Corporate report

Net zero business models for a just transition

Report from a study to assess net zero business models and determine how they can be better aligned with the just transition.

• From: Innovate UK
• Published: 14 January 2022

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Net zero business models for a just transition

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Details

The UK has made a legally binding agreement to become net zero by 2050, and the transition to net zero must embed just transition principles to ensure no one is left behind.

Local place-based and community-led climate action will not only contribute to achievement of the UK’s net zero targets but also empower communities.

It will make them an active part of the transition and bring economic and social opportunities. This is especially important for communities that are currently marginalised.

The project environment of this study focuses on the place-based urban community development strand of the just transition. A place- and people-based approach underlines community development as a process where people come together to act on what is important to them.

The development of local industrial and business strategies provides a mechanism for connecting climate change with bottom-up ambitions and priorities to generate inclusive growth and community development.

Acknowledging the important role that businesses will play in both net zero and the just transition, the purpose of this study is to assess net zero business models and determine how they can be better aligned with the just transition.

This has been done by developing a two-part framework that captures:

• just transition alignment criteria
• criteria that assess a business model’s net zero impact.

Interviews were with:

• business leaders
• charitable and non-profit organisations
• representatives of local authorities.

These findings are used to develop a set of viable and actionable enhancement measures for how net zero business models can be better aligned with a just transition.