Governance to Accelerate Net Zero

Net zero is a complex, systemic challenge. It demands good democratic governance to drive collective action across regions, sectors and communities.

The urgency for action has never been clearer, with rising average global temperatures (exceeding 1.5C above pre-industrial levels in 2024) (1) and severe climate impacts sitting alongside increasing and compounding vulnerabilities of people across social and economic dimensions. All aspects are further amplified by associated adaptation and biodiversity challenges.

The UK Government’s commitment to net zero—from the 2008 Climate Change Act to its mission to become a clean-energy superpower—is mirrored or raised by ambitious targets set by organisations, businesses and institutions across the country. With new technologies now available to reduce emissions, research and debate increasingly focus on the choices facing leaders given strained public finances, rising inequalities, intersecting vulnerabilities, polarisation and eroding trust in public institutions.

A major British Academy review over three years has analysed evidence and insights from SHAPE disciplines (Social Science, Humanities and the Arts for People, Economy & environment) to understand why and how good democratic governance is crucial to navigating these challenges. The evidence base for this programme encompasses funded research across ten research projects and sixteen research papers drawing on net zero initiatives across the UK and insights shared by over 200 stakeholders across research, policy and practice through national and local events, workshops and roundtables.

The findings, presented in this report, show a striking consensus: collaborative leadership across levels of government, place-led initiatives in partnership with intermediaries and a more people-centred approach to participation and net zero action are central to reaching net zero at speed.

This will mean action from each level of government in each part of the country. This report, therefore, is aimed at political and policy leaders across the UK at all levels of government, who are responsible for setting up governance mechanisms to:

• navigate complex, nuanced decisions, while maximising the opportunities presented by the net zero transformation; and

• connect decision-makers and diverse communities (facilitated by intermediaries) around actions that deliver, at pace, the collective action needed.

Examples in this report show how such mechanisms can deepen collaboration, bringing government, business, civil society and citizens together to accelerate action. While the challenges can create governance frictions which lead to inertia, this report argues that leaders can use the evidence, case studies and insights from researchers, practitioners and policymakers to instigate multi-level, multi-actor, multi-directional solutions that will accelerate action.

In the report we highlight case studies of good practice from across levels of government and across the country, from Aberdeen to Hackney, to draw out practical lessons for the journey ahead.

Accelerators for net zero action

UK governance is creaking under the complexities of the net zero agenda, creating frictions that slow down delivery. Action from leaders can relieve these frictions or reverse them to bring about an acceleration. Eight accelerators that describe this type of action are presented in this report; understanding them and how they fit together is the starting point for acting on the practical challenges facing leaders on net zero. (See Diagram 1.)

Collaborative leadership

Catalysing collaborative leadership is central to accelerating to net zero, enabling coordination, knowledge sharing and collective accountability.

• Devolution provides an opportunity for leaders to build subnational governments’ capacity for dispersed, collective forms of leadership to reach net zero, and move away from competitive approaches slowing down delivery.

• Embedding collaboration with and between diverse intermediaries (such as community-based organisations, local businesses and researchers) through funding frameworks and support provisions is integral to facilitating place-led climate action.

• Knowledge sharing accelerates net zero delivery, with opportunities for leaders to build on and connect emerging good practice across places, scales and departments.

This section spotlights the governance challenges facing subnational governments, the translation of national policy to local action, the diversity of intermediaries, and case studies on collaborative efforts in low-carbon transport in Aberdeen and in Local Area Energy Planning in Manchester.

Sustaining public support

To sustain public support and make lasting progress, leaders should give due emphasis to trust, fairness and effectiveness, which must go hand-in-hand.

• Leaders can use targeting in net zero polices, including relatively modest changes to regulatory systems, to act on inequalities around the carbon emitting systems we still rely on and bring visible positive benefits to people’s daily lives.

• Transparent and inclusive governance in navigating just industrial transitions is essential to account for the inherent power imbalances between governments, multi-national enterprises, workers and affected communities.

• By giving greater attention to the networks of trust that publics engage in, and the transparency and trustworthiness of institutions and actors, leaders can build the confidence necessary to make progress towards net zero.

This section highlights factors driving inequalities and presents case studies on introducing solar energy to flats in Hackney, industrial transition planning in Grangemouth and the experiences of participants in the Copeland climate jury in West Cumbria.

A more people-centred approach

A fair, people-centred approach needs to go beyond individual behaviour change and scale up the pace of public participation to match net zero ambitions.

• People and their communities play a central role in initiating and facilitating the society-wide transformation necessary to reach net zero goals, requiring a whole-systems approach to make net zero the easy and cheap default.

• By working with intermediaries, leaders can deepen insights into how public participation and the success of net zero adaption are intimately connected to how people experience social, cultural and economic change in their daily lives.

• Commitments across levels of government to improve the use and reach of public participation provide opportunities to embed lessons from existing engagement and create more impactful polices, with greater accountability and oversight to publics.

This section examines how social and cultural factors and daily life shape the participation in and acceptance of net zero initiatives. It includes examples of deepening public participation and a case study on deliberative processes in the Climate Change Committee (CCC).

How can leaders work with publics to harness the accelerators?

With an understanding of the accelerators, leaders can work with publics and intermediaries through a series of governance mechanisms: direction and resourcing, place-led action, connecting knowledge, transparency, democratic accountability and public participation.

The mechanisms will be familiar to leaders, but set alongside the accelerators described in this report, they provide fresh insights into action that can be taken. The report also describes how they fit together in a model (see Diagram 2 and Table 6) that connects leaders, intermediaries and diverse publics, reiterating the multi-level, multi-actor and multi-directional approach necessary to galvanise net zero action across the UK.

Given the challenges around strained public finances, rising inequalities, intersecting vulnerabilities, polarisation and eroding trust in public institutions, developing and strengthening these governance mechanisms should be considered a central part of strategies to reaching net zero. The report’s concluding recommendations, therefore, focus on the priorities for leaders to use good democratic governance in support of net zero goals.

Policy recommendations on how to accelerate net zero

This report has argued that there are people- and place-sensitive, evidence-based options for leaders across levels of government to use good democratic governance to accelerate net zero delivery. The Mission Board, tasked with helping steer the UK government’s Clean Energy Superpower by 2030 mission and the acceleration to net zero, should sit at the heart of this process. The report recommends that it leads a comprehensive strengthening of governance across departments and at all levels to meet net zero targets, using the review of the Carbon Budget Delivery Plan as an opportunity to initiate this.

To support this recommendation, five strategic priorities for leaders describe the action needed across levels of government to increase and sustain the pace of progress. (See Table 1.) These strategic priorities are supported by starting points for action, with specific policy recommendations set out in greater detail in Section 6. The CCC’s annual progress reports to Parliament provides a means to assess and track progress on these priorities and to understand how governance is accelerating or holding back delivery across policy areas.

This report draws together the findings of the British Academy’s Net Zero Governance policy programme, with a focus on how the UK government, from local to national levels, can improve governance to support the acceleration of net zero. While speaking explicitly to the UK government’s Clean Energy Mission, it has implications across current and future government missions, which will all play a role in reaching a net zero future.

The evidence in this report helps us understand why good democratic governance is critical for accelerating to net zero (see Section 1), what that means in terms of eight specific governance ‘accelerators’ (see Sections 2, 3 and 4), and how governance mechanisms can accelerate and sustain net zero action (see Section 5).

Five strategic priorities, alongside corresponding recommendations, call on political and policy leaders at all levels of government to strengthen good democratic governance (see Section 6).

Agreeing on clear definitions is important for developing shared understandings of net zero futures and good governance. (See Annex 2.) In this report, ‘good democratic governance’ describes the democratic processes and activities concerned with working towards a shared purpose, through a clear strategy, with oversight and accountability. In practice, it can have a range of elements, such as establishing feedback loops for knowledge sharing across institutions, setting statutory duties for reporting to, or co-designing policies with, and accountable to, citizen and residents.

This report explores net zero as a multi-level, multi-actor and multi-directional systems challenge, the navigation of which will have significant implications for diverse publics and actors.

However, the report is addressed specifically to policymakers across government levels in the UK. Leaders are responsible for establishing the governance mechanisms described in the report and nurturing collaboration among all other actors. As such, they are best placed to act on the findings.

Research exploring human and social systems and drivers is central to understanding why and how good democratic governance can deliver and sustain the effort to reach net zero goals. Achieving net zero at pace has many complex features, in particular:

• The transformation associated with net zero affects a wide range of human activities, but how these broader impacts are navigated has not had sufficient focus from government.
• Getting to a net zero future is made more complex by existing inequalities within our society which will, without careful attention, result in the costs and benefits falling unfairly on different groups.
• A net zero future will not be sustainable without equally transformative action on adaption and to address biodiversity loss.

There is no quick fix to ensure that deep, rapid and sustained cuts to harmful emissions are delivered with the urgency required. Our analysis mirrors the CCC, The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Skidmore review and others, in highlighting what can be seen as a cumulative set of actions taken across places, scales and times. (2) With this growing need for coordinated action and increasing contestation as the onus shifts from industry to households, how can leaders navigate the challenges and create the conditions for more rapid delivery?

Good democratic governance is the critical enabler to accelerating to net zero. It provides the tools leaders need to navigate complex, nuanced decisions and maximise the opportunities from net zero. It also connects decision-makers with diverse communities around the urgent collective actions needed.

Good democratic governance describes the democratic processes and activities concerned with realising a shared purpose, through a clear strategy, with oversight and accountability. This kind of governance brings together a range of actions that support and inform decision-making, such as establishing feedback loops for knowledge sharing across institutions, setting statutory duties for reporting on progress or co-designing policies with, and accountable to, citizen and residents.

Poor governance may lead to poor strategies, cumbersome processes, uncoordinated activities and a lack of accountability that add up to frictions between actors. This results in a lack of progress towards the shared purpose.

Governance that is not democratic may result in greater inequality, exclusion from decision-making, corruption or a lack of direct and indirect accountability of political and policy leaders to citizens.

The increasingly divisive and political debates about how to reach net zero illustrate the risks to governance from growing gaps between leaders and publics. Citizens and diverse publics are influenced by and participate in the transformative changes resulting from leaders’ decisions. If publics are disconnected from decision-makers, decisions will fail to properly consider their diverse interests and values.

1.1 Accelerators

This report builds on the British Academy’s earlier report, 'Governance for Net Zero' (3). It digs deeper into how good democratic governance can accelerate progress towards net zero goals and identifies the frictions arising from lapses in governance that slow down delivery.

It sets out eight specific accelerating factors grouped according to three main areas. Together, these accelerators can enable good democratic governance (see Diagram 1) and the next three sections of the report elaborate on each one, drawing practical insights from the evidence base our disciplines provide. This includes insights from the British Academy and its many contributors on what works (and does not) to improve governance and accelerate to net zero.

Diagram 1: Governance accelerators for net zero.

The accelerators provide a way of thinking about governance that relates it to the practical challenges facing leaders.

1.2 Governance mechanisms

In Section 5 of the report, findings across the accelerators, and their associated case studies, are brought together to identify how leaders, working with wider actors, can harness the accelerators. A model for governing collaboration on net zero accelerators identifies:

• The existing governance mechanisms that leaders can use to harness the accelerators, working with publics and through intermediaries;
• The interactions between intermediaries and publics that can amplify or hinder net zero transformations, and influence or are influenced by governance mechanisms; and
• Lessons for how leaders can improve the efficacy and take-up of net zero initiatives through the mechanisms available, and better account for the role of interactions between intermediaries and publics in net zero transformations.

Finally, the report concludes with a primary recommendation for a dramatic strengthening of governance across departments and at all levels to meet net zero targets. This comes alongside five strategic priorities, supported by specific policy recommendations, for leaders to apply these lessons in governing the acceleration to net zero.

Net zero is a global, national and local collective action problem, requiring collaborative leadership and activity across places, scales and times. The British Academy’s 2024 'Governance for Net Zero' report highlighted leadership across levels of government as a crucial but underutilised lever in the net zero agenda. (4)

In the context of this report, leaders are those in government who are accountable to publics, and direct and design accountability for net zero commitments. Leaders play different roles across political leadership (such as Members of parliaments, Mayors, or local Councillors) and wider policymaking (such as civil servants across levels of government). They can create a collaborative environment in and between government levels, and for private and third sector leadership to support delivery. As government leaders in a democratic country, they are either directly accountable to citizens and residents, or indirectly accountable through elected representatives.

Given their central role in good democratic governance and in establishing the mechanisms this report explores, the first three accelerators fall under the heading of collaborative leadership: Organising to deliver net zero, Collaborating with intermediaries, and Sharing knowledge.

2.1. Organising to deliver net zero

Coordinated action is pivotal to enabling the cumulative and connected leadership necessary to realising the UK’s legally binding net zero commitments. A failure to coordinate effectively across places, scales and levels of governance is repeatedly cited as a friction that slows down or hinders net zero delivery. (5)

Insight from research funded by the British Academy has highlighted that governing net zero involves fostering meaningful participation of diverse actors and publics to improve collaborative coordination with a focus on organising to deliver rather than simply organising delivery. Effective governance of net zero can be enabled by dispersed, collective forms of leadership, with the state (across levels of government) leading the charge on net zero for the public good (6).

This research identified seven governance challenges that underpin this approach at subnational scales (see Table 2).

The organising to deliver approach puts the focus on how place leadership can take a diversity of forms and pathways, and how building subnational capacities and connectivity to regional and national levels can accelerate collaboration on the net zero mission, rather than a disconnected and competitive approach that amplifies the frictions. Box 1 illustrates case studies of how frictions between local and national levels of government can emerge as unintended consequences of a fragmented approach to resourcing and directing action.

These research papers highlight the constraints to net zero action at subnational levels, with regional and local leaders facing trade-offs between delivering net zero and other priorities under significant fiscal strain. They demonstrate the potential for decentralised autonomy (in terms of powers and resources) to effectively enable place-based collaborative leadership.

The Government’s 2024 English Devolution White Paper is a promising step for extending devolution in England, including in net zero strategy and planning in highlighting a strategic role for subnational governments in the delivery of the Local Power and Warm Homes Plans. (15)

Central government leaders should incorporate the organising to deliver approach to improve coordination across levels, and resolve conflicting policies between departments and place-based inequalities in subnational investment and policy translation.

2.2. Collaborating with intermediaries

Intermediaries occupy spaces between bottom-up and top-down initiatives, and their actions are key to collaboration across places, scales and sectors. They have varying levels of agency, with some specifically set up to facilitate action on net zero, while others adopt this role. (16) These actors can establish and embed shared collective understandings of net zero challenges and locally relevant solutions, helping bridge publics and government. They operate in several ways:

• Working with people, by supporting engagement, policy co-design and building trust in downstream activities within communities.

• Supporting leaders, by identifying opportunities for scaling up initiatives and developing upstream solutions.

• Partnering with other intermediaries through supply chains, sharing knowledge and testing new practices to reduce direct and indirect emissions. (17)

Intermediaries are as diverse as the communities and places they serve. Table 3 provides examples of intermediaries to illustrate the frictions they face, and the opportunities they bring to net zero transformations. In some cases, such as local authorities, they can act as both leaders or intermediaries depending on the role they take in different net zero policies and initiatives.

Before considering the role of intermediaries and the benefits of collaboration and partnership, it is important to highlight two points:

• What is possible or appropriate for one place and its ecosystem of actors, may not be reflective of others. (23) In the case of SMEs, typical regional grant funding (largely focused on carbon reduction, energy efficiency and renewable energy installation) struggle to reach 1% of SMEs in a given region. (24) Rural areas face unique challenges, with highly dispersed populations, poor transport links and remoteness. They also have advantages: potential for renewable energy generation and nature-based solutions. A place-sensitive approach is required to maximise the potential for collaboration on net zero delivery. (25)

• Hands-off market and technology-led approaches have limitations for building the momentum necessary. They often exclude place-based or regulatory innovations that could unlock wider net zero opportunities driven by intermediaries—such as not-for-profit community models, shared ownership, practice transformation and an expanded role for local authorities. (26) The British Academy’s Future of the Corporation programme highlights how business policy and practice have led to a focus on financial goals, sometimes at cost to the environment. It argues for a legal, regulatory, governance and reporting framework to enable and create accountability for purposeful business, creating profitable solutions for the problems of people and planet. (27) This is reflected in a discussion paper funded by the Net Zero Governance programme, which suggests embedding net zero as a cross-cutting objective in commercial law and regulations. (28)

If these factors are given due consideration, collaboration with and between these actors is not just desirable, but integral to net zero social transformations and accelerating climate action. (29)

For example, Case study 1 illustrates a Local Authority becoming a place-leader and early adopter of low carbon technologies, thus helping to create enabling conditions for wider net zero development and a local context conducive to industry investment (that is, an intermediary) that sustains action beyond project delivery. (30)

While this case study draws out lessons for collaborative place-led action, the pursuit of hydrogen in light surface transport has since revealed practical limitations, showcasing the challenge of forging locally appropriate pathways with incomplete information on emerging technologies.

While the specific circumstances of this case study in Aberdeen, a wealthy city with a history in the oil and gas industry, will not be replicable elsewhere, the general lesson from this example is around a place-led collaborative approach.

This was combined with identifying and developing partnerships with intermediaries, including funders and industry, while taking care to align interests. If left unchecked, inequalities between people and places can act against this type of approach, as discussed in Section 3.1.

2.3. Sharing knowledge

A striking highlight of the British Academy’s stakeholder engagement and commissioned research has been the importance of multi-directional knowledge sharing for the collaborative effort to reach net zero. Knowledge sharing accelerates net zero delivery by:

• Using place-based knowledge and citizen preferences to inform decision-making;
• Creating more cross-cutting action on environmental, social and economic priorities;

• Encouraging multi-actor collaboration, confidence and partnership working;

• Improving transparency and oversight of decision-making; and

• Supporting the development of and learning from what we know works (and does not). (34)

Local authorities, combined authorities and other regional agencies (such as net zero hubs) are well placed to leverage localised data and facilitate knowledge exchange across a range of actors throughout the development and implementation of net zero schemes. (35) Conversely, informed decision-making can be hindered when knowledge bases are disconnected and data gathering and analysis are inconsistent. (36)

Innovative practices to develop holistic understandings of local interests and needs are emerging across councils and devolved administrations (such as Local Investment Plans, Local Area Energy Planning, locally determined contributions and other projects) and from other actors (such as peer learning networks, sustainability hubs and digital platforms). (37)

Case study 2 illustrates lessons from one of these innovations: Local Area Energy Planning.

Knowledge-sharing innovations could strengthen holistic planning and be complemented with engagement activities in the community. (39) To reap their full benefits, national government will need to act on unequal data maturity and inequities in funding. (40)

This echoes findings from the British Academy’s programme on place-sensitive sustainable policymaking, which stresses that local knowledge, which is vital for effective evidence-based policy, relies on the right mechanisms, networks and cultures being in place. (41)

Connecting knowledge sharing across places and scales can further facilitate learning and exchange on emerging solutions and challenges and help identify initiatives that could be scaled up. (42)

A platform being trialled as a part of Innovate UK’s Net Zero Living programme illustrates the potential for doing this across local authorities. However, as it is only accessible to around 50 local authorities and their partners, it would need to be scaled up across the UK and resourced to ensure it does not exacerbate capacity constraints.(43)

Research stresses the need to gather and link expertise across disciplinary and geographic boundaries to improve the success of net zero policies. Leaders in politics and policymaking across government can look to integrate SHAPE (Social Science, Humanities and the Arts for People, Economy & environment) insights earlier into decision-making, improve assessment of progress and knowledge on how people will be affected by policies and share insight across departments and scales to take integrated action on net zero. (44)

The Government’s five missions also provide opportunities to connect disparate networks with knowledge across scales and places that could support net zero delivery (and vice versa).

Reaching net zero will require significant changes to how people and communities live, work and interact in their day-to-day lives. The nature and impact of these changes will vary widely across different places and communities. (45)

A well-governed transformation presents a range of opportunities to bring benefits to daily lives, from improved health and comfort to good-quality jobs. (46) Discussions with academics and practitioners in the British Academy’s Net Zero Governance programme have emphasised that there is clear evidence of public support in the UK for a more sustainable future, but it is the conditionality of this support that matters.(47)

Sustained and resilient public support will require governance which accounts for a range of pre-existing and cross-cutting frictions in the relationship between leaders and diverse publics, including in the distribution of costs and benefits and public trust in net zero policies. This is exemplified across analysis from the British Academy, the CCC Seventh Carbon Budget, IPCC Sixth Assessment report and others. (48)

Publics play a foundational role for holding leaders to account as part good democratic governance. In light of their active role in governance mechanisms, this section highlights three accelerators that can help sustain the foundations for public support: acting on inequalities, navigating just transitions and building trust.

3.1. Acting on inequalities

Economic, social and health inequalities are deeply entwined with the climate crisis and the carbon-emitting energy systems we still rely on. Bringing these systems to net zero will increasingly require people across places and communities to undertake noticeable changes, which could disproportionately affect people who are already facing marginalisation, poor health and low incomes. (49)

Good democratic governance will need to both incorporate understandings of these inequalities and work actively to avoid exacerbating them. Indeed, the potential benefits the energy transition represents provide opportunities for government leaders to take action to reduce inequalities.

There are large differences in personal carbon emissions, and each individual’s ability and readiness to reduce them. (50) In 2019, the flights of the wealthiest 10% in the UK used more energy than the total used across all aspects of life of the poorest 20%.(51)

The current energy retail market is resulting in poor outcomes for inactive consumers and overcharging by utility firms is found to be routine (particularly for those on pre-payment meters). (52) The most vulnerable households have become saddled with over £3 billion in unserviceable debt, and fuel poverty in the UK is estimated at close to 5.6 million households as of July 2024, contributing to excess winter deaths at a range of at least 3,000 people per year. (53)

What is perceived as fair may vary, influenced by a range of factors such as a person’s capacity to act and their values and beliefs. Of particular importance is fairness in the distribution of costs and benefits, and in involving diverse perspectives in the process of decision-making (especially groups affected by net zero polices and the changing climate). (54)

Fairness extends beyond easily conceived timeframes, encompassing future generations and their right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. (55) This poses serious implications for intergenerational inequities. It also highlights questions of: who bears the responsibility of past and present harmful emissions; who bears the costs for current inaction; and whose voices and concerns are left unheard? (56)

Good democratic governance provides crucial accelerators (see Table 4) to leaders in politics and policymaking with a responsibility to navigate this nuanced context while meeting the government’s mission on clean energy and accelerating to net zero.

Case study 3 illustrates how relatively modest changes in regulatory and governance systems can act as accelerators for locally meaningful collective participation. It explores a specific example of addressing upstream barriers to participation and bringing visible positive results in people’s daily lives at speed while supporting net zero goals. (62)

The UK Government’s commitment to deliver a Local Power Plan provides a promising opportunity to accelerate shared ownership models between developers, communities and local government, and to help accelerate local energy systems for a wider range of communities.

To do this in a way that will bring the benefits of net zero to communities more quickly, the UK Government should seek to understand and target geographic or socio-demographic communities currently lacking agency or social networks to participate in net zero. Using this targeting, policymakers can design energy policy, through incentives and changes to regulations, to benefit these communities. (64)

3.2. Navigating just transitions

The urgency of the climate crisis necessitates a move to more inclusive and holistic industrial transition planning as a part of wider net zero transformation. The British Academy’s report on the Lessons from the History of Regional Development Policy in the UK stresses how deindustrialisation has left a challenging legacy, with some communities still bearing the scars of rapid and unplanned change. (65)

As some places in the UK have developed around high-carbon industrial clusters—such as Grangemouth, Port Talbot, Humberside, Merseyside, Southampton and Teesside—transitioning away from these sectors has had and will have a profound effect on their communities. (66)

The British Academy’s international programme on Just Transitions points to the key role of just transitions to support the development of an inclusive and sustainable future. This comes with the need for policymakers to engage communities, workers and businesses to identify opportunities and barriers to decarbonisation. It underscores the importance of addressing different dimensions of justice—including distributive, restorative, intergenerational and procedural justice—as a part of the planning process. (67)

However, research suggests that there has so far been limited action at the national level on embedding these factors and their intersections meaningfully to improve the reach and efficacy of net zero policies. (68)

The UK’s experience with just transitions is concentrated in Scotland, where a series of climate change strategies and legislative changes integrated just transition governance with achieving net zero—both in the outcome (a fairer, greener future for all) and the process of doing this in partnership with those impacted. (69)

The Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2019 legislated a set of just transition principles, which underlined central procedural and substantive dimensions, including the importance of multi-party dialogue and investing in sustainable activities that build on the skills, capacities and infrastructure of a place. (70)

Scotland was the first nation in the world to establish a Just Transition Commission, to provide independent scrutiny and advice on how to put justice at the heart of climate action. (71)

While this leadership has been vital in shaping the discourse around just transitions, Case study 4 demonstrates the deep political and economic frictions complicating its governance.

Where the capacity to act is in the control of major emitters, power imbalances between governments, multi-national enterprises (common in the British energy sector) and workers present distinctive frictions to establishing relationships conductive to effective just transition governance.

Workers’ commitment to staying and helping drive forward the transition for the benefit of their homes and communities should be better supported and harnessed throughout transition governance. (74)

Research into three UK industrial heartlands from the Industrial Decarbonisation Research and Innovation Centre has found technocratic framings of ideal futures coming into competition with host-community concerns. The research pointed to a deficit of public engagement and a widespread lack of trust in both government and industry as major risks to industrial decarbonisation. (75)

Similarly, the research paper on Grangemouth (Case study 4) found the need for place-sensitive planning that accounts for local needs, histories, experiences of unfairness and the impacts of such transitions on families, children and communities. (76)

Lessons from Scotland’s leadership and the challenges faced in Grangemouth illustrate the need to embed just transition principles across governance structures and processes, with a focus on improving relations between government and affected communities and creating oversight for the actions of industrial transition partners.

3.3 Building public trust

Public trust and good democratic governance are intrinsically linked, with trust playing a key role in facilitating commitment, collaboration and participation in the net zero transition. (77)

The complex dynamics between mistrust, scepticism and accountability, distrust and polarisation make this a challenging area for leaders. (78) Understanding these dynamics and investing in governance systems that build and sustain trust will be crucial to reducing frictions between leaders, intermediaries and communities in support of net zero goals and developing public acceptability of net zero initiatives.

Indicators point to a worrying state of public trust in the UK. The Office for National Statistics estimate that in 2023 only a quarter (27 per cent) of people reported high or moderate trust in the UK Government. (79)

According to the Edelman Trust Barometer, in 2024 the UK reached the lowest levels of trust since 2018, with increasing distrust of government, media, businesses and establishment leaders. (80) This lack of trust extends to relationships between places, institutions and key net zero partners such as businesses and charities, impacting confidence in net zero delivery. (81)

Notably, there are nuances within these relationships, with local government and the civil service experiencing higher levels of trust with publics than national politicians. (82)

Contestation and conflict are a normal part of transitions, with recent and historical evidence of this in environmental policymaking. (83) However, concerns over ‘net zero scepticism’ in the UK should not be exaggerated, as there is widespread concern and ambition to see greater action on the climate crisis. (84)

For example, the Yale Programme on Climate Change Communications found that in November 2024, 68 per cent of people in the UK thought climate change should be a high or very high priority for the government, with 82 per cent supporting the use of renewable energy to power and heat their homes. (85)

Our stakeholder engagement, funded research and wider policy programmes have highlighted the importance of avoiding contributing to polarisation and recognising that contestation often points to valid concerns or interests. Approaches which explicitly or implicitly attempt to correct a knowledge deficit among publics do not inherently build trust. (86)

Policymakers should account for the public’s desire for nuance and transparency, acknowledging multiple priorities and the diversity of evidence—across research and lived experience—in shaping policy developments. (87)

Trust in collective action for change can be influenced by the perceived fairness of the process and outcomes of polices, reiterating the importance of acting on inequalities and just transition planning as part of reaching net zero. (See Sections 3.1 and 3.2.)

Greater attention should be placed on whether institutions and actors are seen as trustworthy—with respect to their honesty, competence and reliability—to deliver the necessary change. (88) As illustrated across this report and our commissioned research, how governance approaches to net zero take shape can increase or erode the perceived trustworthiness of the government, and its ability to deliver changes fairly. For example, Case study 5 illustrates that, while participatory processes can build trust in UK governance systems, this can dissipate or reverse where institutions are not seen to act in line with the conclusions of these processes.

Public participation, and how it is embedded into decision-making, are key aspects in networks of trust. Trust building occurs through diverse, non-linear practices—influenced by existing affiliations, exposure to net zero and day-to-day relations. (91) This suggests that a focus on forming these social relations and encouraging action across trusted voices in communities—such as GPs, local researchers, community and faith leaders and neighbours—could help form the bonds and dialogue necessary for longer-term change. (92)

The confidence of intermediaries and publics to participate in net zero and collective action can be impacted by the state’s perceived commitment to net zero. It is critical that those with responsibility for governing net zero recognise the importance of relationships and networks of trust. (93)

Governance actors across scales should recognise that every policy and action on net zero is an opportunity to win trust—or erode it.

To reach net zero goals, a rapid and society-wide transformation is necessary. (94) Insights from our funded research and stakeholder engagement, reflecting analysis across the IPCC, CCC, and the Skidmore Review, highlight that people and their communities play a central role in initiating and facilitating the society-wide transformation necessary. (95)

In the Governance for Net Zero report, the British Academy emphasised a people-centred approach as crucial to achieving net zero rapidly and effectively. (96) This entails government leaders embedding a deeper understanding of the diversity of publics to create more impactful policies.

Good democratic governance of net zero requires leaders to put the agency, concerns and strengths of affected communities at the heart of net zero policy development and implementation. By taking a whole-systems approach and learning from existing net zero engagement, leaders can identify upstream net zero interventions, work with social and cultural drivers, and make participating in net zero the easy and cheap default. (97)

Given the role of diverse publics in shaping net zero transformations and the success of governance mechanisms, this section highlights two governance accelerators that support a fair, people-powered transformation: going beyond behaviour change and participating at pace.

4.1. Going beyond behaviour change and technofixes

Individual behavioural change, technocratic approaches and downstream solutions have been prevalent in discussions on people’s role in the UK’s net zero agenda. However, there is limited evidence of their efficacy to affect sustained change on their own. Downstream tools can create frictions by amplifying inequalities and overlooking specific groups or places lacking existing trusted networks, experience or participation in net zero. (98)

Going beyond this individualised view of behaviour change draws on research which highlights how environmental policy, including net zero, is intimately connected with social, cultural and economic change. That is to say that behaviour is part of the system, and a collective, holistic or systems-based approach is needed to enable this accelerator. Table 5 provides examples of social and cultural factors which illustrate this thinking, drawing on research from across our disciplines, including the British Academy’s contributions and stakeholder engagement.

A focus on social and cultural factors emphasises how participation in net zero policies and technologies is interconnected with peoples’ lived and social realities, which include, but go beyond, net zero. Box 2 draws on two research papers on public engagement funded by the British Academy to explore the role of social interactions in community perceptions and acceptability of place-based decarbonisation pathways.

Moving beyond atomised consumers to transitioning with communities illustrates the need to respond to local concerns, identities and priorities around connected agendas, such as nature recovery, just transitions and fuel poverty, as part of net zero participation. It underlines the importance of community leaders and intermediaries—encompassing local councillors, researchers and community groups—to build net zero engagement with communities on existing knowledge, relationships and social interactions.

The Government’s 2024 English Devolution paper sets an ambition for stronger governance at the community-scale for neighbourhood-level engagement, providing an opportunity for leaders to embed these lessons to develop their efficacy and effectiveness as apart of societal and technological transformations.

4.2. Participating at pace

The need for public engagement in the face of the urgency of climate action is increasingly contested, with dangers of being misinterpreted as a way to delay taking action. (104)

However, where policymakers involve people more deeply in governance, this can act as an accelerator for societal change, turn net zero goals into tangible local actions and provide insight into the efficacy of net zero initiatives. It can strengthen participatory democratic governance and provide space for respectful dialogue over polarising topics.

Diverse publics in the UK are already engaged with climate action and net zero, from institutionally led forms of engagement to citizen-led participation. Governance actors across levels should make greater use of public engagement initiatives already occurring across the country and learn from evidence to improve the use of participation at pace, such as the 2022 Defra Social Science Expert Group review on Public Engagement.

Research funded by the British Academy and wider evidence identify a range examples for deepening participation, and related frictions and opportunities for acceleration. (See Table 6.)

Lack of follow-through on findings from participation can fuel disengagement and undermine trust, and local authorities often lack the necessary resources to complete the scale and depth of engagement necessary. (113)

Clarity is needed from the outset on the purpose and structure of participatory approaches. This means considering adequate resourcing, the clarity of objectives and purpose, capacities of analysists and decision-makers to interpret and act on findings, and how this will be communicated and governed. (114)

Case study 6 provides an example of an organisation embedding this learning in the use of deliberative methods. (115)

Increasingly, deepening participation is being emphasised as integral to climate and net zero policy in the UK. Both Scotland and Wales have developed public engagement strategies, and the UK Government’s commitment to deliver a Public Participation Strategy in 2025 is a promising development.

Leaders should seize the opportunity to expand the reach and use of multi-directional public participation with intermediaries and ensure these lessons are embedded across existing governance mechanisms.

Drawing on research and emerging good practice, this report showcases the striking scale of governance frictions slowing down net zero delivery.

The commitment to reach net zero across UK governments will require leaders to strengthen good democratic governance and harness the eight accelerators described above. This can be done by putting in place or refining existing governance mechanisms to facilitate collaboration with publics, including through intermediaries.

Each of the accelerators described in this report highlights associated mechanisms that leaders can use in practice, or deepen their understanding of, to apply the lessons identified in Table 7.

When setting up or improving these governance mechanisms, leaders will need to understand and account for the interactions between publics and intermediaries, which can amplify or hinder the collective effort to reach net zero. (See Table 8.)

5.1 Governance mechanisms

The model for governing collaboratively on net zero, visualised in Diagram 2, depicts the three primary groups of actors this report identifies (leaders, intermediaries and diverse publics). Each can mobilise and participate in different and interconnected governance mechanisms:

• At the core of the governance model are leaders responsible for coordinating net zero, who provide direction and resourcing for net zero action, and can embed transparency to reduce uncertainty for wider actors. They can work with other leaders, intermediaries and publics to connect knowledge bases and improve the use of participation in net zero policy development.

• Intermediaries are well placed to convene, translate and collaborate across boundaries. They can take place-led action on net zero, which can be supported and scaled up with leaders. They can provide and connect knowledge across other actors and facilitate participation with diverse publics.

• Diverse publics include communities and individuals, who hold leaders democratically accountable and have vital knowledge on the viability and acceptability of net zero polices and participate in their development and implementation through intermediaries.

As this model is intended to cut across a vast range of activities, sectors and systems, actors may situate themselves within different layers and capacities, depending on the role they take for reaching net zero.

Diagram 2, which depicts the collaboration model, is illustrative of the visual methods used throughout the evidence analysis and formulation of this report. These methods helped facilitate consensus-building with research and policy experts on the multi-faceted nature of governing net zero and exploring the roles and relationships between each actor.

Diagram 2: Model for governing collaboration on net zero accelerators.

Table 7 provides further detail on each of the governance mechanisms identified, alongside indicative lessons for leaders to support collaboration with intermediaries and publics to harness the accelerators.

5.2 Interactions in and between intermediaries and publics

The boundary between publics and intermediaries is highly permeable. These actors engage in parallel and multi-directional social interactions, market interactions and networks of trust, which can influence their readiness to participate in net zero and wider climate action.

While these interactions are outside the direct control of leaders, they can influence, and be influenced by, governance mechanisms and require careful consideration when leaders shape net zero policies. Table 8 provides indicative lessons for leaders on how deepening their understanding of the role of these interactions in net zero transformations can improve the success of governance mechanisms.

Across the mechanisms and interactions identified, there is a wealth of research, literature and case studies that leaders can draw from, to design evidence-based approaches to increase the pace of progress to reaching net zero.

There is no one-size-fits all answer to reaching net zero. But every day climate action features in decisions being taken across the UK at all levels of government, in the boards of private companies, in community groups, as well as by individual citizens and consumers. Each decision represents an opportunity to take a step forward rather than sideways or backward.

With UK governance systems creaking under the complexities of delivering on net zero alongside other challenges, there is a risk that the frictions described in this report give rise to a sense of intractability, leading to paralysis.

However, the evidence makes it clear that there is proven public support for action, many case studies of what works, and a desire for the wider benefits of the transformation net zero promises. Taking this positive, forward-looking pathway will require leaders to place an understanding of social and human systems at the heart of decisions on net zero and prioritise good democratic governance.

UK and devolved governments should take the lead by acting on their commitment to improve cross-departmental coordination and drive collaboration at all levels of governance—across places and scales, and with intermediaries and publics. Most specifically, the Clean Energy Superpower Mission Board should lead a comprehensive strengthening of governance across departments and at all levels of society to meet net zero targets.

Combined and local authorities also have a collective responsibility to embed good democratic governance to accelerate net zero action.

More generally, Table 9 gives five strategic priorities, supported by specific policy recommendations for leaders across places and scales. Each strategic priority identifies a starting point for action and their corresponding accelerators. The CCC’s annual progress reports to Parliament provides a means to assess and track progress on these priorities and to understand how governance is accelerating or holding back delivery across policy areas.

Lead authors

The following staff from the Public Policy team in the British Academy’s Policy Directorate led on the synthesis of cross-cutting insights and are this report’s lead authors:

Tuisku (Snow) Curtis-Kolu

Policy Advisor, The British Academy

Henry Richards

Senior Futures Lead, The British Academy

We would also like to thank the British Academy policy team that reviewed and supported the report’s development, particularly Dr Molly Morgan Jones, Dr Adam Wright and Chizitera Pennington.

Working Group

The members of our Net Zero Governance Working Group have provided invaluable expertise, feedback and support for our work. The contents of this report have been guided by their advice and insights. Members acted in an individual, not representative capacity, and the views expressed in this report are not necessarily those of each member.

Professor Sarah Birch FBA (from February 2024)

Professor of Political Science, Kings College London

Professor Hilary Graham CBE FBA

Professor of Health Sciences, University of York

Dr Victoria Hurth (until December 2024)

Fellow of University of Cambridge’s Institute for Sustainability Leadership

Professor Andy Jordan FBA

Professor of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia

Professor Tim O’Riordan OBE FBA

Emeritus Professor of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia

This report has been a collaborative endeavour, involving leading researchers, the British Academy team and policy communities in its development. We would like to extend our thanks to the researchers and participants in workshops, roundtable discussions and reviews who have contributed their knowledge and insights to the Net Zero Governance programme and this report.

The views and conclusions expressed in this report are not necessarily endorsed by individual Fellows of the British Academy, but are commended by the Academy as contributing to public debate.

The Net Zero Governance policy programme sits within the British Academy’s Sustainable Futures theme, and wider work on environmental sustainability, net zero and environmental policy.

These include a programme on place-sensitive sustainable policymaking (Where We Live Next), International Just Transitions and Supporting leadership in the research sector to progressively embed environmental sustainability into research, innovation and our building and practices. (117)

The British Academy Net Zero Governance programme aims to marshal SHAPE (Social Science, Humanities and the Arts for People, Economy & environment) evidence and research to:

• Clearly articulate why governance matters on net zero;

• Examine how good quality, place-sensitive, multi-level governance can provide the tools to effectively direct, oversee and create accountability for organisations and institutions that have rightly taken responsibility for reaching net zero within sustainable parameters; and

• Support policymakers with practical insights into what they can do to apply good governance principles around net zero delivery, including continuously supporting a research-informed governance system on net zero.

To develop the programme’s evidence base and research it has funded:

• One large-scale research project,

• Nine small-grant research projects,

• Sixteen discussion papers drawing research initiatives and case studies from across the UK, and

• Engaged over 80 researchers, including British Academy Fellows.

To build in practical insights, we have engaged over 200 stakeholders across SHAPE researchers, policymakers, business and civil society from local to national governance scales through a series of workshops and roundtables, including:

• Two national workshops,

• Two place-based events,

• Six roundtable events,

• Two interdisciplinary knowledge exchange workshops, and

• Regular one-to-one stakeholder engagements.

The combination of the research evidence and the rich discussions convened around it provide the basis for the conclusions presented in this report, supplemented with insights from other British Academy policy programmes and additional insight and context from wider literature. The significant job of assembling these many parts has been led and guided by the programme’s Working Group alongside our team of policy advisers.

Language itself is an important cross-cutting consideration for good governance and some of the terms used can provide leaders with helpful ways of describing the challenges they face. The definitions below are intended to indicate how the terms are used in this report, while readers with a deeper interest in the underlying concepts will find a rich literature on each of them.

‘Good democratic governance’ describes the democratic processes and activities concerned with realising a shared purpose, through a clear strategy, with oversight and accountability. In practice, it can have a range of elements, such as establishing feedback loops for knowledge sharing across institutions, setting statutory duties for reporting or co-designing policies with, and accountable to, citizen and residents.

‘Intermediaries’ are organisations, individuals or entities which facilitate transformations and deliver outcomes through performing a range of roles that link different actors and sectors. They are well placed to convene, organise, translate and collaborate across boundaries to progress net zero transformations. (118)

‘Leaders’ in this report refers to those actors across levels of government accountable to publics and government leaders with direct accountability for the design and delivery of net zero commitments. Leaders cover different roles: political leaders might include a Member of Parliament (UK or devolved), a Mayor, or a local Councillor; other policy leaders might include civil servants across all levels of government, with indirect accountability to publics through elected representatives. Leaders outside of government (such as in businesses, communities, civil society) have a role to play, but are not the direct target of this report.

‘Mechanisms’ are regular and recognisable patterns that explain or respond to events. They can be triggered by certain actions (for example, by the actions of leaders). In governance they help guide decisions, even when the exact outcomes, pathways and conditions are unclear. (119)

‘Net zero’ describes a legally binding target to reduce net carbon emissions by 100 per cent compared to 1990 levels by 2050 at the latest, with equivalent or earlier targets set by the four UK nations, most local authorities, cities and swathes of organisations and institutions, representing significant chunks of the economy.

‘Publics’ refers to the plurality of groups of people, including citizens, with varying levels of interest, involvement in and capacity to act on an issue, emphasising that there is no singular public.

‘Transformation’ refers to climate change mitigation that is sufficiently broad, deep and rapid to contribute to fulfilling the goals of the Paris Agreement and which involves a fundamental shift in the trajectory of societal change away from patterns of development that normalise high-carbon ways of living. (120)

There is a spectrum of possible pathways, where sectors, places and people will experience varying degrees of disruption (such as industrial transitions) and benefits (such as warmer homes), depending on their readiness for and vulnerability to the changes and climate impacts.