Community Municipal Investments: Accelerating the Potential of Local Net Zero Strategies

Two-thirds of UK councils have declared a Climate Emergency, setting ambitious Net Zero targets for their regions that will require billions of low carbon investment over the coming decade. Yet councils are at the mercy of political changes that have seen PWLB rates fluctuate, grant income fall, and SALIX scrap its 0% loan offer. Councils will struggle to meet Net Zero targets whilst maintaining front line services without new sources of borrowing, non-repayable capital, and the active participation of residents. Enter Community Municipal Investments (CMIs). CMIs are green bonds issued by a council corporate body and administered by a regulated crowdfunding platform, Abundance Investment. Local residents and general public investors purchase the bonds, directing investor capital immediately and with high visibility towards the delivery of local Net Zero infrastructure projects. Working with the platform, CMIs also open a new communication channel between the council and residents about the urgency of the Climate Emergency and council’s role in delivering Net Zero projects. The UK’s first two CMIs were launched as local ‘Climate Bonds’ by West Berkshire Council and Warrington Borough Council in the Summer of 2020. Each met their £1M target ahead of the close date. This report presents key findings from these two case studies and evaluates the potential scalability of CMIs as a simple, low-risk mechanism for diversifying borrowing sources and – due to an innovative donation feature – a new way of boosting non-repayable capital for councils