Planning for net zero

Rindt, Jekaterina and Newton, Radka and Calvo, Mirian (2025) Planning for net zero. UK Parliament POST, online.

Abstract

Achieving the UK’s 2050 net zero goal will require new low carbon energy, transport and built infrastructure while also reducing energy demand. The government has stated delivery of these at the required pace requires addressing planning system delays. • Infrastructure plans and policies are implemented at different scales, from nationally significant projects to local planning decisions. Planning organisations state concerns about the lack of holistic spatial planning to coordinate these scales of planning as well as with national net zero targets. • Nationally significant projects, such as large-scale renewables, face delays due to issues arising prior to submitting planning applications or at the final stage of being granted permission. In some cases, community benefits for hosting projects are not properly considered and delivered. • The new National Energy System Operator has committed to the delivery of Regional Energy Strategic Plans. These will map out the distribution networks and technologies required to reach net zero across the UK mainland and will be complemented by Strategic Spatial Energy Planning assessing sites for energy storage and generation infrastructures. • The local planning process considers many aspects of an infrastructure project, but some stakeholders believe not all aspects are considered equally within planning applications. They suggest planning reforms are needed to reduce delays and to support a net zero transition