Insights and action learning

Building connections and influencing change

Big Ideas Handbook update

The Big Ideas Handbook continues to grow as learning from the Net Zero Living programme evolves.

Informed by peer learning, practical examples, shared challenges, and solutions, it includes ten overarching ideas, each showcasing ‘accelerators’ to navigating barriers to place-based net zero delivery.

The ten ‘big ideas’ are:

  1. Make net zero business as usual
  2. Ensure a citizen-centred and just transition
  3. Strengthen political and institutional leadership
  4. Build local authority capacity to deliver net zero
  5. Develop investable pipelines, not just projects
  6. Mobilise and grow the net zero workforce
  7. Leverage data and digital platforms for action
  8. Partner beyond the public sector to drive innovation
  9. Scale what works through regional collaboration
  10. Accelerate net zero delivery in high-impact sectors

Each big idea addresses a distinct challenge drawn from insights that are emerging from the programme and which are informed by the experience — the application of knowledge and learning — of the Future Ready community. The ideas bring forward examples of strategic approaches, methodologies, and tools that have been used by Net Zero Living project leads and teams.

We continue to collate examples of solutions, gather tools that peers are using through their projects, and bring together resources that support collective learning.

We’d love to hear what you think. Get in touch via the Community Platform or the Future Ready inbox. Stay tuned for progress updates and watch this space for the latest developments!

Insights Library

The Insights Space is a core part of the Future Ready platform, designed to support learning, connection, and practical action among UK local authority practitioners driving net zero change. Our content here will focus on the collective learning and insights across the programme via these main formats:

  • Big Ideas – Updates and content about the Big Ideas that are emerging through this programme: what helps, what works, and collective learnings and insights about how to do placed-based decarbonisation.
  • Practitioner snapshots – Short, honest stories from participants that showcase what’s being tried and what’s being learned.
  • Curated digests and round-ups – Quarterly reflections that synthesise the most useful insights, quotes, tools, and questions from across the community.
  • Blogs - Synthesised outputs of focus groups and other events and learning in a digestible format. These may often signpost to longer reports or write ups from our Focus Group sessions, also held in this library.

Let us know what you think!

Insights Focus Groups

Thank you to everyone who participated in the insights session ‘Green skills for a net zero future’, as part of March’s Future Ready Thursday.

Looking ahead, we’ve scheduled Focus Groups on the following themes. These are closed sessions with targeted invitations specific to project scope, but if you are interested in contributing, please do get in touch via the Community Platform or the Future Ready inbox.

English devolution and place-based net zero transition

25th April 2025, 10:00 – 11:30

Data and digital platforms

1st May 2025, 13:00 – 14:30

Action Learning

Future Ready Quarterly Evaluation Survey

Thanks to those who completed the evaluation survey for January to March 2025.

The results are in, and we’ll be sharing a summary via the Community Platform shortly.

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