Public Engagement and the Net Zero Strategy

We won’t get far without giving the public a voice in how the UK decarbonises.

Transitioning to a net zero emissions economy isn’t just a challenge from a technical or economic perspective. It also requires a shift in the way we all live our lives, from how we travel to the way we heat our homes to the types of jobs we do. The Climate Change Committee estimates that 60% of the emissions reductions needed to hit a net zero pathway will require some form of societal or behavioural changes. 

Given the likely impacts on the British public, they need to play a fundamental part in designing how our communities will achieve net zero. Only by listening to all voices, addressing issues of fairness and acknowledging regional nuances in decarbonisation, will the UK design a pathway to net zero that is publicly supported, and by extension, politically acceptable.  

We are already beginning to see the rumblings of a political backlash to the UK’s net zero goal, with voices expressing concern at the potential costs of decarbonising our economy and the impact of cutting emissions on the lowest income households.  

Such discourse doesn’t mean the UK should abandon its net zero ambitions. These have repeatedly been shown to have the potential to provide new, high quality employment opportunities; rural and urban regeneration; better health and biodiversity outcomes; and would avoid the costs of not acting on climate – estimated to be over five times more expensive than getting on track now to achieving net zero emissions in 2050, according to the Bank of England.  

It does, however, highlight the importance of including the public in decision making in net zero and carefully addressing issues around inequality and fairness.  

We already have the tools to involve the public in decision-making.

The UK Climate Assembly last year was a ground-breaking piece of work that kick-started a public conversation on net zero and highlighted the importance of giving the public a voice in climate policymaking. It brought together a representative group of the UK public to discuss the opportunities and trade-offs of a transition to a net zero society, and to recommend the next steps for decarbonisation.  

The Institute for Public Policy and Research (IPPR) has built on this work by running a series of citizens’ juries in different communities around the UK to explore regional opportunities and challenges associated with decarbonisation – such as how to transition away from a workforce mainly employed in high carbon industries. 

Building on this pioneering work, WWF teamed up with cross-party think tank Demos, National Grid, and ScottishPower to ask people across the UK to consider how we should get on track to reach net zero carbon emissions this decade. 

Our Climate Calculator tool allows the UK public to choose their preferred package of solutions for tackling climate change. When making choices, users will be shown the direct impact on jobs, household budgets and other aspects of their lifestyle, and enable people to see how impactful different policies would be in meeting the UK’s 2030 climate targets. It will allow the public to think through policy options and trade-offs in areas that affect their lives, including how we travel, how ambitious we should be on cutting carbon from our homes, whether we should tax those who fly the most and how we should eat differently in the future.  

The results of a survey of Climate Calculator users will show the UK government the policy options required to meet its 2030 climate goals that have the most public support. 

The Net Zero Strategy must be based on publicly supported, ambitious policies that get the UK on track to our climate goals. 

Until now, despite announcing several new climate targets, the UK Government has fallen short on putting in place the policies and funding needed to tackle the climate and nature crises. It is imminently due to publish its Net Zero Strategy, which will set out how the UK will achieve its 2050 net zero emissions goal ahead of hosting COP26.  

Exercises like those described above show that there is strong public support for ambitious action on climate. The UK Climate Assembly and IPPR’s citizens’ juries called for an urgent decarbonisation strategy that is rooted in fairness, freedom of choice and public empowerment, and that tackles in tandem the climate and the nature crises. The Climate Calculator will show public support for specific packages of policies which hit the UK’s 2030 climate goals.  

With this evidence that voters strongly support an ambitious transition to net zero, the Government can afford to be bold in its Net Zero Strategy. And as the host country responsible for the outcomes of COP26, the world’s last and best chance to avoid catastrophic warming, it can’t afford not to be.