A Force for Fairness: Embedding a just transition in local authorities

A guide for local authorities

For many places, questions around net zero centre on whether the transition will improve everyday life or deepen existing pressures. This report responds to that challenge with a practical, local authority-focused guide to embedding a just transition across the work councils already do.

A Force For Fairness is grounded in Regen’s engagement with the Net Zero Living Programme’s 52 participating local authorities and partners, alongside literature and case study research.

It starts by stating a simple risk: without deliberate attention to who benefits (and who is asked to pay) net zero can unintentionally widen inequalities and erode trust. But it also frames a clear opportunity. A fair transition can unlock co-benefits that communities feel and value, from healthier homes and lower bills to cleaner air, better jobs, and new models of local ownership and investment.

The report goes on to set out four tenets: recognition, procedural, distributive, and restorative, and then shows how they can be turned into action through four practical themes: plans and outcomes; networks and partnerships; planning and procurement; and investment and delivery.

Across these themes, the report emphasises that councils don’t need to bolt fairness on at the end. They can design for fairness from the start by shaping outcomes with communities, aligning internal governance, and embedding those outcomes into the everyday levers that determine what gets built and who wins work, especially procurement and planning.

Examples from the Programme and beyond illustrate what this looks like in practice, such as Newham Council’s shift from emissions-first thinking to a framework that integrates climate action with the cost of living. Calderdale took a resident-led approach to retrofit priorities, while Derry and Strabane mapped areas of vulnerability and engaged trusted community organisations to strengthen inclusive engagement.

Overall, the report offers a route to making net zero delivery more credible, investable, and locally owned by being anchored in the needs, capabilities and ambitions of the people most at risk of being left behind.

Key findings

• Local authorities that define just transition outcomes with citizens can align plans, governance, and delivery around measurable fairness priorities.
• Places that use trusted community organisations to widen participation are better able to reach groups most at risk of exclusion.
• Councils that embed just transition criteria into procurement, planning, and investment decisions can grow local supply chains and retain value locally.