Our Policy team worked with partners to develop a framework supporting local authorities in achieving net zero in ways that align with and reinforce national ambitions. The project received funding under Innovate UK’s Net Zero Living Programme.
Beginning in February 2024, the team researched and developed a governance framework designed to help local authorities effectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions while aligning with national climate change objectives and accounting and reporting protocols. The project, known as Locally Determined Contributions, built upon the findings of the Skidmore Review of the UK’s net zero strategy, which emphasised the critical role of local government leadership and place-based action in addressing the climate crisis.
This guidance framework is now published as a PDF report, providing free access to the principles and methodology. In the future, it will also be available as an interactive web tool, enabling users to explore and apply the framework more easily across local governance contexts.

Although the initial project was based and driven by partners across Cambridgeshire, it is anticipated that the resulting framework will serve as a model for local authority roadmaps nationwide. CCE worked with the following partners to create the framework: Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority, Cambridgeshire County Council, Cambridge City Council, Peterborough City Council, East Cambridgeshire District Council, Huntingdonshire District Council, South Cambridgeshire District Council, and Collaborate CIC.

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