The City of Wolverhampton Council declared a climate emergency in 2019, setting the ambitious target for becoming a net zero city by 2041. To achieve this aim, the Council commissioned City Science to develop a Net Zero Strategy & Action Plan to provide a clear framework for achieving net zero and to support an equitable future.
City Science Response
Evidence Base: To ensure the Net Zero Strategy and Action Plan reflected Wolverhampton’s local needs and context, we first identified the city’s current carbon emissions and explored the local opportunities and challenges. We produced a detailed and comprehensive Baseline Report which consisted of:
- Policy Review: A detailed review of over 35 policies, strategies and documents to ensure the Strategy aligned with the latest policy landscape.
- Impacts of Do Nothing: A high-level analysis of the localised impact of various climate change impacts (e.g health, flooding, heatwaves, economics) on Wolverhampton across three different warming scenarios (e.g. 1.5oc, 2oC and 3-4oC+).
- Local Context: Using Cadence 360 and publicly available datasets to map and explore various socio-demographic characteristics to ensure we understood the local context. For instance, we identified that almost 50% of households reside in private rented or social housing and noted a correlation between low Energy Performance Certificate ratings and deprivation. Such insights informed development of the action plan to ensure the net zero approach is inclusive.
- District-Wide Carbon Baseline: An up-to-date picture on current carbon emissions which supported identifying Wolverhampton’s largest emitting sectors and highlighted where interventions should be targeted to maximise impact.
Net Zero Pathway: Informed by the baseline, we modelled and analysed several potential pathways to determine a 2041 Net Zero Pathway (see below). The Pathway focuses on the four largest emitting sectors —Transport, Domestic, Industrial, and Commercial (including the Public Sector). Additionally, a ‘Do Nothing’ scenario was included to represent a future where no further actions are taken beyond meeting national targets.
Carbon Budgets & Roadmap: To enable delivery of the Net Zero Pathway, we developed five-yearly carbon budgets for each sector to act as useful tool to set goals, continually monitor progress and assess risk. Additionally, we produced a high-level Roadmap, deconstructing the net zero target into clear and tangible immediate goals.
Action Plan: The Action Plan was developed in close collaboration with stakeholders and informed by the net zero pathway modelling and Roadmap. Co-producing the actions in partnership with key stakeholders ensured that the final set of actions built on local expertise and knowledge, whilst securing buy-in. Our extensive engagement programme includeda mix of 1-1’s, workshops, focus groups and consultations. This was supported by a gap analysis process to ensure the actions met Route Map ambitions. Actions were also appraised using factors such as cost, carbon impact and co-benefits to support prioritisation.
Finance Investment & Implementation Plan (FIP): Alongside costing the 20 actions, we also worked with finance leads to developa detailed FIP that outlined the key funding opportunities relevant to the emitting sectors. Financing net zero is often a critical barrier to delivery, through this process we brought together net zero and finance teams to raise awareness. This included engagement with Finance Directors to understand their appetite and to inform the development of the FIP.
Outcome
Each project stage was consolidated into an accessible and engaging Final Strategy Report. The Strategy outlined a costed decarbonisation Action Plan, consisting of 20 evidenced high-level businesses cases across seven key themes, and a visual net zero roadmap. To support dissemination of the results, we also produced a high-level summary Highlights Report. The Strategy is currently out for public consultation.