Net Zero Living
Innovate UK’s £60 million, three-year Net Zero Living Programme aims to help places and businesses across the UK to accelerate the transition to net zero.
About the programme
Innovate UK’s Net Zero Living Programme is a £60 million, three-year programme that aims to help places and businesses across the UK to accelerate the delivery of the transition to net zero.
Many of the immediate solutions needed to transition places to net zero already exist. However, challenges are often encountered when trying to deliver these solutions at scale. There are often barriers to overcome including coordinating many stakeholders, engaging with citizens, attracting finance or navigating procurement and governance processes.
We recognise that local authorities can directly address or influence up to 30% of the UK’s total carbon emissions, and help facilitate the reduction of emissions across a place even more, through their influence in planning decisions, policy setting and defining local goals.
Aims and objectives
The Net Zero Living programme aims to help places to open markets by:
- Removing the non-technical barriers to demand, including skills, organisational capacity, citizen engagement, financing, procurement and governance processes, which can all create barriers to the rapid scale up and adoption of net zero solutions.
- Driving widespread business growth and innovation across the economy.
- Unlocking significant additional private investment to enable true levelling-up both between and within places.
For more information about the programme, watch the recording of the briefing event held in October 2022.
Focus areas

FOCUS AREA
Thriving Places
Providing support to local authorities, their partners and communities to overcome non-technical systemic barriers to the scaling and adoption of net zero solutions. This challenge will be delivered under two grant funding awards and supported by our Future Ready procured support.

FOCUS AREA
User-Focussed Products
Supporting businesses to better understand and respond to the needs, opportunities and barriers preventing the large-scale roll out of net zero solutions. Includes funding for a Digital Accelerator, Design Foundations and international activities including City Twinning, Bilaterals, Net Zero Incubators and an International Net Zero Pilot.
Related Opportunities
Design Foundations Round 2: Net Zero Living
Opens: 31/05/2023 Closes: 26/07/2023
Up to £4m for projects that use people-centred and planet-centred design methods to transform where we live and work into net zero places.
More Information
Net Zero Living Digital Accelerator round 1
Opens: 24/04/2023 Closes: 07/06/2023
UK registered businesses can apply for a share of up to £1.5 million to develop digital applications to solve challenges in delivering net zero for places.
More Information
Net Zero Hydrogen Fund: Capital Expenditure, Round 2
Opens: 11/04/2023 Closes: 07/06/2023
Strand 2 of the Net Zero Hydrogen Fund will provide capital expenditure (CAPEX) support for new low carbon hydrogen production facilities to begin deployment in the early 2020s.