Accelerating the pace, scale and financing of local net zero action
Venue: Guildhall, City of London
Date: Wednesday 29th January 2025
Who should attend: the target audience for the Net Zero Finance Leadership Summit are key-decision makers and leaders across the two-tier local government and local authorities falling outside of large cities and mayoral devolved areas.
The content is designed exclusively for:
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Chief Executives
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Directors
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Heads of Service (Net Zero, Climate)
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S.151 Officers
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Members
Leadership Summit.
The Net Zero Finance Leadership Summit will take place on Wednesday 29th January 2025 at the Guildhall, London. It targets key-decision makers and leaders from across the two-tier local government structure in England (county councils, district and borough councils) and local authorities falling outside of large cities and mayoral devolved areas, building knowledge
and putting forward solutions around how they can accelerate the pace, scale and financing of local net zero action.
Achieving the UK’s 2050 net zero emissions targets will require local authorities to implement new approaches to place-based decarbonisation, covering emissions within both their direct and indirect control and those that they can exert influence over - this equates to approximately 82% of the UK's total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (UK Government's Net Zero Strategy).
According to the Innovate UK and Green Finance Institution report, 'Mobilising Local Net Zero Investments', an investment of £1.4 trillion is required to reach net zero by 2050. Public finances alone cannot fund this transition – there is a need to mobilise institutional capital at scale. The report noted: ‘the level of resources, technical know-how, and financial expertise required to structure complex projects involving multiple public and private stakeholders presents a particular challenge to most local authorities’.
The report also highlighted that up to 75% of the total investment required would need to come from the private sector. Local authorities need to rethink how large-scale decarbonisation programmes can be delivered and develop new commercial models that help structure bankable projects that will attract investors. The Leadership Summit explores how this can be achieved, bringing together industry experts from both the public and private sectors,
The Leadership Summit brings together experts from both the public and private sectors to explore how we can overcome current challenges and identify the correct market solutions and commercial models for local authorities that will help to accelerate the pace, scale and financing of local net zero action.
Part of Innovate UK's Net Zero Living Programme
‘Shift to Net Zero’ is part of Innovate UK's Pathfinder Places portfolio of projects and is being delivered in partnership by ep group, Ibex Earth and Surrey County Council. The project is tasked with delivering a capacity building and knowledge exchange platform for local authorities operating within the two-tier local government structure in England.
It aims to build a greater understanding about the resources, non-technical know-how and financial expertise that is required to accelerate the pace, scale and financing of local net zero action and structure complex bankable net zero projects that will attract private investors.
It builds on previous feasibility work funded by Innovate UK and the Greater South East Net Zero Hub to develop a Net Zero Delivery Vehicle (NZDV) that would support local authorities outside of large cities and mayoral devolved areas to deliver their net zero investment programmes. The work identified in excess of £46bn worth of local net zero projects across Surrey, Essex, Kent and Brighton.
