Runway to Net Zero

This Phase 2 Pathfinder bid is made by Runnymede Borough Council, working in collaboration with the eight Local Authorities and three Local Enterprise Partnerships that make up the Heathrow Strategic Planning Group (HSPG).

Our Phase 1 Net Zero Pathfinder project established the concept of addressing decarbonisation challenges at the Functional Carbon Area (FCA) scale. This means working collaboratively across a number of administrative boundaries to better understand the challenges and opportunities that exist to reduce emissions across an appropriate geography that practically influences carbon emissions. The geography of a functional carbon area is one that takes into account the root sources of emissions, and in particular the nature of transport and electricity grid networks.

Our Phase 2 Pathfinder project seeks to operationalise this finding, through a series of targeted pilots and extended feasibility studies. These aim to develop some of the most compelling and deliverable ideas arising from Phase 1 for overcoming non-technical barriers relating to **governance/cross boundary collaboration** and **finance.** Specifically:

\*Pilot the development of an aviation sector specific local carbon offset market -- getting investment from the airport and airlines into local decarbonisation projects with a particular focus on the delivery of Electric Vehicle Charging Points and domestic retrofit projects.

\*Revision of the HSPG Joint Strategic Planning Framework to explore practical planning levers to deliver net zero across the sub-region

\*Undertake a sub-regional transport planning study, focusing on airport related movements and how these can be most effectively decarbonised via better collaboration and the integrated roll-out of low barriers to entry interventions, e.g. active travel and bus-based solutions.

\*Explore opportunities to explore how better partnership work on energy use between LAs, LEPs and the airport can help hasten the transition to net zero. We want to undertake a specific high level feasibility into the potential for generating sustainable aviation fuel from local authority waste streams.

Developing and implementing the above pilots and feasibility studies will enable the delivery of a first-of-a-kind concepts which will allow our programme to maximise innovation and impact, leveraging the region's nationally significant scale and economic power to deliver sector-leading results.