Even as the global economy deals with multiple major, foundation-shaking shocks, the climate crisis remains the most pressing existential threat facing us all. The UK government has set ambitious targets for decarbonisation, and their commitment is mirrored across the private sector. However, there is a pressing need for coordinated, well thought-out action on multiple spatial scales to make these goals a reality.
Building on our foundational 2019 report The Route To Clean Growth, our clean growth workstream will examine how local actors in our regions are readying their places for the transition to net zero, and attempt to formulate policy solutions to obstacles on this path.
Fuel poverty in rural areas This is a key moment for those 3.2 million households still suffering from fuel poverty, let alone the millions more households set to be afflicted by crippling hikes in energy fees from April 2022 when the price cap is lifted. This will demand a further reset for government in seeking […]
Localis’s new research project Mapping a route to local clean growth – clearing the path to net zero will cast a keenly objective eye – following publication of the Government’s Net Zero strategy and in the aftermath of nationally-binding commitments cast at the COP26 summit – into how local actors in our regions are readying […]
Like ‘Building Back Better’ or ‘Levelling Up’, the ambitious cross-government Net Zero Strategy risks a fate as a vapid if effective slogan if the overriding domestic political issues, the long-term failures in economic, energy and social policy are not addressed at the level of place. According to the UK Government’s Net Zero Strategy, central and […]
Although the Covid-19 pandemic continues to rage across the globe stalling economies, incomes and mobility the crisis provides a chance to re-evaluate and re-imagine our collective future. Despite profound uncertainty about both the course of the pandemic and its long-term ramifications for society, decisions are being taken to address the national social and economic impacts […]
The UK is experiencing more extreme weather events including flooding and rising sea-levels. The planning system must absorb and adapt to new circumstances wrought by climate change, with flooding a particular area of concern. This is most clearly manifest at the local level, where multiple pressures arise from the twin challenges of increasing housing supply […]
Meeting the net zero target is one of largest, most complex, and cross-cutting challenges that governments face. Many countries have committed to reaching net zero by 2050. To do so, governments must organise their policies for the major delivery challenge of net zero, unprecedented in both scale and speed required. The challenge of reaching net […]
Ahead of COP 26, government departments have been commissioned across Whitehall to inform the cross-government Net Zero Strategy that, amongst other things, will detail plans for decarbonisation across key sectors of the economy. One of the most significant challenges in reaching net zero is the need to retrofit the nation’s housing stock and increase energy […]
The Plan for Growth, released in March 2021, is the UK government’s new plan setting out its view on how to recover from the pandemic through ‘building back better’ and ‘levelling up’ across the UK. It sets out government objectives to ‘support economic growth through investment in infrastructure, skills, and innovation’. And serves as a […]
Local areas have seized the initiative on climate change. Two hundred and thirty local and combined authorities in England had declared climate emergencies by July 2019. The challenge now is for local policy makers to translate this momentum into co-ordinated action across all areas of their local economies, including energy, transport, buildings, land use and […]