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.

In December 2020, we published a Blueprint for accelerating climate action and a green recovery at the local level.

This document 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.

An updated summary document was published in July 2022.

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
• Place-based Climate Action Network (PCAN) at LSE
• Solace

With support from London Councils and the Local Government Association.

What are the Blueprint Coalition’s five priority recommendations?

1. Invest in low-carbon and climate-resilient infrastructure including public transport, renewable energy and electric vehicle charging
2. Support reskilling, retraining and research to accelerate the move to a net-zero economy
3. Upgrade our homes to ensure they are fit for the future
4. Make it easy for people to walk, cycle, and work remotely
5. Accelerate tree planting, peatland restoration, green spaces and other green infrastructure

Blueprint coalition – recent activity

• In May 2022 we 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.
• In July 2022 we 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.
• In July 2022 we also published an updated summary document, which explains the Blueprint Coalition’s objectives, priorities and outlines next steps.
• In November 2022 we published the Blueprint Coalition Progress Tracker which provides an assessment of government progress against the Coalition's recommendations.

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.

Campaign

You can also join our campaign to accelerate climate action and a green recovery at the local level - find out more here.

Over 180 of you joined us online (on 12 July) for our webinar Where next for local climate action – ranging from councillors and council climate officers to researchers, community groups, campaigners, and environmental charities – for a lively cross-sector discussion. We’re attaching a quick summary of key points and related resources (here) or you can watch the full recording here. 

But we don’t want the conversation to stop here. To help keep up momentum, please:

1.  Support the Coalition’s key asks

This event showed us again that – while we all have different roles to play in the system, different political opinions, and different local needs – there is much we agree on. Our Coalition’s asks will help us all play our respective roles and empower us to take the action we need in our local communities. So please do sign up to show your support.

2. 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.

3. 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.