To see net zero differently, we need to: 

• Focus on people not technology. It’s about adoption, which means it’s about culture and behaviours. We need to hear people’s experiences of what it takes to change local services and what it means to the local people who benefit.    

• Start with the now, not the future. The successful local authorities that I met aren’t waiting for the future. They are taking control now. The successful businesses that I heard from aren’t making bold promises about an idealised future. They’re partners that help deal with the imperfect realties of today. We need to see people getting to grips with problems in the here and now.  

• See past the old ways. All these people are challenging themselves by stepping out of the silos – operational, financial, mindsets – entrenched from the traditional ways of doing things. And across and into new services and systems that need to work together to get new things done. This is what change urgently requires and needs to be championed, but these stories must also respect people’s identities and the legacy of what’s gone before. 

• Above all, see and celebrate the differences of what it looks like, place by place, when net zero is used to transform how they get what they need.