The Net Zero Pathways project is setting out to build on the success of the £210mn Net Zero Leiston initiative in Suffolk, which has sought to drive that town to a “greener, more prosperous future” and hit net zero by 2030.
Net Zero Leiston unveiled a route map in February 2022, detailing a phased path to net zero which was described as challenging but achievable. This looked at buildings, transport and agriculture as the three main contributors to climate change, before then exploring how to tackle each through the likes of household insulation, the installation of solar panels, encouraging the use of electric vehicles and bikes, and rewilding at a local scale.
Asking questions such as how the shift to net zero can be made manageable and affordable, Net Zero Leiston saw a review of baseline emissions within the boundary area, before then devising solutions to deliver emissions reductions and building a route map.
Since then, it has been collaborating with local businesses and engaging with residents to explore the levels of funding on offer, working with the community and implementing carbon reduction measures. All the while, progress has been tracked against that initial baseline.
Now, Opergy Net Zero are bringing that approach across the border into Norfolk through Net Zero Pathways. We sat down with General Manager, Chris Blincoe and Lead Climate Analyst, Amelia Fuller, to learn more.
“It’s essentially making sure that smaller areas and communities are getting the support they need to reach the net zero targets mandated by government,” explains Amelia.
This was the driving force behind the project’s inception, given how many communities were not getting the necessary levels of support to reach crucial climate goals. The Opergy Net Zero team has focussed on six communities at Parish level – meaning populations ranging between 5,000 to 10,000 people – and is working to help them understand not only why net zero is so important, but how it can be reached too.
“We’re engaging with the community at three different levels,” continues Amelia. “The first level is with the council, the second is with key stakeholders in the area, which could mean people with a really good understanding of climate change or those that are keen to do something, such as people engaged with energy, transport or biodiversity, or anything where they have an understanding of net zero and an understanding of why we need to reach it, but maybe need some support as well.”
The last stage is then with people in the community, meaning residents. This is the phase the team find themselves at right now, with Chris leading on a number of community outreach events, visiting libraries and talking to residents to get their views.
“I think one of the big challenges out there right now is that there is this massive big picture of a climate emergency,” begins Chris. “One where we’re all screwed if we go beyond two degrees and everyone goes, ‘well, that’s really scary, but I don’t really see how I can do anything in my world or my community to stop that from happening’.”
This is where Net Zero Pathways comes in, bringing that idea of the climate emergency down to a community level.
Through the project, the team will show communities where they find themselves today, including their current baseline, and what then needs to be done to ensure they play their part in helping the UK reach net zero.
“We can articulate that by saying your community carbon footprint is ‘this’ annually right now and if it continues to be that, then within eight to 10 years, you will have used up your entire carbon budget if we are going to achieve these 1.5 degree, or 2 degree warming targets. That is quite a scary thing, but it does bring those huge global challenges down to a community level.”
Should that hit home, then the focus turns to what exactly can be done about it?
“There are some things you can’t do anything about at a community level,” says Chris. “You can’t really influence how green the electricity grid in the UK is or how many offshore wind turbines will be built, so a chunk of that is out of a community’s hands. But there are still things that can be done.”
This includes community energy schemes, which can put money back into people’s pockets – something especially beneficial at a time when energy bills remain high. They can also have a positive environmental impact.
Equally, though, it can be something that on the surface that appears tiny but has far-reaching implications.
“One of the conversations we’ve had with someone saw them tell us that getting their kids to school is a complete nightmare and they end up driving because they don’t feel it’s safe to walk or cycle because of a particular crossing at a particular road,” explains Chris.
“That’s not what you would immediately think was a climate change related thing, but actually, this person is behaving this way because of this barrier and if it wasn’t there, maybe they would behave differently and make different travel choices.”
The goal, therefore, through Pathways is to bring things down to a community level and firmly understand what barriers those that live in an area day-to-day are facing and get their input into how they could be solved, paving the way for a greener future that works for them.
From this, the team will build route maps, setting out actions that can be taken, how they can be realised – including how much they would cost and what funding is available – and what sort of impact these actions would have on the community’s carbon footprint as a whole.
The team has already learned plenty through the project, with this helping them go forward and apply for other tenders “with more confidence and understanding” on how to do things for communities.
Work is also underway to streamline the project in future.
“There are very much two parts to Net Zero Pathways,” says Amelia. “One part is absolutely that community engagement and speaking to people, the other part is very data driven.”
This involves looking at “really granular data” that is available for those communities. This helps the Opergy Net Zero team to understand both the carbon baseline and what will be feasible in that area in the future.
In the background, the team have been exploring ways to automate the data driven side of things. “In doing so,” explains Amelia. “You’re able to bring down the costs and it becomes more cost effective for the community and more cost effective for us, because you are only now doing that community engagement part rather than the data analysis side of things too.”
Stay tuned for more from the Net Zero Pathways project as it continues to evolve, we explore the lessons learned and some of the stories at the hearts of the communities involved.
