Recipient organisationLeicestershire County CouncilSource-published name: Leicestershire County Council
Funding£2.6M
PeriodMar 2024 — Feb 2026
In plain English
AI plain-English summary
Leicestershire is building a replicable blueprint for how any local authority can coordinate its residents, businesses, and institutions to cut carbon emissions to net zero. The problem is that many local net-zero plans stall because they lack governance, community buy-in, or a clear pathway from strategy to action. This project tackles that gap by creating a four-part system: a tested governance model, a digitised decarbonisation pathway plan, a six-step process to launch community energy start-ups, and a central online advisory service that simplifies the support landscape for stakeholders. If it succeeds, Leicestershire will transform its emissions trajectory without relying on future grant funding. The model is designed to be self-sustaining and replicable across other UK local authority areas. The practical outputs—a dynamic planning tool, governance templates, and a community energy network—could quietly reshape how energy systems are planned and delivered at the local level, accelerating the UK’s transition away from fossil fuels in a way that is socially accepted and deliverable.
View original technical description
Leicestershire CAN (Collaborate to Accelerate Net Zero): Demonstrator will create an environment for well-planned, deliverable, impactful place-based net zero interventions in Leicestershire, replicable to other LA areas. Comprising 4 interconnected work packages, CAN-De will lay the foundations for successful delivery: * Governance: Developing, piloting and evaluating models for good governance in Leicestershire, delivering the 6 governance principles identified in Phase 1, utilising an action and impact tracker to inform evaluation and refine approach, and drawing conclusions on replicability for other LA settings, amending the model for various use-cases. * Decarbonisation Pathway Plan: Innovating within the LAEP framework to streamline delivery, model whole-system approaches to decarbonisation and incorporate the power of citizen landscaping to inform the energy system and create high levels of community engagement and social acceptance, de-risking and accelerating delivery. Outputs will be digitised in a dynamic tool for different audiences, with guidance on the innovation made available for replicability UK-wide. * Community Energy Pathway: A 6-step process to develop community energy capacity across Leicestershire, combining engagement, mentoring, business development and a readiness fund to form a network of start-ups, informed by the DPP. * Advisory Service: A central digital repository hosting a suite of resources, ensuring stakeholders have information and capabilities required to act, effectively communicating the outputs of CAN-De and signposting to simplify the support landscape. CAN-De will be delivered by a consortium of local and national partners bringing academic, technical and delivery experience to create highly deliverable and replicable solutions. It will transform the trajectory of emissions reductions in Leicestershire, creating a self-sustaining model which is not reliant on future funding and can continue long after project completion.
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