Local universities to help lead county-wide net zero project

Leicester’s universities are set to deliver a major new programme of net zero research and climate action across the region.

De Montfort University (DMU) and the University of Leicester were successful in winning more than £500,000 to help scale up action by communities, citizens and organisations to become more sustainable. The institutions made the bid under the Universities Partnership, the alliance of local organisations which also includes Loughborough University.

The work to be carried out by DMU and University of Leicester is part of a bigger £2.5m project led by Leicestershire County Council, funded through Innovate UK, the UK's innovation agency.

That project is called Leicestershire CAN (Collaboration to Accelerate Net Zero). It will be used to explore how local organisations can collaborate and accelerate climate action, develop a decarbonisation pathway plan for the whole county, identify the best ways for communities to get to net zero and launch a new online platform to share information and tools.

Leicestershire CAN will also work to develop community energy projects, aiming to have a community energy organisation in every district.

As part of this, DMU will be responsible for developing, piloting and evaluating models for good governance in order to reach net zero targets, enabling inclusive participation in decision-making for people and organisations across the region. Dr Andrew Reeves, DMU’s lead for the Environmental Sustainability theme within the Universities Partnership will lead this work.

The University of Leicester’s School of Business will lead on the creation of a digital suite of resources, toolkits and other materials to help ensure that SMEs and other stakeholders have all the information and capabilities required to reduce their carbon footprints.  This builds on the success of previous work with small businesses to develop the Responsible Business Toolkit which helps local businesses become more sustainable.

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