This podcast episode draws on learnings from the Net Zero Living programme, and the recent publications of retrofit insights from the programme in Better Warmer Homes.

We hear about the learnings from Fife Council’s Net Zero Living programme which delivered a skills gap analysis for the region alongside a delivery plan to guide future skills development.

For this episode, Poppy Maltby, Head of Local Energy at Regen, is joined by:

• Kate Spalding from Fife Council’s Climate Change and Zero Waste Team.
• David Pierpoint, CEO of the Retrofit Academy.

Kate and David also reflect on challenges facing local retrofit supply chains, policies that can help overcome these challenges, and the opportunities that exist for local retrofit markets for delivering better, warmer homes.

You can find the Innovate UK page with more details here.

This episode explores the insights in community energy, including lessons from Essex’s new community interest company, to understand how local authorities and other stakeholders can support and grow the sector.

Local and community energy projects are a critical part of securing a just energy transition, ensuring all places can capitalise on the clean energy transition.

For this episode, Poppy Maltby, Associate Director at Regen, is joined by:

• Fraser Stewart, Great British Energy’s Head of Local Energy Strategy.
• Charlotte Norton, Associate Director within the Cities and Regions team at the Carbon Trust.
• Alex Templeton – From the Net Zero Living project in Essex, and Director of Community Infrastructure Group CIC.

You can find the Innovate UK page with more details here.

Finance can feel like the hardest part of local net zero delivery. Not because the ambition is missing, but because the path from plan to funding is often unclear. In this episode, Poppy Maltby from Regen explores the learnings from the Net Zero Living Programme for local authorities wanting to build an investible pipeline of projects.

Poppy is joined by Christine Zhou, Finance and Investment Partner at Bankers Without Boundaries, who supported local authorities through the Net Zero Living Programme, and Louise Wilson, Co-founder and Joint Managing Director at Abundance Investment which specialises in renewable infrastructure.

Within the conversation, Christine explains how private finance can feel like a “black box” for many local authorities and a key opportunity is finding ways to demystify it. She describes training councils to develop some shared rules of engagement and a common language around investment to build confidence and stresses the importance of continuity, noting that investors want a long term relationship with a stable counterparty.

Louise brings the investor view, explaining that there is not a shortage of capital. The main challenge is presenting projects in ways that fit the risks, timescales and returns that investors need. She also explains why project size matters. Some smaller, high value schemes may be better funded through council routes or citizen lending, while bigger schemes with clearer revenues can attract larger pools of capital.

Both contributors use examples from the Programme to bring these challenges and solutions to life, including Blaenau Gwent, Rossendale, and Bristol. Throughout the conversation, the key learning is that when projects are shaped in a way that funders can understand, assess and support then investment is more likely to follow.

Key insights

• Local authorities play a critical role in translating local ambition into investable projects but they need to frame it in the context of investor needs and return.
• Investor engagement works better when there are clearer “rules of engagement”, shared language and trusted relationships so this must be an essential area of training and support for councils.
• Matching the right finance to the right project size and returns can unlock delivery. Councils should consider segmenting their pipeline and consider different levels of funding, from citizen lending to larger project finance.

You can find the Innovate UK page with more details here.