Birmingham’s efforts to regear to become a low carbon economy are good, but not good enough.

That is the conclusion of a new study into carbon dioxide outputs per head of the biggest UK cities. The UK Powerhouse analaysis is published by Irwin Mitchell and the Centre for Economic & Business Research and comes as West Midlands Mayor Andy Street attempts to step up the low carbon efforts in two large carbon-emissions sectors, property and transport.

Street launched a “Clean Growth Challenge” in June.

Birmingham reduced its year-on-year figure by 6.4% putting it in 16th place among UK cities, with 3.7 kilotonnes of CO2 per person.

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

Birmingham appears 11th of the major UK cities for the share of low emission transport at 9%, and came dead last for share of population using zero emission transport.  

Of all the English Powerhouse cities, Birmingham was also ranked the lowest for waste recycling.

“This latest report paints a mixed picture for Birmingham,” Irwin Mitchell Birmingham partner Chris Rawstron said.

“What is clear is that there is much more to do in terms of environmental sustainability. In June, the UK has announced its ambition to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050, the first major economy to do so. The ever-more urgent topic of climate change and sustainability has reached the highest level of government and it’s important that businesses across the region recognise not only the important role they have to play, but also the huge and exciting opportunities that exist.”