Over the past few years, local authorities across the UK have invested in net zero planning. Through Local Area Energy Plans (LAEPs), Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategies (LHEES), climate strategies, emissions pathways and local energy studies, councils have built a far clearer understanding of what the transition to net zero will require in their areas.
That work has been valuable. It has helped councils articulate the scale of the challenge, convene stakeholders and identify local opportunities for decarbonisation. But it has also exposed a recurring problem: plans do not automatically turn into projects.
Our latest report for the Innovate UK Net Zero Living programme, The Best Laid Plans, explores how the emerging Regional Energy Strategic Plan framework could help address this challenge by shifting the focus of local net zero planning away from repeated scenario modelling and towards delivery.
The report draws on engagement with more than 50 local authorities, alongside discussions with NESO, DNOs, government bodies and wider energy-system stakeholders through the Net Zero Living Programme.
One of the clearest findings from the research is that local net zero planning has achieved a great deal. Authorities we spoke with consistently told us that planning processes have:
Clarified the scale and pace of change required for net zero
Helped communicate the economic and social opportunities of decarbonisation
Provided a shared evidence base for collaboration with local people, businesses and energy networks
Embedded climate and energy issues more firmly within local government decision making.
In many cases, simply having a formal process for examining the future energy system has been transformative for councils. It has helped energy and climate move from peripheral concerns to strategic priorities.
Councils struggle to move from plans to delivery
Across the NetZero Living Programme, local authorities repeatedly highlighted that many plans become highly detailed analytical exercises without establishing clear routes to implementation. Our report identifies four persistent challenges that limit local delivery following a net zero plan:
Common challenges in net zero planning sit across four themes.
Months can be spent developing 'optimal' pathways which ultimately confirm conclusions already broadly understood by councils and practitioners, while questions around governance, finance, procurement and delivery capacity remain unresolved.
At the same time, local authorities are often operating within wider uncertainty around funding, responsibilities and institutional reform.
RESP could provide the ‘what’ so that councils can focus on ‘how’
Our 2023 report, “Planning for decarbonisation at a local level” argued that a high-level decarbonisation plan is sufficient to start delivery discussions, with iteration emerging naturally as detail emerges from the process of defining opportunities and actions.
This is where Regional Energy Strategic Plans have the potential to change the conversation. RESPs could provide a shared, standardised starting point for local energy planning, linking local ambitions with regional and national infrastructure investment. Rather than every local authority independently recreating whole-system scenarios from first principles, RESP pathways could provide a common evidence base which councils can build upon.
That does not mean local analysis disappears – quite the opposite. Instead, the role of the local authority changes from commissioning scenarios to stress testing them and developing delivery pathways. A pragmatic approach, as set out in our report, is to focus local efforts on the areas where they have most influence, while considering enabling actions that will help other local stakeholders develop plans. Local authorities can add most value through:
Understanding the delivery opportunities and barriers of pathways
Identifying investible projects
Identifying areas which may fall behind without targeted support
Engaging communities and stakeholders
Embedding energy planning into wider council functions
Building governance and financing structures.
In short, RESP pathways may increasingly provide the ‘what’, allowing local areas to concentrate on the ‘how’.
How will RESP make the difference?
The RESP provides opportunities to improve outcomes against the four challenges.
1. Refocusing local planning on delivery
Local authorities consistently told us that too much time is spent developing bespoke 'optimal' pathways, while questions around governance, finance and delivery remain unresolved. RESP could help shift that balance by providing a shared evidence base and regional pathways. Rather than recreating whole-system scenarios from first principles, councils could focus more directly on identifying investible projects, delivery barriers and local opportunities.
2. Aligning local ambition with national infrastructure planning
Energy systems do not operate within council boundaries, yet local plans are often developed in isolation from wider infrastructure planning. RESP is intended to address this by formally linking local ambition with regional and national energy-system planning. The early tRESP process already suggests a more pragmatic approach, with NESO focusing on identifying high-certainty strategic investment needs in local areas, rather than collating competing pathway datasets.
3. Breaking down silos through shared evidence
Energy and climate plans often sit apart from planning, housing and transport functions, while network planning processes run separately again. RESP could help reduce this fragmentation through shared datasets, common assumptions and stronger regional coordination. Implemented well, this could help embed energy planning more deeply across local authorities and partner organisations.
For more information on how energy plans can be integrated with statutory functions, read our paper Join the Dots.
4. Making constrained local resources go further
Local net zero planning is resource intensive, and councils repeatedly highlighted the cost and complexity of maintaining bespoke modelling exercises with uncertain delivery outcomes. RESP offers an opportunity to reduce duplication through standardised datasets and assumptions. Councils needs to see an ROI to continue to develop plans, and this approach could allow local analysis to focus less on recreating pathways and more on delivery, project development and local barriers.
Table Contents
At a glance
Key recommendations
Develop a more integrated methodology between local and regional planning
Use RESP pathways and related datasets as the common analytical starting point
Apply delivery-focused approaches such as Enable–Embed–Enact
Prioritise transparency, usability and communication within RESP processes.
A shift towards delivery-focused net zero planning
Ultimately, The Best Laid Plans argues that local net zero planning is entering a new phase.
The next generation of planning will still require strong local agency, engagement and ambition, but as RESP develops, there is an opportunity to reduce duplication, improve consistency and focus constrained local resources on delivery.
RESP will not solve every challenge facing local net zero delivery. Questions around governance, funding, capacity and institutional roles remain significant. However, it does have significant potential, if implemented well, to create a planning system that is more coordinated, more proportionate and more focused on getting projects built.
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