Our conference events will convene experts to pitch their big ideas on how to accelerate the pace of decarbonisation, and provide a space for party conference attendees to engage in a questions and answers session.

The UK urgently needs to make progress on reducing emissions if it is to meet the legally binding goal to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 (2045 in Scotland). At the same time, productivity in the UK is far below that of comparator countries. These challenges go hand in hand: an economy that succeeds in reducing emissions but does not protect or improve economic well-being is no more sustainable than one that is productive but fails to reduce emissions.

Local leadership has a crucial role to play in decarbonising homes, so more needs to be done to help local authorities to access funding that helps them act strategically.

The evidence shows that funding for home decarbonisation isn't yet reaching all parts of the country. What pitfalls must the government avoid when levelling up all areas in the UK in the journey towards decarbonisation?

Nesta’s new research paper, ‘Which English local authorities have received government grants for home decarbonisation?’ asks whether the UK Government’s schemes are succeeding in levelling up the fight to reach net zero, or whether there is evidence that some local authorities are pulling away from the rest. The analysis raises questions about the effectiveness of competitive grant funding schemes to fund local authority decarbonisation.

While 66 per cent of all local authorities received funding from the Green Homes Grant Local Authority Delivery scheme or the Social Housing Decarbonisation Demonstrator Fund, our analysis found that funding has been unevenly spread across the country. Local authorities in the East Midlands received 23 grants, while local authorities in the North West received just eight. In London, all 33 boroughs received funding, but in the East Midlands, fewer than 40 per cent of local authorities did. In addition, it’s not clear that funding has followed need. For example, we did not find a relationship between grants received and levels of fuel poverty or energy performance certificate (EPC) ratings.

This reflects conclusions from a recent analysis by the National Audit Office, which found that the amount of grant funding received by different local authority areas through 22 recent government schemes for net zero activities differs vastly across the country. Some local authorities received more than £50 per person while others received less than £12.50.