Net zero places: A community-powered response to the climate crisis

Article

The transition to net zero will have a significant impact on everyone’s lives. From how we heat our homes to how we travel, few aspects will be unchanged.

Despite this, too often net zero policy is designed from above by policymakers and enacted upon people and places.

This top-down policy approach risks exacerbating existing inequalities and locking in a sense that policy is done to people, not with people. In contrast, by working with communities, this research seeks to generate visions for what net zero places could look like. It aims to understand locally-led and community-inspired visions for a net zero future.

Two case study areas have helped us to understand the challenges that different types of places face. Liverpool City Region was chosen to represent a northern metropolitan city region and reflect the scale of change required to the UK’s urban areas. The Isle of Anglesey was chosen as it represents a dispersed rural area at risk from climate breakdown, but which could also see benefits from the net zero transition.

This report provides a vision drawn from people’s hopes for the benefits that the drive to net zero could bring.

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