing enough to take action on the climate crisis and nature loss.

“Their response is not proportional to the actual crisis,” she said.

The project follows on from the UK’s “climate assembly”, a first-of-its-kind project held last year that asked the public for its opinion on how the country should reach net-zero by 2050.