Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what support they plan to give to the promotion of municipal bonds to enable residents to invest in local initiatives to reduce the impact of climate change.

DLUHC has consulted with DCMS following their work on municipal bonds for community investment.

In 2019 the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport sponsored independent research (attached) into the concept of crowdfunding as a way for people to invest in Local Authority projects in their communities. The report, entitled Financing for Society: Crowdfunding Public Infrastructure, was published by the University of Leeds and included case studies about the use of community municipal bonds for projects including those aimed at tackling climate change. DCMS has no current plans for further promotion of this financing mechanism.