Net Zero Delivery Plan for Liverpool: Breaking Down Systemic Barriers

Liverpool City Council (LCC) has published an ambitious, far-reaching and innovative Action Plan to deliver Net Zero Carbon energy use across domestic, commercial and industrial sectors and waste, but significant barriers must be dismantled for this to happen. We will create an innovative Delivery Plan incorporating new tools to overcome these systemic barriers and support delivery of Liverpool's Net Zero 2030 Action Plan. We will convene stakeholders and integrate private and public Net Zero programmes across Liverpool to avoid duplication and enhance productive collaboration.

**Focus themes** include:

1. Financing: recycling of energy cost savings into dedicated fund targeting Net Zero projects with realistic business cases based on whole-life costs.
2. Capacity, capability and skills: expanding and resourcing the newly appointed LCC Sustainability Team, and exchanging best practice with partners.
3. Behavioural change: including changing attitudes to building temperatures, and modal shift to sustainable transport.
4. Regulatory barriers: inadequate requirements on commercial and industrial energy users to change their practices.
5. Governance: pulling together management teams and utility practitioners to ensure funding, support and delivery; compliance with quality standards; allocation and monitoring of responsibilities.
6. Common data standards: for open source and interoperability; to ensure consistent performance reporting; to provide robust evidence of progress and gaps in emission reductions.
7. Strategic grid reinforcement: partnering with SPEN to understand network capacity pinch points, their impact, and means of resolution.

**Project tasks** include:

* Convene public and private leads of / stakeholders in Net Zero projects across Liverpool City.
* Prioritise existing projects in Liverpool against multiple criteria (e.g. value, market-readiness, CO2 impact, deliverability); and identify gaps in coverage.
* Assess systemic barriers to domestic, commercial and industrial projects, across heat, power, transport and waste vectors.
* Explore approaches with schools and universities to improve climate-related education, and prepare students for participation in the Net Zero economy.
* Identify human, labour and capital resources needed to overcome barriers to delivery of Liverpool's NZC30 Action Plan.

**Partners**

Liverpool City Council will lead the development of a _Net Zero Delivery Plan_. The Council will weave together the many governance strands involved in Net Zero, such as Highways, Parks, Development, Estates, Finance and Street Services. New Resource Partners will lead the Phase One application, deliver project management, and support development of the Delivery Plan, alongside Onward Homes leading on barriers to domestic decarbonisation projects; and Decentralised Energy Solutions leading on regulatory and grid barriers. Key stakeholders include networks operators SPEN, and the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce.