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An effective and just industrial transition is necessary both to mitigate climate change and protect jobs, and as a precursor to enable other sectors to decarbonise. Activity is at an early stage and examples of successful sector-wide interventions to decarbonise industry do not yet exist. Governments of industrialised countries are beginning to develop policy and provide funding to support deployment of carbon capture and low-carbon hydrogen infrastructures into high-emitting industrial clusters, but options for sites outside of clusters, denoted here as 'dispersed sites', are also required. This paper takes a mixed methods approach to provide the first analysis of the issues facing dispersed industrial sites on their route to decarbonisation and to suggest solutions to the challenges they face. Using the UK as a case study, it first characterises dispersed sites in terms of location, emissions released, sectors involved, and size of companies affected. It then shows how these features mean that simply expanding the geographical scope of the present UK decarbonisation strategy, which focuses on the provision of carbon capture and low-carbon hydrogen, would face a number of challenges and so will need to be broadened to include a wider range of abatement options and other considerations to meet the needs of dispersed sites. While the solutions for each place will be different, these are likely to include some combination of the expansion of shared infrastructure, the development of local zero-carbon hubs, research into a wider range of novel abatement technologies and facilitating local participation in energy planning. The paper concludes with a discussion of remaining knowledge gaps before outlining how its findings might apply to industrial decarbonisation strategies in other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the impact of the manufacturing of several materials on the British carbon reduction policy. It states about several researches carried by several scientists including Timothy Gutowski, Sahil Sahni and Julian Allwood which reveals that manufacturing of steel, cement and paper, can meet the energy-reduction target as prescribed the British Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. It reports that the panel has suggested 50 percent reduction in emission by 2050.

Hydrogen is an emerging technology changing the context of heating with cleaner combustion than traditional fossil fuels. Studies indicate the potential to repurpose the existing natural gas infrastructure, offering consumers a sustainable, economically viable option in the future. The integration of hydrogen in combined heat and power systems could provide residential energy demand and reduce environmental emissions. However, the widespread adoption of hydrogen will face several challenges, such as carbon dioxide emissions from the current production methods and the need for infrastructure modification for transport and safety. Researchers indicated the viability of hydrogen in decarbonizing heat, while some studies also challenged its long-term role in the future of heating. In this paper, a comprehensive literature review is carried out by identifying the following key aspects, which could impact the conclusion on the overall role of hydrogen in heat decarbonization: (i) a holistic view of the energy system, considering factors such as renewable integration and system balancing; (ii) consumer-oriented approaches often overlook the broader benefits of hydrogen in emission reduction and grid stability; (iii) carbon capture and storage scalability is a key factor for large-scale production of low-emission blue hydrogen; (iv) technological improvements could increase the cost-effectiveness of hydrogen; (v) the role of hydrogen in enhancing resilience, especially during extreme weather conditions, raises the potential of hydrogen as a flexible asset in the energy infrastructure for future energy supply; and finally, when considering the UK as a basis case, (vi) incorporating factors such as the extensive gas network and unique climate conditions, necessitates specific strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In early 2020 a wide range of social and economic restrictions were implemented in most countries in response to the global coronavirus pandemic (Covid-19). This paper uses national electricity generation data to examine the extent to which overall British electricity consumption deviated from 'normal' consumption patterns during the UK's spring lockdown period, and how the combination of consumption reduction and variation in carbon intensity affected greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) associated with electricity consumption. The paper shows that ongoing trends in the reduction of electricity demand and generation carbon intensity mean that lower year-on-year demand and lower emissions would have been expected even in the absence of Covid-19. Controlling for this, the paper estimates lockdowndriven below-trend electricity reductions of up to 20% in the morning peak period, 11% in the daytime and 9% in the evening peak period in April, declining to 6%, 4% and 4%, respectively, by June. These correspond to marked reductions in morning (06:00-08:00 hours) and daytime demand during all restriction periods studied, but relatively smaller reductions in evening demand, and some evidence of a relative increase on Friday and Saturday evenings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper highlights the perspectives of defence workers regarding a Just Transition of their industry, one of the most environmentally harmful sectors in terms of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, pollution and use of non-renewable resources. It is based on (i) interviews with defence sector workers in the United States and the United Kingdom (n58); and (ii) focus groups with key representatives of national and international labour unions, defence companies and relevant NGOs (n18). Some of these defence workers and their trade union representatives envisioned a transformational path towards sustainability, including converting the defence sector to more socially useful production. Drawing on Gramsci, we define these as 'counter-hegemonic views', since they challenge the hegemonic 'growth coalition' and 'treadmill of destruction' paradigms. Such views support and echo more radical interpretations of Just Transition, emphasising the necessity of a structural transformation of society to achieve a fair and effective transition to sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deep geothermal energy can aid in the decarbonization of heat within the UK; this is required to meet net zero carbon emissions targets by 2050. The Cheshire Basin represents a significant opportunity for the development of deep geothermal resources; there are vast quantities of high permeability sandstones in hydraulic continuity, with temperatures favorable for direct heat use and, potentially, for power generation. Newly produced basal temperature maps in this study indicate the likely maximum temperatures for the basin, with the hottest temperature expected to be between 100 and 131.2 °C in the Crewe area. There have also previously been a range of estimates highlighting a geothermal resource within the basin to be in the region of 44.1 to 75 × 1018 J; however, previous estimates for heat in place are limited to simple volumetric or geometrical constraints. Therefore, this paper uses digitized depth and temperature maps to provide new estimates for the heat in place. Results suggest the resource has been underestimated and there is a need for more detailed evaluation. Depending on the geothermal gradient, the resource could be between 91 and 144 × 1018 J (1.26 to 1.45 × 1017 J/km2). Although there is a significant amount of heat in place, geological issues preventing development remain, such as the uncertainty in the quality of the reservoir at depth due to data limitations and the lateral continuity of the Manchester Marls Formation, which could act as a barrier to flow. Nevertheless, further regional assessment of the basin and data acquisition is required to build confidence in the reservoir quality and reduce uncertainty. This could unlock the basin for geothermal development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most challenging sectors to meet "Net Zero emissions" target by 2050 in the UK is the domestic heating sector. This paper provides a comprehensive literature review of the main challenges of heating systems transition to low carbon technologies in which three distinct categories of challenges are discussed. The first challenge is of decarbonizing heat at the supply side, considering specifically the difficulties in integrating hydrogen as a low-carbon heating substitute to the dominant natural gas. The next challenge is of decarbonizing heat at the demand side, and research into the difficulties of retrofitting the existing UK housing stock, of digitalizing heating energy systems, as well as ensuring both retrofits and digitalization do not disproportionately affect vulnerable groups in society. The need for demonstrating innovative solutions to these challenges leads to the final focus, which is the challenge of modeling and demonstrating future energy systems heating scenarios. This work concludes with recommendations for the energy research community and policy makers to tackle urgent challenges facing the decarbonization of the UK heating sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored the impact of income inequality, household energy consumption, government expenditure, and investment on carbon dioxide emissions at the household level over the period 1970–2015 in the United Kingdom. The study applied Clemente–Montanes–Reyes unit root test to identify structural break in the time series. Further, the cointegrating relationship of the time series observations was explored by applying the autoregressive distributed lag model (ARDL) (linear) bounds test approach along with the nonlinear ARDL for making fruitful comparisons in the long-run relationship among the variables. The paper used Bayer–Hanck combined cointegration method for robustness test in the cointegrating methods. In addition, the causality analysis was explored using the Toda–Yamato (1995) method of Granger causality. The results confirmed the existence of cointegration among the variables.The estimated NARDL results show that in the long run the negative asymmetric impact of the income inequality is stronger than the positive impact. The paper concludes that there is an urgent need to reduce income inequality in the United Kingdom to improve equitable consumption of energy at the household level. Last the causality test shows that there exists unidirectional causality from inequality transmission to carbon emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is a truism that whole energy system models underpin the development of policies for energy system decarbonisation. However, recent reviews have thrown doubt on the appropriateness of such models for addressing the multiple goals for future energy systems, in the face of emergent real-world complexity and the evolution of stakeholder's priorities. Without an understanding of the changing priorities of policy makers and expectations of stakeholders for future systems, system objectives and constraints are likely to be ill-defined, and there is a risk that models may be inadvertently instrumentalised. Adopting a system architecture perspective, the authors have undertaken a three-year programme of research to explore strategies for decarbonising heat in the UK, with interaction with and elicitation of needs from stakeholders at its heart. This paper presents the procedure, methods, and results of an exercise in which experts from stakeholder organisations across the energy system were interviewed. Analysis of interview data reveals two broad approaches to heat decarbonisation which can be defined as either adaptive or transformative. Specific insights gained from these interviews enabled our modelling teams to refocus their work for exploration with a wider circle of stakeholders. Results suggests that this iterative approach to formalising model-policy interaction could improve the transparency and legitimacy of modelling and enhance its impact on policy making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- This research aims to examine the main findings of the SusTEACH study of the carbon-based environmental impacts of 30 higher education (HE) courses in 15 UK institutions, based on an analysis of the likely energy consumption and carbon emissions of a range of face-to-face, distance, online and information and communication technology (ICT)-enhanced blended teaching models. Design/methodology/approach -- An environmental assessment of 19 campus-based and 11 distance-based HE courses was conducted using questionnaire surveys to gather data from students and lecturers on course-related travel: the purchase and use of ICTs and paper materials, residential energy consumption and campus site operations. Results were converted into average energy and CO[sub 2] emissions, normalised per student per 100 study hours, and then classified by the primary teaching model used by lecturers. Findings -- The main sources of HE course carbon emissions were travel, residential energy consumption and campus site operations. Distance-based HE models (distance, online and ICT-enhanced teaching models) reduced energy consumption by 88 per cent and achieved significant carbon reductions of 83 per cent when compared with campus-based HE models (face-to-face and ICT-enhanced teaching models). The online teaching model achieved the lowest energy consumption and carbon emissions, although there were potential rebound effects associated with increased ICT-related energy consumption and paper used for printing. Practical implications -- New pedagogical designs using online and distance-based teaching methods can achieve carbon reductions by reducing student travel via residential and campus accommodation. Originality/value -- Few studies have examined the environmental performance of HE teaching models. A new classification of HE traditional, online and blended teaching models is used to examine the role of ICTs and the likely carbon impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this moment of ecological crisis, the consequences of crisis are unevenly distributed, with those with the least power impacted the most. The fashion industry's growth, spurred in the past decades by fast fashion and a reliance on growth of petroleum-based fibers, is a contributor to this uneven distribution of ecological consequences. This paper explores fashion and ecology as interconnected transnational systems. It does this with reference to two contexts: the UK and the Gulf state of Bahrain. By exploring positions on environmentalism in the UK and Bahrain, questions around fibers, clothing care and waste, this paper underscores the political urgency and the relational effects of change that span nation states within the fashion sector. Decarbonizing the fashion system requires both localized action and methodologies in addition to political will to work between and across such themes. Transnational perspectives are central to cumulative whole-systems effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a drive to achieve net zero emissions, U.K. transport decarbonisation policies are predominantly focussed on measures to promote the uptake and use of electric vehicles (EVs). This is reflected in the COP26 Transport Declaration signed by 38 national governments, alongside city region governments, vehicle manufacturers and investors. However, emerging evidence suggests that EVs present multiple challenges for air quality, mobility and health, including risks from non-exhaust emissions (NEEs) and increasing reliance on vehicles for short trips. Understanding the interconnected links between electric mobility, human health and the environment, including synergies and trade-offs, requires a whole systems approach to transport policymaking. In the present paper, we describe the use of Participatory Systems Mapping (PSM) in which a diverse group of stakeholders collaboratively constructed a causal model of the U.K. surface transport system through a series of interactive online workshops. We present the map and its analysis, with our findings illustrating how unintended consequences of EV-focussed transport policies may have an impact on air quality, human health and important social functions of the transport system. We conclude by considering how online participatory causal modelling techniques could be effectively integrated with empirical metrics to facilitate effective policy design and appraisal in the transport sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on climate justice principles developed in the context of international negotiationsbetweennational governments to assess the distribution of carbon reduction roles between different actors involved in residential energy usewithinthe UK. In so doing, it aims to provide a new understanding of equity aspects of current residential policy and to highlight opportunities for more effective and equitable policy. The paper uses three criteria: rights and corresponding duties; mitigation responsibilities and capabilities. It applies them systematically to assess the roles of five key actors involved in residential energy use in the UK. The assessment finds a suboptimal distribution of actors’ duties, responsibilities and capabilities and roles and discusses whether and how a more effective and fair allocation of outcomes, in terms of carbon reduction and fuel poverty, could be achieved. In particular, it raises questions about whether the right actors are being legally obliged or incentivised to deliver energy efficiency improvements, and suggests that particular actors – local authorities and community groups – are under-used and require greater government support with capability. The paper represents the first use of international climate justice frameworks to investigate residential energy policywithina country. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The design of energy and climate policy is usually seen as an 'expert' domain, relying on technical tools such as economic analysis. However, policy requires the support of politicians and citizens alike, through the democratic process. Many policies, such as reducing carbon emissions from homes and transport, also affect people's lives directly. It is thus necessary to supplement technical analysis with methods that allow an exploration of people's views, values and behaviours. One such method is codesign, whereby groups of citizens work with policy analysts to develop strategies informed by the lived experience of citizens, as well as the specialist knowledge of analysts. There is a history of co-design approaches in public services such as healthcare, but there have been few attempts to co-design public policy measures. This paper reports on a Citizens' Panel, a representative group of people working with specialists to create co-designed policy recommendations for reducing carbon emissions from homes. The process revealed that policy co-design can provide detailed, viable proposals. In this case, panellists emphasised the necessity of leadership and support from government; tailored, consistent information; targeted regulation; and financial incentives. Finally, the wider potential role for policy co-design for energy and climate is addressed. • Co-design processes are widely used but rarely applied to the design of energy and climate policy. • Co-design processes can embed citizen perspectives in policy design. • The paper reports on an experimental panel on home energy decarbonisation. • Co-design can ensure that policies are effective and will gain support of politicians and publics. • Changes to cultures of policymaking are needed to embed such approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scale of the decarbonisation challenge and the short timeframes over which action is required demand urgent action. This paper is set within the surface transport sector, now the largest sector of emissions with the slowest pace of change in many advanced liberal economies. It focuses on the strategies and actions of local government which is recognised to be a central player in catalysing change. Our evidence is derived from the actions of two UK local areas which claim to be at the forefront of the decarbonisation challenge. The paper focuses on the role of funding and financial mechanisms in addressing the climate crisis. In the face of an established pattern of austerity and hollowing out of local government we explore how deep transformation is being envisaged. We find a recursive set of issues which derive from a dependence on funding from outwith. This dependence means that despite comprehensive overarching strategies and goals the funding available is the core of the strategy. This means that the nature of the funds, such as the requirement for experimentation, innovation or private sector leverage, defines direction. In turn, and to maintain success in attracting funds, there is an emphasis on presenting 'premium spaces of ambition' with little evidence of attention to broader systemic change. This duality is openly recognised. This paper advances a wider point that greater emphasis should be placed on the 'financialisation' of climate policy and the reality rather than the rhetoric of change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The need to accelerate the decarbonization of heating, as well as the rise of the 'smart home', mean that there is an increasing focus on the role of innovative consumer offerings in driving the shift to zero carbon domestic heating. In this context, Heat as a Service (HaaS) business models, which provide consumers with an agreed heating plan rather than simply paying for units of fuel, are receiving increased attention. This paper explores HaaS based on insights from facilitated group discussions with key stakeholders, and learning from HaaS trials, in the United Kingdom. Results identified evidence needs and research gaps related to: addressing issues of trust between consumers and suppliers, supportive policies, financing business models, and openness and interoperability of technology and data. Based on the findings, we propose policy and research recommendations to better understand the role of HaaS business models in decarbonization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Branching points: key decision-points forming and maintaining sociotechnical pathways. • Applied to UK heat decarbonisation shows structural challenges faced by policy actors. • Recommend UK heat policy approaches decarbonisation decisions as coordinated pathways. • Branching point analysis can be a tool to support policy decisions for transition. This paper develops the use of the branching point concept as a tool to support key decisions for reorienting systems for sustainability. In this approach, a pathway is seen as arising from accumulation of many specific decisions which create momentum in a particular direction and so reinforce the irreversibility of the pathway. Three complementary approaches to branching point analysis are identified within the transitions literature: 1) in pathway-scenarios for sustainability, 2) framing key decision-points in historical analysis, 3) to deconstruct the politics of transition pathways. A case study of UK heat decarbonisation is used to apply the branching point concept. This analysis highlights the tension where a policy approach, framed by a sector-wide target, interacts with distinct socio-technical responses and an alternative policy approach to decision-points is proposed. This paper demonstrates the potential to develop branching point analysis into a tool to support and help structure policy decisions for transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Student residence halls occupy 26% of the total area of a typical university campus in the UK and are directly responsible for 24% of university’s annual CO2emissions. Based on five years measured data, this paper aims to investigate the energy-related environmental and economic performance of electrically heated residence halls in which space heating is provided by two different types of electric heaters, that is, panel heater (PHT) and storage heater (SHT). Secondly, using statistical and machine learning methods, the paper attempts to investigate the relationship between daily electricity consumption and five factors (ambient temperature, solar radiation, relative humidity, wind speed and type of day). Data analysis revealed that electricity consumption of both halls is mainly driven by ambient temperature only, whereas SHT residence has 39% higher annual electricity bill and emits 70% higher CO2emissions on a per square metre basis compared to the PHT residence hall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organizations are under increasing pressure from governments and stakeholders to reduce carbon emissions from their business operations for climate change mitigation. Universities are not exempt from this challenge and are operating in a complex external environment, not least responding to the UK government's Climate Change Act 2008 (80% carbon reductions by 2050 as per 1990 baseline). In 2012–2013, the UK Higher Education (HE) sector consumed 7.9 billion kWh of energy and produced 2.3 million tonnes of carbon emissions. This indicates the scale of the challenge and carbon management is central to reduce carbon emissions. However, effective processes for implementing and embedding carbon management in organizations in general, and universities in particular, have yet to be realized. This paper explores the critical success factors (CSFs) for embedding carbon management in universities and, more widely, in organizations. This exploratory study adopted a mixed-methods approach including the content analysis of universities' carbon management plans alongside semi-structured interviews in the UK HE sector. The paper identifies six key factors for successfully embedding carbon management that are pertinent not just for the HE sector, but to organizations broadly: senior management leadership; funding and resources; stakeholder engagement; planning; governance and management; and evaluation and reporting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The proliferation of pledges to reach net-zero emissions has revealed a wide range of understandings of what such a pledge entails. The lack of international standards to define decarbonisation pathways and the many kinds of speculative offsets available for net-zero calculations have generated a multiplication of public commitments not tethered to any specific mechanism of accountability. Many have criticised this state of affairs as a governance vacuum allowing extravagant forms of 'greenwashing,' with corporations and countries asserting ostensibly ambitious goals without adopting verifiable instruments for their delivery. This paper addresses the situation from a slightly different perspective, exploring instead how net-zero pledges create new climate publics and counter-publics. Drawing on three case studies (UK national net-zero policy, the Race to Zero campaign, and the Science Based Targets Initiative), and informed by a pragmatist understanding of 'public' and 'public formation,' we examine how the adoption of a formal but ambiguous target leads to a collective consideration of consequences, thus expanding the range of actors engaged in disputes over alternative climate futures. • Imaginations of net zero futures are unavoidably ambiguous and open to interpretation. • Setting net zero targets and delineating their consequences can enable the formation of new publics and counter publics. • This process hinges on the deployment of specific devices to imagine and deliberate on plausible futures. • The paper develops a pragmatist framework for investigating the formation of publics as a political consequence of net zero publics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Many local authorities are preparing climate actions plans. • Policies to increase distributed energy generation such as PV are likely. • As capacities increase, PV can dominate system variability and predictability. • Predictive demand side response (DSR) may be too coarse to address this. • More granular techniques such as using system frequency may be required. Since 2018, over three quarters of UK local governments have signed climate emergency declarations signalling a new phase in local climate action. Many areas are developing climate action plans and considering what policies could be adopted to increase the use of distributed energy resources, such as building-integrated photo-voltaic (PV) generation. In this paper we demonstrate how city-scale backcasting can be used as a tool to go beyond technical feasibility and explore the policy, market and governance implications of decarbonisation pathways across the local and nation scales. Using urban PV as an example we model three scenarios for increasing installed capacity in the UK city of Bristol and demonstrate how, in each case, PV switches from being a minor 'negative load' on the energy system to being the dominant factor determining the volatility and predictability of the energy demand during daylight hours. Current approaches to integrating distributed energy resources into the wider system tend to focus on predictive modelling and half-hourly pricing to drive demand-side response. Our analysis indicates the risks of relying on these non-real time methods and suggests that more granular techniques such as triggering local DSR based on changes in electricity system frequency could better manage the variability of high levels of PV deployment at the local scale. We also demonstrate the importance of developing new local approaches to system integration that bring together network operators, local authorities and other local actors to deploy renewable generation and flexibility assets in coordination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper engages with the progressive politics of climate change and resource constraint developed by the Transition ‘movement’ which looks to develop a positive local politics of the transition to a low carbon economy and society. At the heart of this politics is a vision of economic localisation rooted in a geographical imaginary of market towns with agricultural hinterlands. Consequently, the question of how the Transition model can be applied in urban settings has not been clear, leading to the implicit assumption that urban Transition initiatives are more complex and difficult. In contrast, this paper argues that the plasticity of Transition politics means that, in some cases, an urban context might be more productive for the development of Transition initiatives because it allows for a greater diversity of political action as well as providing a density of networks and resources that can be critical for the survival of grassroots interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In UK policy circles, there is a growing recognition that mediating the interface between policy making and the public through local government led initiatives is one way through which to provide a practicable means to deliver carbon reduction at an individual, household, and community level. Following on from the aims of Local Agenda 21 in creating the space for a more bottom-up policy infrastructure, the 2007 UK Energy White Paper is one of the latest political statements to highlight the way in which reaching UK targets on CO2 emissions will continue to involve a greater local response to climate change. This emphasis was given further weight through the introduction of a new local performance framework in April 2008. This new set of 198 national performance indicators (PIs) for local government and other local bodies are now the only PIs which Central Government will use to assess local government performance. Importantly, they include three PIs that specifically cover the issue of climate change and carbon reduction (CLG 2007a). For many years, local authorities in the UK have played a role in encouraging more community led sustainable development objectives. However, what Giddens (2000) describes as the 'modernization' of local governance, has often proved to be inherently problematic, not least in developing the 'civic engagement' aspect of this model of governance. The article traces these problems in relation to the increasing responsibilities of local government in developing local community led responses to climate change. Although the UK Government continue to highlight the opportunities for this type of political framework in addressing the bottom-up complexities of climate change, we consider why some of the issues raised in three case study examples are indicative of wider problems in expanding this form of governance in the UK. The article concludes that difficulties encountered with regard to the implementation of LA 21's central objectives have extended through to the more recent focus for action in combating the specific challenge of climate change. More broadly, innovation in the sense of fostering an effective level of civic engagement in sustainable development objectives, continues to remain problematic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the UK, there now exist hundreds of low-carbon community groups (LCCGs) that aim to decrease collective resource consumption and/or generate renewable energy through diverse social and environmental interventions. These groups have in recent years become the subject of political attention and funding schemes, underpinned by beliefs that LCCGs are key to fostering resilience to climate change and meeting national-level greenhouse gas emission reduction targets. While previous research into LCCGs has focused on drivers, barriers and outcomes of LCCG action, there is now growing policy and academic interest in groups' capacities for, and uses of, monitoring and evaluation (M&E) processes and tools. However, little is known about the experiences, opportunities and potential challenges for LCCGs undertaking M&E. In response, this paper draws on a Knowledge Exchange project that explored M&E processes and tools with a sample of UK LCCGs. It outlines the benefits and drawbacks of groups' attempts to achieve change and to account for their outcomes and/or impacts, individually, and as part of a wider movement. It argues that, while M&E could be one way for groups to “scale up” their impact without losing their grounding in place and community, issues of capacity, resources and utility remain paramount. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Social housing organisations are increasingly installing renewable energy technologies, particularly for the provision of heating and hot water. To meet carbon reduction targets, uptake and installation must allow occupants to use the technology effectively. This paper describes research which investigated the service of installing heat pumps into UK social housing properties, from both landlords’ and tenants’ experiences. Adopting a user centred design approach, the research was in three phases: an exploration study to investigate landlords’ and tenants’ experiences of heat pump installation and use; refinement and development of the requirements for improved service delivery, primarily technology introduction and control; and the development and initial evaluation of an information leaflet as a key touchpoint in the service delivery. Recommendations for improved service delivery, to enable heat pumps to be accepted and used more effectively, are presented, as well as reflection on the process of applying user centred design in this context. In a relatively immature area of industry, installations to date have been heavily focused on technical aspects. This paper provides an insight into the human aspects of the service delivery of heat pumps in social housing, providing designers and social housing landlords with insight about how to improve the service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the UK, there is mounting evidence that the measured in situ performance of the building fabric in new build dwellings can be greater than that predicted, resulting in a significant building fabric ‘performance gap’. This paper presents the coheating test results from 25 new build dwellings built to Part L1A 2006 or better. Whilst the total number of dwellings reported here is small, the results suggest that a substantial ‘performance gap’ can exist between the predicted and measured performance of the building fabric, with the measured whole building U value being just over 1.6 times greater than that predicted. This is likely to have significant implications in terms of the energy use and CO2 emissions attributable to these dwellings in use.Practical application: This paper describes an aggregate approach (coheating test) that has been applied to a small sample of dwellings to quantify the size of the ‘performance gap’. The results suggest that this ‘gap’ can be large (>100%) and can vary depending upon form and construction type. The results also illustrate the importance of developing a larger, more representative whole dwelling heat loss data set. This could be used by industry to apply a suitable performance factor (note 1) to the nominal performance of new build that accounts for the ‘performance gap’. This factor could be specific to form and main construction type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Utilizes 111 expert interviews and 50 site visits to examine UK industrial decarbonization. • Explores sociotechnical pathways, capabilities, and learning processes. • Harnesses a challenge-oriented regional innovation systems (CoRIS) framework. • Reflects on deeper issues of incumbency, innovation, and incremental vs. transformative change. Few sectors in the global economy need deep decarbonization as much as heavy industry, which is currently the largest and fastest growing source of global carbon emissions. Based on an original dataset of 111 expert interviews and 52 site visits, this paper asks: what sociotechnical pathways, capabilities, and regional innovation systems are emerging to support industrial decarbonization? It combines and applies insights from evolutionary economic geography and transitions studies, such as sociotechnical capabilities and learning, as well as spatial frameworks such as challenge-oriented regional innovation systems (CoRIS) and green industrial restructuring. It utilizes these collective concepts of pathways, capabilities and CoRIS to explore the organizational and technological, individual, and systems level dimensions of industrial decarbonization efforts ongoing across Great Britain. We find that within industrial net-zero clusters, spatial and technological proximities are being effectively leveraged, especially through new forms of networking, collaboration, and partnerships. CoRIS provides the basis for greater reflection on perennial transitions issues, both within and across clusters, related to incumbency and innovation, in addition to spotlighting emergent issues such as light versus deep green restructuring and incremental versus transformative change. In simpler terms, industrial decarbonization unfolds as a multi-scalar process. Industrial decarbonization exhibits both incremental and transformative patterns of change. Industrial decarbonization lastly involves dynamic processes that coevolve across a spectrum of sociotechnical attributes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Delivering low-carbon heat will require the substitution of natural gas with low-carbon alternatives such as electricity and hydrogen. The objective of this paper is to develop a method to soft-link two advanced, investment-optimising energy system models, RTN (Resource-Technology Network) and WeSIM (Whole-electricity System Investment Model), in order to assess cost-efficient heat decarbonisation pathways for the UK while utilising the respective strengths of the two models. The linking procedure included passing on hourly electricity prices from WeSIM as input to RTN, and returning capacities and locations of hydrogen generation and shares of electricity and hydrogen in heat supply from RTN to WeSIM. The outputs demonstrate that soft-linking can improve the quality of the solution, while providing useful insights into the cost-efficient pathways for zero-carbon heating. Quantitative results point to the cost-effectiveness of using a mix of electricity and hydrogen technologies for delivering zero-carbon heat, also demonstrating a high level of interaction between electricity and hydrogen infrastructure in a zero-carbon system. Hydrogen from gas reforming with carbon capture and storage can play a significant role in the medium term, while remaining a cost-efficient option for supplying peak heat demand in the longer term, with the bulk of heat demand being supplied by electric heat pumps. [Display omitted] • A multi-model approach is proposed to link two established energy system models. • Iterating between the two models focused on low-carbon heat and electricity sectors. • Various technologies are considered for electricity and heat decarbonisation. • Contributions of hydrogen and electricity to heat supply are assessed until 2050. • Evolution of the cost-effective portfolio of hydrogen sources is characterised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The highway maintenance sector within the United Kingdom consumes considerable amounts of natural resources and accounts for a large amount of carbon emissions. Carbon emissions reduction is now considered an integral part of tender selection criteria and project performance issue by highway clients. This requires contractors to be able to assess and reduce both direct and indirect emissions associated with highway maintenance. This presents a challenge for the sector as despite the availability of methods to assess carbon there are no routine tools to allow a lifecycle assessment (LCA) approach to carbon reduction as part of ongoing maintenance management. Thus, there is a need for a consistent, project-focused carbon assessment tool, underpinned by a robust LCA methodology that can assess emissions and emissions reduction across core highway maintenance processes. This paper describes the development and business implementation of such a tool based on the Publicly Available Specification (PAS) 2050 protocol. The protocol is an independent standard developed by the British Standards Institution (BSI) in 2008 and updated in 2011 to produce a consistent approach for lifecycle emissions assessment from goods and services. It offers an iterative process, where the scope and objectives of the assessment are defined, relevant data collected for analysis and interpreted within the scope and system boundary defined by the standard. Twelve case studies were undertaken using the tool and the results demonstrated the tool's potential to produce credible emissions information that can be integrated into highway maintenance decision-making processes. The tool identifies areas of emissions hotspots, opportunities for reduction, and then establishes a reduction hierarchy that can allow emissions reduction efforts to be prioritized in lifecycle terms. The study further presents sensitivity analyses with respect to choice of fuel, distance to site, material transport mode and distance, and design life of pavements. Although the implementation of the tool presented in this paper is specific to pavement resurfacing works, the tool can also be used to assess carbon emissions for other core highway maintenance processes, such as road marking, street lighting works and grass cutting, with the potential to evaluate full environmental impacts (e.g., Toxicity, Acidification and Ozone formation) associated with such highway maintenance processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing awareness of the problems posed by anthropogenic climate change in recent decades has led to growing concerns over the level of carbon emissions attributable to travel, transport, and infrastructure development. Although rail is a relatively low-carbon mode, there is also pressure to reduce rail's carbon emissions to help mitigate the extent of climate change. This paper provides a lifecycle analysis study which estimates the effect on carbon emissions of installing under sleeper pads (USPs) during track renewal on two conventional railway lines in the United Kingdom. The aims and scope of the analysis, the lifecycle inventory method, units used, and lifespan of the intervention can all have an important influence on the result. Although the installation of USPs at track renewal could reduce carbon (CO2) emissions, these are very low compared with the associated financial and economic impacts, and some considerable time would be needed to generate these advantages. However, USPs might make rail travel cheaper, and the increased demand could be an important indirect effect on CO2 emissions in the transport system due to the shift from other transport modes. The use of nonrecycled rubber can offset the potential environmental benefits from the reduced requirement for track system interventions (maintenance and renewal needs), so the use of recycled carbon-neutral rubber in USP manufacturing should be incentivized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decade, a growing body of research has examined the role of cities in addressing climate change and the institutional and political challenges which they encounter. For the most part, in these accounts, the infrastructure networks, their material fabric, everyday practices and political economies, have remained unexamined. In this paper, it is argued that this is a critical omission and an approach is developed for understanding how urban responses to climate change both configure and are configured by infrastructure networks. Central to any such analysis is the conception of how and why (urban) infrastructure networks undergo change. Focusing on urban energy networks and on the case of London, the paper argues for an analysis of the ‘urban infrastructure regimes’ and ‘experiments’ through which climate change is governed. It is found that climate change experiments serve as a means through which dominant actors articulate and test new ‘low-carbon’ logics for urban infrastructure development. It is argued that experiments work by establishing new circuits, configuring actors in new sets of relations and through these means realising the potential for addressing climate change in the city. At the same time, experiments become sites of conflict, a means through which new forms of urban circulation can be confined and marginalised, leaving dominant energy regimes (relatively) intact. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In the face of a changing climate, a growing number of construction firms are adopting carbon reduction targets on individual projects and across their portfolios. In the wake of the Paris Agreement, some firms are seeking a means of aligning their targets with sectoral, national and international mitigation commitments. There are numerous ways by which such an alignment can be achieved, each requiring different assumptions. Using data from the UK construction industry, this paper reviews current company commitments and progress in carbon mitigation; analyses the unique challenges in aligning construction targets, and presents a series of possible sectoral decarbonisation trajectories. The results highlight the disparity between current company targets and the range of possible trajectories. It is clear that a cross-industry dialogue is urgently required to establish an appropriate response that delivers both a widely-accepted target trajectory and a plan for its delivery. This paper is intended to stimulate and support this necessary debate by illustrating the impact of different methodological assumptions and highlighting the critical features of an appropriate response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A network of three tall tower measurement stations was set up in 2012 across the United Kingdom to expand measurements made at the long-term background northern hemispheric site, Mace Head, Ireland. Reliable and precise in situ greenhouse gas (GHG) analysis systems were developed and deployed at three sites in the UK with automated instrumentation measuring a suite of GHGs. The UK Deriving Emissions linked to Climate Change (UK DECC) network uses tall (165-230m) open-lattice telecommunications towers, which provide a convenient platform for boundary layer trace gas sampling. In this paper we describe the automated measurement system and first results from the UK DECC network for CO2, CH4, N2O, SF6, CO and H2. CO2 and CH4 are measured at all of the UK DECC sites by cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS) with multiple inlet heights at two of the three tall tower sites to assess for boundary layer stratification. The short-term precisions (1s on 1 min means) of CRDS measurements at background mole fractions for January 2012 to September 2015 is < 0.05 µmol mol-1 for CO2 and < 0.3 nmol mol-1 for CH4. Repeatability of standard injections (1s) is < 0.03 µmol mol-1 for CO2 and <0.3nmolmol-1 for CH4 for the same time period. N2O and SF6 are measured at three of the sites, and CO and H2 measurements are made at two of the sites, from a single inlet height using gas chromatography (GC) with an electron capture detector (ECD), flame ionisation detector (FID) or reduction gas analyser (RGA). Repeatability of individual injections (1s) on GC and RGA instruments between January 2012 and September 2015 for CH4, N2O, SF6, CO and H2 measurements were < 2.8 nmol mol-1, < 0.4 nmol mol-1, < 0.07 pmol mol-1, < 2 nmol mol-1 and < 3 nmol mol-1, respectively. Instrumentation in the network is fully automated and includes sensors for measuring a variety of instrumental parameters such as flow, pressures, and sampling temperatures. Automated alerts are generated and emailed to site operators when instrumental parameters are not within defined set ranges. Automated instrument shutdowns occur for critical errors such as carrier gas flow rate deviations. Results from the network give good spatial and temporal coverage of atmospheric mixing ratios within the UK since early 2012. Results also show that all measured GHGs are increasing in mole fraction over the selected reporting period and, except for SF6, exhibit a seasonal trend. CO2 and CH4 also show strong diurnal cycles, with night-time maxima and daytime minima in mole fractions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a growing consensus that the distribution system operator (DSO) role is changing, given the implications of net zero. The transition process requires additional roles for the DSO in facilitating the new technologies and business models that will contribute to decarbonization. Although discussions on the active DSO abound, a working definition is still missing. This paper proposes a working definition and a methodology for measuring the extent to which a DSO is active. The methodology will be applied to electricity and natural gas DSOs in the UK, and the challenges will be presented and analyzed. • The roles of Distribution System Operators (DSOs) due to increasing penetration of variable renewable sources, additional electrification of consumption, gas decarbonization, decentralization, and energy storage. • The active DSO facilitates new processes, technologies and business models required for system decarbonization. • Measuring the extent to which the DSO is active will enable policymakers and regulators to evaluate the current and future role of DSOs. • The dimensions for measuring the active DSO are transport, heating, flexibility and Distributed Energy Resources (DER) integration, adaptive indicative planning, and innovation. • Based on limited data, the United Kingdom electricity DSOs are most active on flexibility and DER integration , while gas DSOs are most active on the decarbonization of heating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the transport sector remains the only sector in the United Kingdom (UK) in which emissions continue to rise, electric vehicles (EVs) have become an increasingly prominent political subject. This article finds that far from simply a low carbon transition, the EV transition in the UK is a means to address the attendant frailties of its economic model. Drawing upon an original empirical dataset of 33 interviews alongside a document analysis, I show that decarbonising the UK automobile sector is tied to a process of industrial and economic modernisation. These findings reveal the contested features of the transition, as the desire to capitalise on broader shifts in the global automobile market is brought into opposition with Britain's financialised political economy. Finally, it shows that the modernisation tenet of Ecological Modernisation, which has come to be routinely neglected in the literature, should be revisited in the context of Brexit, COVID-19 and economic crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Power consumption by the UK water industry has increased as a result of the introduction of new quality standards; the annual (2008/2009) carbon dioxide output was reported at 5·1 Mt. Biogenic output of carbon dioxide for the sector was calculated to be about 2 Mt. The strategies available to the water industry for reducing carbon footprint are increased use of renewable energy, principally anaerobic digestion, using less power and methods for reducing carbon dioxide emissions. This paper reports on work sponsored by UK Water Industry Research to examine methods for capturing and utilising carbon dioxide from wastewater treatment. The review has concluded that bioconversion and biofixation using algae and hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis are the most promising methods for utilising carbon dioxide. These technologies would readily integrate into existing industry flow sheets and both increase biogas production and reduce carbon dioxide emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Making a low carbon economic future for the UK has been declared a key priority by both the previous Labour government and also the current coalition government. Yet there is a large gap between the symbolic representations of a low carbon future and their material manifestations in low carbon technologies and infrastructure in particular places. This paper addresses this gap through focusing on the organisation of urban low carbon transition activity. There is often significant capacity to act in reconfiguring urban energy systems that remains latent due to a missing organisational context for its co-ordination according to a mutually defined rationale or vision. This paper develops a conceptual framework to demonstrate and understand different modes of urban energy intermediation. Examples are used of intermediary organisation in London and Manchester to understand the strengths and partiality of each mode of intermediation and the necessity to integrate these different aspects of urban intermediary governance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose – The continuing growth of digital technology has been accompanied by an explosion in digital data generation. These data are processed, stored, managed and exchanged in data centres but there is limited general awareness appreciation of the role such centres play as the driving hub of the economy. With this in mind, the purpose of this paper is to provide a simple review of the data centre property market and the changing geography of such centres and to review a number of the environmental and planning issues associated with the development of new data centres. Design/methodology/approach – The paper begins with a description of the characteristics and origins of data centres, outlines the data centre property market and the changing geography of new purpose built data centres within the UK and discusses a range of the environmental and planning issues associated with the development of such centres. Findings – The paper reveals that four different types of data centre can be recognised, that relationship between supply and demand within the data centre property market is a contested issue and that the geography of new data centre development is changing. Data centre developers are increasingly looking for designs that increase energy efficiency and reduce carbon dioxide and the planning issues associated with such developments include classifying the use class, environmental and design considerations and employment generation. Research limitations/implications – The paper provides an accessible review of the development of data centres in the UK and as such it will be of interest to those working in, engaging with, and studying the data centre market. Originality/value – The paper provides an accessible review of the development of data centres in the UK and as such it will be of interest to those working in, engaging with, and studying data centres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marginal abatement cost (MAC) curves are a useful policy tool to communicate findings on the technological structure and the economics of CO emissions reduction. However, existing ways of generating MAC curves do not display consistent technological detail and do not consider system-wide interactions and uncertainty in a structured manner. This paper details a new approach to overcome the present shortcomings by using an energy system model, UK MARKAL, in combination with index decomposition analysis. In addition, this approach allows different forms of uncertainty analysis to be used in order to test the robustness of the MAC curve. For illustration purposes, a sensitivity analysis concerning fossil fuel prices is applied to the transport sector of the UK. The resulting MAC curves are found to be relatively robust to different fuel costs at higher CO tax levels. The new systems-based approach improves MAC curves through the avoidance of an inconsistent emissions baseline, the incorporation of system-wide interactions and the price responsiveness of demand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ambitiously, the UK aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent by 2050. Since the use of housing accounts for about 27 per cent of UK CO2, and most new-build adds to the number of homes rather than substituting for them, housing's biggest contribution to better energy use and lower carbon emissions in the UK will come from retrofitting the country's existing stock. Moreover retrofitting particularly matters to registered providers of social housing, who seek guidance about the energy efficiency of their properties. This paper argues that an exclusive focus on just one of the technical, economic or social aspects of retrofit is inadequate. Using both theory and case-based experience, it discusses a number of ways, both technical and qualitative, of best measuring what retrofitting can do. It concludes that an integrated, comprehensive understanding of the retrofit process is essential to the making of informed decisions on the energy efficiency of homes, particularly at the scales required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gloucestershire County Council (GCC) in the United Kingdom has recently initiated a project to replace all of its halogen lamps in traffic lights with low energy Light Emitting Diode (LED) lamp heads across the County. In order to assess energy savings and carbon reductions from the initiative before implementation, baseline energy monitoring was carried out at 45 sample sites using a power analyzer equipped with a data logger. A regression model to predict annual energy consumption was developed with the numbers of each type of lamp head for each junction as independent variables. The model parameters were then used to estimate baseline emissions for a single trial site where LEDs have been installed and for which energy monitoring was carried out. The estimated baseline energy consumption for this site and the monitored energy consumption after the LEDs have been installed were used to estimate the actual energy savings that can be expected from GCC's initiative. Annual energy savings from this analysis were estimated to range from 64.2 to 74.1 percent (95% Confidence Intervals). The cost savings resulting from the LED initiative were found to payback the investment over a period of about six years. This paper presents a low cost approach and method by which the energy and cost savings of a large scale replacement initiative can be estimated with a single pilot replacement installation of a traffic signal. Such an exercise would be useful for local governments to carry out before making large investment decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a research paper which examines the progress of international policy support and direction for sustainable refurbishment in Great Britain. It reviews national and international policy documents and related professional commentary. It notes that the international targets for carbon dioxide reduction and energy efficiency in the built environment are concentrated on new-build schemes.

The transport sector is consistently responsible for around 30 per cent of carbon dioxide emissions in developed countries and is one of few sectors where emissions continue to increase as a result of apparently insatiable demand for road and air travel. This paper examines how the formulation of transport policy fits into the exposition of UK climate policy, focusing on three principal areas of tension: policy priority (congestion and carbon reduction); strategies to reduce emissions (technological and behavioural solutions) and timescale (short- and long-term vision). We suggest that in overcoming such tensions government ministers will need to devolve significant policy formulation and implementation powers to an appropriate scale of governance – in this case the city-region – to fashion a ‘convergence space’ capable of promoting meaningful action with regard to transport's climate impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In light of the global energy and climate crises, integration of low-carbon technologies into energy systems is being considered to mitigate the high energy costs and carbon footprint. The wide range of available capacities, efficiencies, and investment costs of these technologies and their different possible operating schedules can unlock several pathways towards decarbonisation. This paper presents an optimisation framework for a public healthcare facility to determine the optimal operation schedule of the site's energy system. A detailed techno-economic analysis of low-carbon power generation, conversion, and energy storage technologies that can be incorporated into the system based on real historical data was carried out for different scenarios. The results reveal that a heat pump with a capacity of 1800 kW can replace gas boilers on-site to meet the heat demand while recovering the investment in 5 years and providing an operating and carbon cost saving of 22.47% compared to the base case. The analysis shows that a more electrified mode of operation is favoured during high gas prices, thus making electrical energy storage more attractive than thermal energy storage. While handling real data, the optimisation algorithm was sensitised to discriminate conventional energy supplies from clean energy sources by considering their carbon impact so that it minimises energy bills in a smart and eco-friendly way. The optimisation algorithm and the subsequent techno-economic analysis provide a comprehensive framework to decision-makers for facilitating energy investment decisions. The framework can be used based on the short and long term goals of the energy system, visualising the evolution of financial benefits over equipment lifetime, and understanding the environmental impacts of integrating renewable energy. • Heat pumps are the most favourable decarbonisation technology for the hospital. • The moderate variations in energy demand limit the scope of energy storage. • Fuel price surcharge favours EES over TES and reduces payback period of retrofits. • PVT's savings scale linearly with roof space until 3 times the available capacity. • Monetising the carbon footprint shortens the DPP of clean retrofit technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the process of decarbonization, the configuration of renewable energy and energy storage plays a crucial role. In current research, there is often a singular focus on the isolated optimization of either renewable energy configurations or energy storage configurations, resulting in limitations within the optimized outcomes. Therefore, we propose a collaborative configuration approach for renewable energy and energy storage under fixed investment, considering the impact of uncertainty on optimization results. By employing the W/S (wind-to-solar ratio) and E/P (energy-to-power ratio) and constructing a model with an hourly granularity, we can obtain the configurations of renewable energy and energy storage at crucial time points. Using the UK as a case study, we calculate the configurations for renewable energy and energy storage from 2020 to 2050, offering effective recommendations for the decarbonization efforts in the UK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature on technological expectations finds these to be performative: mobilising, coordinating and directing investment and decision-making. Expectations can involve conditionality and be normative, empirical or realist; that is, they may concern what should happen or what is considered likely. Expectations may also be of a form involving conditionality. Here we examine the interrelated role of normative, empirical and conditional expectations, their function in managing expectations relating to techno-science policy, and their implications for how stakeholders state that they perceive their agency and locus of control. Looking at UK steel industry decarbonisation, we show how stakeholders direct both their normative expectations and direct their locus of control towards the Government, as a form of strategic positioning. Commercial actors state the policy responses that they expect of the UK government mostly relate to reducing costs. We comment on actors' arguably strategic appeals to normative expectations that displace responsibility from themselves, and the Government's potential role in terms of intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local level decision-making can provide a vital and practicable means through which to deliver carbon reductions at individual, household and community levels. This paper explores the opportunities and challenges associated with the role of local government action in delivering a resilient, low carbon future. Drawing on qualitative data gathered through interviews with six case study local authorities in the UK, the paper examines in particular the ways in which they have tried to address energy and environmental goals in their areas of jurisdiction. The principles of Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) are employed to provide fresh insights on the potential for local government to encourage ‘niche’ level influences on economic, technological and social/behavioural innovation. In doing so, we identify the enabling factors and drivers that have given rise to success in linking microlevel goals with existing macro-level objectives, as well as highlighting some of the persistent obstacles that continue to hamper progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to understand how the UK government's headline climate change targets are translated into action at the local level in the transport sector drawing on the findings of research in two English regions. In doing so, these headline targets are identified as a symbolic meta-policy that results in little action on the ground and which challenges established conceptions of policy implementation. Both the 'meta' and 'symbolic' aspects of the policy offer part of the explanation for the lack of substantive action on the ground. As a meta-policy, the headline targets across government require the elaboration of other policies at other levels such as targets for government departments and local authorities, but these are largely absent, leaving the meta-policy without teeth. Over time, these headline targets have developed into a symbolic policy, serving political goals but having little practical effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]