To meet the UK’s 2030 Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission target we need to reduce GHG emissions by nearly 5%/year, three times the 1.5%/year reduction rate achieved since 1990. Previous reductions have come mainly from decarbonising the power sector and offshoring heavy industry, where it is becoming increasingly difficult to deliver further substantial GHG reductions.

The UK is at a watershed moment where future reductions will have to be delivered differently from the past. It is simply not possible to rely on the policy of ‘electrifying everything and provide zero carbon electricity’ without also considering systems of production and consumption. This requires broader consideration of how to align patterns of production and consumption with climate targets that can deliver short term goals (by 2030) and reduce risks in the long-term (by 2050).

PACT investigates how to achieve climate, energy and resource efficiency goals by linking production and consumption strategies. PACT’s dynamic research programme focuses on actionable insights and ensures real-world impact, working with government departments, campaign groups and the private sector. The centre examines societal, political, and economic systems upon which the delivery of the UK’s transition to net zero depends, ensuring that policies are fair, effective and inclusive.

On the production side, this will require managing the transformation of labour markets and skills provision to protect workers in affected sectors. On the consumption side, monetary and non-monetary costs and benefits associated with the transition need to be distributed fairly. A socially just transformation of production and consumption systems in line with climate targets is a complex systems problem that requires a detailed investigation into the intersecting and intertwined economic, social and political realities.

PACT uses three different ‘lenses’ or analytical themes:

• Lens 1 - Accounting and modelling: Quantifying, analysing and evaluating impacts across production and consumption systems.

• Lens 2 - Decision making institutions and cultures: Understanding the institutional context for decision making, the process of realising policies, and coalitions of influence.

• Lens 3 - Public impact and engagement: encouraging public involvement in policymaking, and understanding how policies and approaches impact people’s experiences.

As well as conducting independent research, these three lenses will also combine to develop new socially and politically informed pathway scenarios to generate alternative visions of production and consumption systems that are compatible with net zero objectives. They will also combine in a deep dive case study approach to two key areas for climate, production and consumption: cars and homes.

PACT is a four-year research centre jointly funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ). It is a partnership between the Universities of Leeds, Manchester and Sussex.The Climate Citizens PACT team at the University of Manchester comprises three researchers: Rebecca Willis, Andy Yuille and Mathilde Rainard.

Demand-side policies often directly target consumers’ own behaviour, rather than turning to other ‘upstream’ factors that shape the consumption that we have, such as the types of products and services that are available.

Clever ‘upstream’ energy policy design can create the radical and more certain shift in consumer usage that we need to see for an effective, fair and urgent transition.  However, the development of these different approaches to consumption policies is hindered by a lack of understanding and implementation from policy makers.

This research forms part of the Governance theme of the Energy Demand Research Centre and focuses on the prospects for, and development of, demand reduction policies as part the net zero transition. Policy makers face many barriers to implementing these different approaches – from lack of awareness, to policymaking cultures, and not knowing where to start in making incremental change. Helping them navigate and implement change, working alongside energy providers, is crucial for the success of these policy methods.

UK Climate Assemblies run by Local Authorities have provided clear priorities and a mandate for action, however, their broad recommendations across a variety of climate-related policy areas do not always express the preferences they have for how the Local Authority should achieve specific outcomes.

This project explores methods for embedding deliberative processes in Local Authority decision making that produce more specific recommendations for that particular LA’s context. For example, embedding regular climate assemblies within a local governance means that each meeting can focus on a different policy area, creating more specific recommendations that go beyond ‘make public transport better’. Regular meetings can also help foster familiarity with the process and outputs – for both the policy makers and the public. Challenges remain, however, in how to resource a regular process, how to gain long-term buy-in from local authority officers and elected members, and the ability for the local authority to act upon recommendations in a highly centralised political system.

Understanding how UK Members of Parliament engage with climate change as a social and political issue helps to identify which policy issues and political tensions MPs feel they need to navigate.

We conducted interviews with 15 MPs and convened a focus group with civil society representatives, updating similar research we carried out in 2018.

Our findings reflect not only the perspectives of these MPs, but also how they think their parliamentary colleagues engage with climate change. We found that climate change is now mainstream for MPs - they understand the scientific consensus, support the Climate Change Act and say they have a stronger mandate from their constituents. They also see the co-benefits of climate action, such as better air quality and cheaper electricity from renewables.

Yet this support is accompanied by specific concerns about how to manage the social, practical and political challenges of the net zero transition, with the political debate shifting from ‘the need to do something’ to ‘the pace of change’.

In the summary report, produced in conjunction with Green Alliance, we provide recommendations to help those working in UK climate politics navigate policy tensions and take action.

The project was funded by the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST).

For more information please contact Steve Westlake on westlakest@cardiff.ac.uk