Owning Net-Zero

To have true city-wide accountability for meeting the net-zero target local actors need to be engaged and have ownership of the issue. This is essential in order to create conditions for the decentralisation of new investments and activities in energy efficiency, energy generation, energy distribution, charging infrastructure (marine and terrestrial) and district heat networks. It also allows for delivery of the net zero transition in a way that is more equitable, fair and just. Plymouth can demonstrate lots of local appetite and initiative to achieve this, but actors need to be enabled to deliver the transition in more effective ways.

Our innovation will build on opportunities to enable collaborations between local government, businesses, large public institutions, community organisations and social enterprises in the context of the recently completed Waterfront Decarbonisation Plan (LAEP), The Plymouth Plan, and the Climate Emergency Action Plan. This will be achieved through developing a dynamic framework for ownership, governance and decision making that overcomes systemic barriers and is fully integrated into a systems approach to tackling net zero.

The integration of finance, knowledge and supply chain barriers and solutions will be considered through the design to provide a holistic template that can accelerate the delivery of net zero and adapt to future needs. The project will explore the digitisation of framework solutions as a means to be provide more dynamic and faster decision making processes and to increase usability, accessibility and engagement through visualisation of processes, progress and opportunities. The feasibility will test a range of scenarios for framework integration and will provide a clear pathway for deployment.

The project will undertake in-depth stakeholder engagement to help shape the ownership framework and encourage buy-in to enable deployment following a successful feasibility study. As a bottom-up design community input is essential to its success and its ability to meet local needs. The project is seeking to ensure that the governance surrounding net zero enables true city-wide accountability in order to reach this target by 2030\. The framework we develop will be transparent, dynamic, accessible, user friendly, adaptable and legally robust in order to deliver a fair and just transition to net zero.