Stuart Brennan, Head of Communications and Marketing, Energy Systems Catapult
30 March 2022
Last week saw the launch of Net Zero Go, a new digital platform that offers practical support to councils to deliver clean energy projects that help meet net zero targets, and support a homegrown, secure UK energy system. In a decisive decade for climate change, and with over 80% of councils in the UK now “declaring a climate emergency”, Net Zero Go can help local authorities turn net zero ambition into action.
The platform tackles many of the common barriers to action for local councils, such as time and resource, financing and procurement, and local energy knowhow. It can help councils to put their decarbonisation strategies in place and develop successful, locally-focused zero carbon projects, taking initiatives from a standing start to operational and beyond.
Net Zero Go has been created by Energy Systems Catapult in partnership with Salesforce, providers of Net Zero Cloud, and IBM with funding from UK Research and Innovation and support from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. The toolsand resources for Net Zero Go were co-developed with local authorities and draw on a range of experience and expertise from leaders in local energy and investors, including UKRI, Innovate UK, BEIS, UK Energy Hubs, APSE, Anthesis, Ashden, Cornwall Insights, EnergyREV, Local Partnerships, UK100, the Local Government Association, the Green Finance Institute, HM Treasury, and the UK Infrastructure Bank.
The platform enables local councils to create, plan, operate and manage successful, investable net zero projects. It simplifies the process of building business cases by prioritising the often overwhelming level of sector information, making it accessible and useful by delivering the right resources at the right time. The journey and templates within the platform utilise the experience of other councils to provide a consistent approach to delivering local energy projects, helping local authorities meet their net zero carbon targets and maximise benefits to the local community.
You can visit the platform and register to use it for free over the next year, for all UK local authorities and their partners. There is also an interactive brochure available which gives a more detailed overview of Net Zero Go.