Greater Manchester Local Enterprise Partnership (GM LEP) is England’s best performing LEP for activity to tackle the causes and risks of climate change and encourage a low carbon economy.

Research conducted for sustainability report Fit for the Future II placed GM LEP at number one in a table of 38 LEPs ranked according to commitments to climate adaptation, mitigation and the low carbon economy.

Mitigation addresses the root causes of climate change, by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, while adaptation seeks to lower the risks posed by the consequences of climatic changes.

The research represents the second national review of all 38 LEPs’ commitments to tackling climate change and embracing the low carbon economy, based on information from their recent key strategies, websites and interviews with LEP individuals.

It was carried out by Sustainability West Midlands (SWM) with support from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and builds on the first iteration of Fit for the Future originally published in January 2016 and re-published in May 2016, also produced by SWM with support from other partners.

Greater Manchester also tops a separate table of ten core cities which best demonstrate the benefits of integrating climate change and low carbon economy issues into local authority and combined authority working.

The table is within the research document Core City and Combined Authority: Climate Change & Low Carbon Economy Good Practice.

These reports are aimed at those working for or with LEPs, combined authorities and core cities at the local and national level to integrate climate adaptation, mitigation and the low carbon economy into the economic strategies and the billion pounds worth of investments over the next five years.

The research represents the first national review of all combined authorities and core cities and the second national review of all 38 LEPs’ commitments to tackling climate change and embracing the low carbon economy, based on information from their latest key strategies and interviews with key individuals.

Fit for the Future aims to promote the benefits of integrating climate change and low carbon economy activity into LEP working, how doing so can strengthen the economy as well as contribute towards low carbon targets and share good practice showing how LEPs can embrace the agenda.

For more information go to: http://www.sustainabilitywestmidlands.org.uk/resources/fit-for-the-future-ii-2/