Blueprint Coalition

What is the Blueprint Coalition? 

The Blueprint Coalition is an influential group of local government organisations, environmental groups and research institutions. ADEPT is part of this coalition – together, we are calling on the government to support local authorities in delivering climate action with a joined up approach.

Background

In December 2020, we published a Blueprint for accelerating climate action and a green recovery at the local level. This sets out the national leadership, policies, powers and funding needed to empower local authorities to deliver at scale, working together with communities and businesses. In developing the Blueprint, we drew extensively on the direct experience of many local authorities that have declared a climate emergency and developed local climate emergency strategies. We sent the report to the government and senior officials and started our campaign to build support.

In 2021 we set out the case for a strong partnership between national and local government in the Net Zero Strategy, recommending that it must embed the role of local authorities in delivering carbon reductions, as well as in tackling the nature crisis and health inequalities, and building resilience to the impacts of climate change.

Blueprint updated summary document

An updated summary document was published in September 2024. This document welcomes the commitment of the new government to reform and devolve funding streams, We believe that the government policies in respect of kickstarting local growth, local growth plans and planning reforms must be aligned with adapting for new zero and nature recovery targets. 

What are the Blueprint Coalition’s five priority recommendations?

The summary document sets out five updated priorities:

1. Ensure that all devolution agreements include ambitious plans and devolved powers for place-based actions to reduce carbon emissions, build climate resilience and restore nature. 
2. Strengthen the proposed duty to produce local growth plans by requiring ‘local sustainable growth plans’ that prioritise investment in low carbon sectors and enabling a transition to higher quality, better paid jobs through reskilling, retraining and research.
3. Ensure that high energy standards for new build and environmental enhancement are at the heart of planning reform and that investment in warm homes is at the pace and scale needed, with flexibility in local implementation in order to end fuel poverty. 
4. Shift emphasis within transport spend to encourage modal shift including active travel infrastructure and reversing bus service decline, while also investing in existing infrastructure assets. 
5. Accelerate local nature-based solutions (including tree planting, coastal conservation and restoration of peatland and freshwater environments) in order to meet 2030 targets for nature, increase climate resilience and ensure everyone has access to high quality green and blue spaces.

Which organisations are members of the Blueprint Coalition?

Coalition partners include:

• Ashden
• Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Transport and Planning (ADEPT)
• Centre for Alternative Technology
• Climate Emergency UK
• Friends of the Earth
• Grantham Institute - Climate Change and the Environment (Imperial College London)
• London Environment Directors’ Network (LEDNet)
• MySociety
• Solace

With support from London Councils and the Local Government Association.

Blueprint Coalition – recent activity

• May 2022 - published a series of 40 case studies of council action on climate change – this series of case studies is intended to showcase best practice among local authorities.
• July 2022 - published the Blueprint Coalition Position on Levelling Up – this provides an analysis of where, and how, the levelling up agenda must align efforts to tackle the climate and nature emergencies with the need to reduce inequalities through infrastructure, homes, transport, green spaces and new skills. The report calls for specific actions from government across the Blueprint Coalition priorities.
• November 2022 - published the Blueprint Coalition Progress Tracker which provides an assessment of government progress against the Coalition's recommendations.
• July 2023 - hosted a webinar ‘Where next for local climate action’. This was attended by 180 people, ranging from councillors and council climate officers to researchers, community groups, campaigners and environmental charities. You can view the summary of key points and related resources here or you can watch the full recording here. 
• September 2024 - held another webinar event: ‘How can devolution deliver on environmental ambition?’, which explored the impact of devolution on climate and nature initiatives. You can watch the webinar here.
• September 2024 - published an updated summary document, which explains the Blueprint Coalition’s objectives, priorities and outlines next steps. 

Next steps

The Blueprint Coalition is continuing to work together to respond to government proposals and legislation and to support local authorities. Coalition partners will continue to take every opportunity to spread the word about the Blueprint priorities at events and meetings attended by government representatives.

Although we have a new government, we need to continue our work to build relationships and show that we are willing partners in solving the climate crisis. 

The Blueprint Coalition will keep pressing the case for more powers and resources for local authorities to take action on climate change and nature restoration, as the local level will be crucial in delivering healthier communities and a stronger, more resilient economy.

Campaign

In 2020, we launched a campaign about securing more powers and resources for councils to take action on climate change and nature restoration. Over 150 signatories, including local authorities, environmental groups, universities, charities, community energy groups, transport bodies and consultancies, signed up to the campaign.

How to get involved

But we don’t want the conversation to stop here. Please follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn - we’d love to hear from you – please do chat to us, tag us, and share our accounts with your followers.

Please also spread the word. If we’re all echoing the same key messages – across roles, sectors and political lines – we can really cut through the noise, and have an impact on the decisions that are made nationally to support local climate action. So please do take a moment to think how you can share our asks – with a colleague, friend or political representative who could help? On social media or your newsletters? In conversations with national decision-makers, civil servants, or political colleagues? Here is a short flyer to remind you of our key asks – please do keep it to hand and share it.

Thank you again for your support and we look forward to keeping the conversation going. If you’d like to get more actively involved in the Coalition’s work, please email us.

Blueprint publications 

You can find all Blueprint documents here - the documents and updates are shown in the updates and resources section below.