In a recent blog post for the Scottish Funding Council, Centre Director Dr Mette High and Director of Policy Dr Sean Field have discussed the ‘Sprint’ Workshop held as part of the Scottish Research Alliance for Energy, Homes and Livelihoods‘ Financial Pathways theme.
This event, held at the Edinburgh Climate Change Institute (ECCI) in May 2024, was aimed to take preliminary steps to address Scotland’s capability and capacity issues, which are preventing the country from realising achievable localised Net-Zero projects. The creative sprint set a concrete task that needed to be addressed and that participants had to present on in that same afternoon. By bringing together sectors, which usually operate independently, to work on this single problem, it allowed for a cross-sector discussion of not only the problems but also the potential solutions.
As part of their wider vision, the Financial Pathways team is also collaborating directly with Scottish local authorities. This collaboration hopes to ensure researchers, industry, business, government, and the financial sector can work together to realise councils’ local heat and energy efficiency strategies (LHEES). Perth and Kinross Council have taken the lead in this; with Financial Pathways seed funding, they have started to explore the opportunities and challenges of taking a wider, regional approach to the implementation and delivery of LHEES.
‘Financial Pathways’ is one of three themes of the Scottish Research Alliance for Energy, Homes and Livelihoods (SRAEHL), alongside ‘Decarbonising Heat’ and ‘Sustainable Households’. Across these themes, the Alliance has been set up to produce a culture of cross-sector collaboration, ensuring that the depth of Scotland’s expertise and experience can be applied to the most critical challenges of our time. You can stay up-to-date with Alliance activities by following them on X (Twitter), LinkedIn, or subscribing to their newsletter.
