Bringing city partners together to tackle the climate crisis in Edinburgh
Interim Executive Director of Place and Chair of the Net Zero Edinburgh Leadership Board – Gareth Barwell
Becoming a net zero city is not something that can be achieved alone. Every resident, community and organisation has their part to play. We established the Net Zero Edinburgh Leadership Board (NZELB) to bring together city partners to work together and hit these targets for the Capital, especially on the bigger infrastructure projects and investments that we need to decarbonise our buildings and transport systems.
Climate change is already impacting our way of life and work. To minimise these impacts, we need immediate action and infrastructure investment at scale to develop our city in a way that works for everyone. Our ambition is that Edinburgh leads the way in its response to the climate emergency, to achieve meaningful and lasting change that benefits us all.
The NZELB was established in 2022 to provide city-wide leadership in creating a green, clean and sustainable future for the city and is tasked with supporting the collaborative development of strategic city infrastructure in line with Edinburgh’s 2030 net zero target.
The Board comprises core city partners including public sector organisations in the city with significant control over public buildings and homes (NHS Lothian, the City of Edinburgh Council, University of Edinburgh and Nature Scot), private sector utility companies investing significantly in the infrastructure of the city (Scottish Power Energy Networks, Scottish Gas Network, Scottish Water), and the Edinburgh Chamber for Commerce which represents business, employment and economic interests.
We are all working together to test, develop and scale innovative approaches to secure funding which helps unlock private sector investment and supports inclusive growth, workforce development and employment opportunities for the just transition to a low carbon economy.
This work ensures economies and opportunities of scale and place-making are being achieved through collaboration and alignment between partners. It allows barriers to joint investment in project delivery to be overcome and will save time, resources, money and emissions by joining up plans, budgets and infrastructure.
The Board operates across themed project workstreams that reflect the priority areas for change in our city: Adaptation & Nature, Heat & Energy Efficiency, Transport Infrastructure and the Just Transition.
We have been working with the Edinburgh Climate Change Institute to bring together and map data to help paint a picture of the infrastructure changes required to meet net zero. With over 150 data layers, we can understand the city’s current state and future infrastructure needs – from cycle lanes to heat networks.
This mapping includes heat and energy demand and supply, buildings and land ownership and investments, relevant transport infrastructure, areas vulnerable to climate change, as well as wider socio-economic data. The project builds a shared future vision for the net zero transition and will support the NZELB to deliver citywide green infrastructure.
The Board has jointly worked on Regional Energy Master Planning, unlocked funding for flood prevention, fed into heat network feasibility studies and regional climate adaptation planning as well as supported joint funding bids and realised cost savings through collaboration on the Granton Waterfront regeneration.
Our work feeds into the Edinburgh Partnership Board and is represented by senior officers with the authority to commit their organisation (subject to their own governance arrangements) to the investment proposals considered.
The Board also liaises with the City Region Deal Partnership, the Climate Compact and the third sector. We meet every two months with a varied agenda – our next meeting we will be discussing the Edinburgh Partnership and our role within it and the Climate Strategy update that will be going to Committee in October. We also receive updates from each of the subgroups. You can find out more and sign up for the newsletter at the Net Zero Edinburgh website.
The Board is committed to creating real, lasting impact for Edinburgh, its citizens, and the wider world, by building trusted partnerships to expand knowledge, coordinate efforts, and deliver the change we need.
This article was first featured in Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce’s magazine: Business Comment.
