UCL Public Policy and UCL Energy Institute brought climate, energy technology and emission reduction experts together with local authorities to develop responses to address this urgent need.
Collaborators
- UCL Public Policy
- UCL Energy Institute
- University of Exeter
- Imperial College London
- Warwick University
- Durham University
- 6 Local Authorities across EnglandAcross the UK, local authorities are declaring a climate emergency and developing actions at a local level to reduce carbon emissions, increase biodiversity, transition to net-zero and ultimately improve the quality of life of their residents and the local environment. However, the ability of local authorities to respond to the climate emergency varies.
UCL Public Policy worked with the UCL Energy Institute to bring climate, energy technology and emission reduction experts into dialogue with local authority representatives across England to develop responses to address this urgent need.
The online Policy Dialogue event Pathways to Net Zero for Local Government, organised in March 2020, brought together 15 experts from UCL and the Universities of Exeter, Imperial, Warwick and Durham, with representatives from six local authorities across England.
The Dialogue provided an opportunity to share and expand best practices across councils and establish and deepen the collaboration with academic experts in order to support transitioning to net zero.
The impacts have been the continuation of paired working between universities and local authorities to drive solutions.
Outputs and Impacts
The outcomes from the dialogue included:
- Strengthening UCL Public Policy and individual academic links to local government
- Providing an opportunity for researchers to test research findings or tools and to generate tangible impact from their research
- the successful establishment of a network of climate scientists willing to share their research with local authorities and collaborate to co-develop insights for local use.
Strengthening local policy networks:
- supporting closer university-local government ties
- increasing local authorities’ evidence-based strategy development
- upskilling evidence production and use capabilities on all sides.
Net Zero Innovation Programme
As a result of this initial dialogue event, in 2020 the Local Government Association (LGA) and UCL established the Net Zero Innovation Programme.
The LGA committed £180,000 of funding to support the delivery of collaborative projects for 10 councils, through a pairing programme between academic and university participants.
Partnership pairs have focused on concrete policy areas linked to individual councils’ needs, the role and responsibility of the local authority participant, and expertise of the university participant. This has included:
- pilots and policy developments for reallocation of road space
- reducing carbon emissions from built stock
- embedding green recovery post-COVID
The programme has supported closer university-local government ties, increased local authorities’ evidence-based strategy development, and upskilled evidence production and use capabilities on all sides.
It is driving impact in localities outside of those which might usually be targeted by an academic audience and through the partnership with the LGA is scaling up collaboration opportunities in order to enhance the impact on local net zero policies across England.
Net Zero Innovation Programme →
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