Climate recommendations for councils

New report shares climate recommendations for councils

Dr Anna Bullen, Innovation Lab Manager, introduces our new report on how councils can take action together on Climate Emergency declarations, based on learning from the Staffordshire Councils Innovation Lab.

Across the UK, councils have been making Climate Emergency declarations to demonstrate that they acknowledge the urgency of tackling climate change and are committed to taking action. At the time of writing, Climate Emergency UK shows that 336 councils out of 409 have declared a Climate Emergency and 306 of these have an action plan to reach net zero. Despite these commitments, local authorities still need to understand how these targets will be met and put monitoring and evaluation processes in place to measure and report on progress.

In 2021, CAT, in partnership with Keele University, worked with 10 councils across Staffordshire to explore the challenges they face in reaching net zero and cocreate an approach to achieve their climate goals. A Zero Carbon Britain Innovation Lab brought together 32 representatives from the 10 councils for three full days of workshops to explore how they could work together to take climate action. The process helped the participants to better understand the barriers to reaching net zero, create a vision for the county, and set out objectives towards achieving their individual and collective aims.

An Innovation Lab approach was chosen due to its ability to help tackle complex issues or challenges using collaborative problem solving. The process is: • Co-creative – Drawing on a range of perspectives and experiences to inform the process and ultimately co-design solutions that are fit-for-purpose and feasible. • Experimental – Taking an iterative approach, prototyping interventions and amending them until they are right (learning from failure along the way). • Sense-making – Helping participants understand what’s happening and why, let go of preconceived ideas and be open to new approaches. • Design thinking-based – Taking a user-centred approach, based on the experience of those impacted by the problem and those who deliver the solution. • Systemic – Ensuring the ideas developed go beyond dealing with the symptoms to address the root cause of the problem.

The participants used this approach to investigate opportunities in: • Infrastructure • Legislation, stakeholder support and funding • Improving information flows, knowledge and expertise • New rules for systems working and cobenefits • Collaborative working and beliefs and mindsets

By working collaboratively across the county to address the climate and biodiversity emergencies, the councils hoped to save money, work more efficiently, and have a better chance of making progress at the speed and scale needed. This month, we are launching a report that shares the findings and recommendations from the Staffordshire Councils Innovation Lab. The report aims to provide guidance to other councils across the UK in developing their climate action plans and working towards net zero, by helping them understand the areas that need to be addressed to maximise impact and provide examples of actions that can be taken within those areas. These findings and recommendations are the direct output of the participants, who between them covered a broad range of roles (including officers, CEOs and elected members). The recommendations sit within the following five themes: • Governance • Collaboration and impact • Stakeholder engagement • Resourcing • Shared learning and knowledge exchange Through the process, the participants recognised the complexity and enormity INNOVATION LAB PROCESSThe Innovation Lab process. of the challenge that lies ahead and understood that such a challenge cannot be overcome alone. But, by working both with other councils and a range of stakeholders across the county, they are now much more likely to develop and deliver realistic and effective solutions that will enable them to achieve the net zero vision at the speed and scale required. To read the report, visit cat.org.uk/zcbinnovation-lab/ CS

CO-CREATIVE

EXPERIMENTAL

2

Identify the opportunities and challenges in the current system(s) to better understand the barriers to achieving net zero

1

Co-create a common understanding of a net zero future in relation to the issue being addressed

3

Co-design interventions and solutions that will address the challenge at the speed and scale required Develop and trial prototypes, re-visiting and amending if needed

4

SENSE-MAKING

6

Systems change

Grow and scale the solutions, choosing the right growth model and spreading practice

5

SYSTEMIC

DESIGN THINKING

About the author

Anna is CAT’s Zero Carbon Britain Innovation Lab Manager. She is an experienced and qualified facilitator and project manager, with 25 years’ experience in the sustainability sector, and is a firm believer in the use of co-creation methods in order to design effective and meaningful solutions to issues such as climate change. She has a PhD in Sustainable Citizenship.