Net Zero Pathways
How can you help a community take on climate change and reach net zero – but not just help them, help them in such a way that they get the maximum benefit for the actions they end up taking?
Having already designed and developed a route map to Net Zero for Leiston in Suffolk, Opergy – the facilitator of Net Zero East – has taken things a step further developing Net Zero pathways for six locations across Norfolk – Aylsham, Caister, Downham Market, Hethersett, Holt and Thetford.
These route maps were made throughout 2023 and 2024, supported by funding from the Norfolk Investment Framework, and are community aligned, bespoke pathways, putting people and place at the heart of the process.
They are great examples of the work we want to do through Net Zero East. It is a process full of clarity and transparency, outlining where an area finds itself today, highlighting why it needs to reduce emissions, and showing exactly how it can do that – plus why the options selected would be the best course of action to take. They hand the power over to the people, helping them shape their future.
With Net Zero Pathways, we can build tomorrow, together, today.
Community Collaboration
At the core of Net Zero Pathways is bettering a community – something many of the projects are driven to do through their community benefit funds.
Ørsted is working with GrantScape, developing and managing its Community Funds, including Hornsea 3 where £700,000 is available per year, with £100,000 ringfenced for skills and another £100,000 earmarked for a Legacy Fund. Previous recipients have included Bodham Village Hall’s Solar Panel Project, Field of Joy’s Reepham Sanctuary Garden, Volunteer It Yourself’s Community Venues Retrofit Works and Green Skills Training, and Lakenham Union Rugby Football Club’s Moving Towards Net Zero initiative – all sorts of things that could come up in a Net Zero Pathway.
The Norfolk Community Foundation also oversees a host of different community benefit funds, including ones for Sheringham Shoal Offshore Wind Farm, which has recently funded air source heating in a community building and a conversion of streetlights to low energy LED lighting, and Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm, which has made grants of up to £10,000 available for schools and other eligible organisations to deliver projects that engage students in STEM subjects – helping develop the very workforce who could well be tasked with taking a community to net zero in the years ahead .
While a Net Zero Pathway can set out a blueprint, community benefit funds can help communities take that next step and start turning words and recommendations into concrete action.
Net Zero Leiston
Delivered back in 2020, the £210 million Net Zero Leiston Community project saw a net zero route-map delivered for the town.
Atkins, Energy Systems Catapult, Opergy, Carbone4, Ikigai and EDF worked together, collaborating with Suffolk County Council and East Suffolk Council, to deliver an initial assessment of Leiston’s baseline greenhouse gas emissions profile and carbon budgets.
From this, they were then able to map out an extensive list of more than 100 carbon reduction ideas or initiatives, with 59 of them shortlisted. This provided a chance to highlight innovative technologies, generate job opportunities and provide direct community benefits – as well as laying the foundations for other community initiatives.
While helping drive Leiston to net zero, it also laid the foundations for other community initiatives – including the six Opergy has led.
Discover more about Net Zero Leiston here.
Building a pathway
Building a Net Zero Pathway begins with working out the level of emissions of a particular location and where these are coming from – this is called a carbon baseline assessment.
Once this is in place, the Opergy team were then able to sit down and engage with districts, parishes, businesses, community forums, schools and residents through a three step approach. Not only was this key to getting everybody involved, spanning different levels of the community, but it also meant that the Opergy team could tailor the most appropriate forms of engagement to each individual community.
With this and the carbon baseline assessment complete, attentions then turned to computer modelling, using all the information gathered. Through this, the team were able t come up with carbon reduction possibilities, exploring the different opportunities, barriers and local characteristics.
With all this done, a Net Zero Pathway can be created, setting out the most appropriate path for a community to decarbonise, understanding priority interventions, financial costs and timelines for achieving Net Zero.
A Net Zero Pathway for Aylsham
Aylsham’s total emissions were found to be 25.85 kilo tonnes of CO2 per year, with 14.94ktCO2e in the built environment, 12.18ktCO2e in transport, -2.06ktCO2e from land use and 0.79ktCO2e from agriculture.
This meant that at the current rate of emissions, Aylsham would use up all of its carbon budget – the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions it could release over a specific timeframe to play its part in helping keep global temperatures well within the 2 degrees of warming set by the UN Paris Agreement – by 2030, rather than 2100 as designed.
Engaging with residents, the Opergy team found a majority (67%) to worry about climate change a lot and most residents (82%) would be “very likely” to take actions that help address climate change and achieve net zero emissions. Key things locals would like to see include safer cycling routes for locals, easy and free access to E-Bikes to encourage the community to cycle, better buses and more solar panels for businesses.
The example pathway for Aylsham, therefore, could see emissions reduce by 90% between 2024 and 2050, with priority interventions including public transport enhancements such as EV buses and Digi-Go – a fully electric minibus service offering on-demand and pre-bookable travel with no fixed route or timetable, as well as having smart thermostats introduce into the built environment.
Dive into the report made for Aylsham here.
A Net Zero Pathway for Caister
In Caister-on-Sea, emissions are 23.41 kilo tonnes of CO2e each year. Broken down, this sees most coming from the built environment (16.67ktCO2e) followed by transport (6.84ktCO2e), agriculture (0.05ktCO2e) and land use, which contributes negative emissions at -0.15ktCO2e. It is on course to use up its carbon budget by 2029, but there are things it can do to change course.
There was a varied spread of concern among residents and low levels of understanding when it comes to awareness of the UK’s efforts to reach net zero. That is something that will need to change to reach net zero, especially when the Opergy team found 40% of Caister residents would be unlikely to take actions to address climate change, something that tallied with the sense of disempowerment encountered when engaging with them.
Residents want to see sustainable transport made more accessible, including buses, as well as for all new houses to include solar panels and a greater use of energy efficient lighting. Through following their pathway, Caister can reduce emissions by 90% , with an overhaul of transport through EV buses, the Digi-Go bookable minibus scheme and an influx of fast and rapid electric vehicle chargers recommended in transport, along with domestic solar panels to bring down emissions in the built environment, as well as community composting and a Zero Waste Shop – an establishment offering products that generate little to no waste throughout their cycle – to continue driving emissions down.
Read the report about Caister here.
A Net Zero Pathway for Downham Market
Downham Market’s total emissions were found to be 46.46 kilo tonnes of CO2 per year, with 28.4ktCO2e in the built environment, 17.94ktCO2e in transport, -0.18ktCO2e from land use and 0.31ktCO2e from agriculture.
Downham Market’s carbon budget, setting it through to 2100, would be used up by 2030 at its current rate. But what did residents have to say when engaged with? Opergy uncovered a medium level of worry for climate change (47%) and mixed level of awareness on net zero – 43% said they were somewhat educated. Looking at what residents would like to see happen, having sustainable transport made more accessible, educational opportunities to empower residents to become more sustainable, hydro schemes in the river and more affordability for solar panels, battery storage and electric vehicles were all popular.
Taking this information forward, Opergy built an illustrative Net Zero Pathway for Downham Market that would see it nearly reduce its emissions by 90% come 2050 – though with limited land space for nature-based solutions to help take it the rest of the way, residents and businesses would need to work together to create new outdoor spaces or public amenities, pursuing tree planting and rewilding, giving the town a chance to offset and rebalance its own emissions.
Explore Downham Market’s report here.
A Net Zero Pathway for Hethersett
In Hethersett, emissions were revealed to be 29.4 kilo tonnes of CO2 per year, with 13.06ktCO2e in the built environment, 16.28ktCO2e in transport, -0.61tCO2e from land use and 0.65ktCO2e from agriculture. Continuing at this current rate of emissions means that Hethersett’s carbon budget – meant to take it through to 2100 – will be used by 2031.
There was an appetite among residents to take action on climate change, with most some level of ‘worried’ about it. Particular projects they want to see include sustainable transport options becoming more accessible, EV chargers becoming easier to access, and sustainability projects that look to increase wildlife and boost biodiversity. The Opergy team also discovered that the Hethersett Climate Emergency Response Team is very prominent.
It would be possible for a 90% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2050 according to the illustrative Net Zero Pathway for Hethersett, with sequestration efforts – absorbing the remain carbon through the land – taking it to net zero. E-bike rental schemes, EV chargers, EV buses and the bookable electric minibus scheme, Digi-Go, were highlighted as interventions to make a difference in transport, while converting as many properties as possible from oil and gas to electric in the built environment could have a big benefit to emissions there.
Engage with Hethersett’s report here.
A Net Zero Pathway for Holt
Holt’s total emissions were found to be 15.80 kilo tonnes of CO2e per year with 10.41ktCO2e in the built environment, 8.08ktCO2e from transport, 1.46ktCO2e in agriculture and -4.15ktCO2e from land use, helping bring down the overall total. Its carbon budget is 112ktCO2e from now until 2100, but at its current rate of emissions, the budget will be used up by the end of the decade (2030). So, what can be done?
Holt was found to have a medium level of worry about climate change and a solid level of education (79%) on net zero and how it impacts their local area. There was a desire uncovered to learn more on what can and cannot be recycled in their area, for more car parking where electric vehicle chargers are available, efforts to protect as much of Holt’s woodland and biodiversity as possible, and to have Holt itself be as walkable as can be.
It was found Holt can achieve net zero by cutting its emissions by 90% come 2050, with an increase in sequestration efforts helping it get over the line. Its high sequestration rate – the reason why its emissions from land use were negative – would see its net emissions become negative by 2047 even if it overshot its carbon budget by 100%. EV buses, the Digi-Go bus scheme and smart thermostats were among the top recommendations, along with community composting, an E-bike rental scheme and a Zero Waste Shop.
Discover more in Holt’s report here.
A Net Zero Pathway for Thetford
Thetford is emitting 78.07 kilo tonnes of CO2e every year. The built environment is responsible for much of this – 48.06ktCO2e, with transport – 33.4ktCO2e – also a substantial emitter. Industry adds 20.2ktCO2e, with agriculture contributing 2.11ktCO2e. Land use in Thetford brings the total down, however, with negative emissions of -25.7ktCO2e each year due to carbon being sequestered or absorbed.
Thetford is on course to use all of its carbon budget up by 2030, and with a population found to generally be worried about climate change and not so educated on the UK’s net zero ambitions, there is work to do. There is a desire for changes in transport, for there to be more sustainable options, and chances for collaborative projects between businesses and schools, landowners and industry through the Thetford Business Forum – something that can be a key in bringing community collaborations to create opportunities for innovative carbon reduction partnerships.
Thetford can bring emissions down 90% by 2050, with sequestration efforts taking it all the way to net zero according to its illustrative pathway. Interventions in transport have the biggest potential, such as EV buses and the Digi-Go bookable minibus scheme, while smart thermostats, a solar canopy car park and domestic solar parks can make a big impact in transport.
Take a look at the report for Thetford here.
