Rural Net Zero: Westmorland and Furness

Rural Net Zero (RNZ) is an innovation partnership led by WFC and Cumbria Action for Sustainability (CAfS) which focuses on asking the question: "What does net zero look like in predominantly rural Westmorland and Furness?"

Decarbonisation of food, heat, power and transport poses key challenges in rural areas. The Phase 1 feasibility study found that:

* W&F has a large number of small and micro businesses who could use a circular economy approach to increase business collaboration and resource efficiency to deliver economic, social and environmental benefits including decarbonisation.
* Food and drink is an ideal entry point to consider 'whole system' decarbonisation due to the importance of farming and tourism in W&F and the potential to share learning across private, public and charity sectors
* Increased knowledge of innovative financial mechanisms to deliver decarbonisation would enable new interventions to be piloted and then scaled and replicated.

This Pathfinder Places follow up partnership project will focus on these challenges by targeting food system decarbonisation and circular economy principles and approaches.

It will bring new skills and capacity into Westmorland and Furness Council to:

* Embed circular economy principles into council policy and operations and share approaches more widely through strategic influence and networks, including with the private sector, and through major programmes such as the Shared and Rural Prosperity Fund and initiatives such as Borderlands.
* Identify and pursue options for financing net zero interventions in order to significantly increase resources for interventions.

It will also build on CAfS and other organisations' existing local, low carbon, food system initiatives in W&F to ensure they are co-ordinated, integrated and contribute to the co-design of further research and identification of actions required to decarbonise whole system food and drink supply chains in rural areas.

This partnership of Cumbria Action for Sustainability, Cumbria Tourism, Westmorland and Furness Council and local businesses including Fell Brewery, Holker Estates and Playdale Playgrounds will therefore ensure progress towards net zero living in a predominantly rural place. It will deliver understanding of non-technical barriers, identify research needs, catalyse the development of new, collaborative project ideas, identify funding opportunities and improve local policies and strategies.