The work represents a first attempt to evaluate the progress of UK Local Authorities in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Supported by the EPSRC, the Local Government Association (LGA) and the Improvement and Development Agency, the work helped inform LGA policy as evidenced by the authoring (by Fleming and other IESD staff) of LGA Research Briefing 19 “Climate Change, a Survey of Local Authorities” (see http://www.lga.gov.uk/Documents/Publication/climatechange.pdf). The 2007 LGA Climate Change Survey (see http://www.lgar.local.gov.uk/lgv/aio/38100) draws heavily on the work in the paper. Fleming is an advisor to the LGA. Allman, the lead author of the paper, was an RA in the IESD managed by Fleming. Wallace is a PhD student supervised by Fleming.