Putting communities at the heart of a just net zero transition

Delivering net zero isn’t just about technology, infrastructure or long-term carbon trajectories. If we get it right, the transition has the potential to make people’s lives better – with cleaner air, healthier homes, lower energy bills, and new social and economic opportunities that strengthen local places.

But for those benefits to be real, people must be more than passive recipients of policy. They need to be engaged, empowered participants whose experiences shape how the transition happens. Evidence from social science is clear: climate policies work best when they reflect the values people hold, and when socio-cultural and lifestyle factors are baked into how decisions are made. Communities must be involved not only because it’s “fair” but because it results in smarter, more legitimate and more durable decisions.

At the same time, many people are under significant pressure. Cost of living worries dominate household decision-making. Communities already facing inequalities – whether economic, health-related, or geographic – can feel the transition is something happening to them, not with them. And in many cases, those who could benefit most from warmer homes, lower bills or cleaner transport are the least able to access them.

So, the question is: how do we ensure that the transition to net zero delivers a better future both for communities and with communities?

Local authorities have the capacity to play powerful roles as enablers, partners, and trusted guides in working with communities to co-create a better future. Previous work in the Innovate UK funded EnergyREV programme shows how councils can engage citizens, businesses, and other local organisations to provide the connective tissue between micro-scale small group action and macro-scale states and markets. It also highlights how councils can leverage local political statements to signal innovation and ambition, and to provide momentum (ref 1). They can also create an ecosystem of local actors working together to integrate local knowledge, engagement and trust, coordinated planning, local economic strategy, co-benefits, and scalability, which can unlock better, more targeted, quicker and more enduring action (ref 2).

Through the Net Zero Living Programme, local authorities tested a wide range of approaches designed to empower communities in meaningful ways. What emerged was a powerful set of lessons about how places can unlock local insight, build trust, and help people navigate complex changes.

Models for community empowerment

Our Insight Paper, Communities Driving Change, which will be launched at the Net Zero Living Programme webinar on 13 January 2026, draws together examples from across the programme and explores three types of community empowerment:

1. Bringing people into local decision-making. For example, in Warrington, the Council asked a group of 17 young people aged 16-18 to lead the process to develop a vision of “Climate-Resilient Warrington 2040”. Through four in-person sessions and 70 discussions with their friends, families and peers they were able to agree 8 priority recommendations for the town’s transition.
2. Helping people navigate complex choices. Northumberland’s Farming in a Changing Climate project engaged more than 360 farmers and 250 stakeholders, using farm visits, conversations, surveys and workshops to understand the best way to support the farming community to deal with the challenges of climate shifts.
3. Spreading the wealth through community-led action. This was showcased in the GreenerFuture Leicestershire initiative, which supported the formation of six new community energy organisations, each rooted in its own locality and supported to develop long-term roles in local energy delivery.

Each of these models of community empowerment, along with examples from the programme, will be discussed in more detail in our upcoming webinar, podcast and further blogs. However, to fulfil these roles, councils need to make some deliberate shifts in how they work with their residents, partners and communities.

Building trusted relationships

One of the strongest messages emerging from the programme is that engagement is not a procedural tick-box. Done well, it changes the quality of decisions and strengthens delivery. But to achieve that, engagement needs to start early, be genuinely open, and reflect what people care about in their everyday lives. Local authorities often underestimate how much residents want to be involved. But when people feel listened to, respected and informed, the payoff is significant: clearer strategies, stronger mandates, and reduced delivery risk.

Too often, the net zero landscape feels confusing, fragmented and full of jargon. Even when people want to make climate-positive changes, the path can be difficult, involving complex decisions, high upfront costs, inconsistent advice and competing priorities. This is where the role of a trusted guide becomes important. Councils don’t need to have all the answers, but they can create the infrastructure that ensures residents can find them.

Community organisations bring something that neither councils nor private developers can offer: trusted, long-term relationships within neighbourhoods, and a deep understanding of local priorities. When supported properly, they deliver projects that create wealth, skills, confidence and resilience. But community energy doesn’t happen automatically. It needs an enabling ecosystem – and councils have a crucial stewardship role in making that possible.

However, while local leadership is essential, there are structural barriers that councils and communities simply cannot overcome alone. They need to be supported by national government and other system actors to unlock the full potential of place-based net zero. This includes recognising and investing in councils as trusted local institutions, central to public confidence in the net zero transition. In addition, support through long term and sustainable funding, strengthened responsibilities, and skills and workforce development are all important considerations.

Expanding public participation

With the launch of the UK Government policy paper Energising Britain: Your voice in our Clean Energy Superpower Mission last month, there is hope that public engagement and participation will form a key part of the UK’s clean energy transition. This paper sets out how government intends to work with communities, businesses, trade unions, and the public, and acknowledges the key role that local government, community energy groups, and grassroots organisations will play. This sits alongside the Great British Energy Strategic Plan, with a core goal of supporting over 1000 local and community energy projects and expanding public participation and local control in the energy system.

As the Net Zero Living Programme demonstrated, engagement is not a hurdle, a delay, or a luxury. It is an asset – one that strengthens decisions, reduces risk, and unlocks local ingenuity. Local authorities already have many of the tools they need: convening power, visible presence, trusted relationships, and a deep knowledge of place. By applying these strengths councils can build a transition that is fair, grounded in everyday realities, and shaped by the people it is designed to serve.

1. Tingey, M., and Webb, J. 2020. Net zero localities: ambition & value in UK local authority investment. Energy Revolution Research Centre, Strathclyde, UK. University of Strathclyde Publishing. ISBN 978-1-909522-59-6

2. Fell, M.J., Bray, R., Ford, R., Hardy, J. and Morris, M. 2020. Post-pandemic recovery: How smart local energy systems can contribute. EnergyREV, University of Strathclyde Publishing: Glasgow, UK. ISBN 978-1-909522-70-1