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Building Momentum for Net Zero Investment
A recap of 3Ci at the Connected Places Summit 2025
By the 3Ci Team
When it comes to funding Net Zero, it’s time to move away from statements of intent and move towards definitive action. That was the resounding message at this year’s Connected Places Summit, a two-day forum for connecting innovators and thought leaders to inspire real progress for the UK’s transport, places and digital infrastructure.
Located in the heart of central London, the Connected Places Summit took place on 19-20 March and brought together more than 1,100 guests in person and another 1,000 online.
3Ci, part of Connected Places Catapult, hosted three sessions at the Summit exploring how we can unlock further investment into Net Zero, featuring local and national government leaders as well aş investors from the private finance sector.
Read our highlights of the sessions below, with our events wonderfully introduced by 3Ci’s Advisory Board Chair Greg Clark CBE and 3Ci’s Advisory Board Member Catherine McGuinness CBE.
How is the Government Investing in Net Zero?
In a Fireside Chat, Marvin Rees, former Mayor of Bristol and now Lord of Easton sat down with Catherine McGuinness CBE to discuss why the UK’s approach to funding decarbonisation needs reframing.
First, Marvin set the scene of the importance of cities. Cities are “the vehicles through which you can really drive through on delivery,” and the Net Zero transition relies heavily on delivery of decarbonisation projects and initiatives. This is why, he suggests, we should reframe to “spheres and not tiers” of government, to stress the significance of local leadership.
Marvin then spoke about the pressure to act quickly. On a macro level, the earth is facing half a billion climate-displaced people by 2050 – rather than waiting for this crisis and reacting retrospectively to it, we should demonstrate the return of investment for funding Net Zero and take action now.
In a similar vein, 55% of the world now lives in cities and we are facing rapid urbanisation. We now have an opportunity to get ahead of this curve and make the right decisions when it comes to building infrastructure, minimising the need for future retrofitting and additional costs.
Finally, Marvin highlighted the disparity between the scale and pace we need to act to achieve Net Zero in time and the lack of public funds.
As Mayor of Bristol, Marvin worked with private engineering firm Ameresco to design a 20-year project around renewable energy and heat decarbonisation for the city. Because of the longevity and scale of the project, investors were able to commit upfront and the award-winning partnership is now hailed as a landmark example of public and private sector collaboration to solve the procurement challenge for Net Zero investment.
Private Investors and the Public Sector Net Zero Opportunity
3Ci designed a panel equally balanced between public sector and private sector speakers, chaired by Connected Places Catapult’s MD for Built Environment and Local Growth, Alan Welby.
The panel built on Marvin’s introduction to public-private partnerships when it comes to funding Net Zero and we heard about the challenges and opportunities that Councillor Susan Aitken is facing in Glasgow and Mete Coban MBE as Deputy Mayor of London for Environment and Energy.
For both, policies, procurement and planning were “the three Ps” creating the biggest challenges. Councillor Aitken and Deputy Mayor Coban spoke about the lack of knowledge – and capacity – for councils to bid for private sector Net Zero investment. The public sector procurement model is not designed for entering into long-term partnerships with private investors, and as Councillor Aitken put it, “the planet doesn’t have time to wait for public sector procurement models.”
The response from Lolita Jackson MBE, Exec Director of SDCL and James Close, Head of Climate Change at NatWest Group was that councils and boroughs need to think collectively to create a more attractive investment opportunity for banks. Investors tend to be put off by disjointed and small-scale opportunities, whereas if whole regions can join together and present a long-term investment opportunity, that creates the scale and alignment needed to generate funding appetite.
Overall, there was a unanimous agreement that the near-term focus needs to be on replicable models for procuring private investment into public sector Net Zero initiatives. The panel recognised that “necessity is the mother of invention” in driving innovation and solutions and the audience were left with a clear understanding of how crucial innovative financing models will be for Net Zero progression.
The Net Zero Neighbourhood Model
Following an overview of both the necessity and the logistics of public-private partnerships to fund the UK’s Net Zero agenda, 3Ci then delivered a fantastic session on how this can be practically achieved.
The Net Zero Neighbourhood model collates all the initiatives in a particular area that would be required to decarbonise it. This includes the specific needs around retrofitting, new transport models, waste management and heat networks.
Zoe Jennings, Head of Programmes at 3Ci and an expert on Net Zero Neighbourhoods chaired a panel featuring Mary Kerr from Glasgow City Council and Steven Wilding from London Borough of Hounslow, where both local authorities are progressing to a new phase of the Net Zero Neighbourhood programme.
This phase will move one step closer from modelling to implementation for investment-ready cases for Net Zero Neighbourhoods, creating a replicable model for Net Zero investment across the UK. Glasgow and Hounslow are the first local authorities in the UK to reach this phase.
A key fact that Mary and Steven agreed on is that Local Authorities and private investors need to be speaking the same language when it comes to investment procurement. Currently, public sector officials aren’t used to speaking about finance in the same way, leading to a lack of mutual understanding.
The Net Zero Neighbourhood scheme is designed to give a level of confidence and understanding to local authorities to engage with private investors, with the ultimate success being shared learnings, creating replicable models for securing private investment into public sector Net Zero projects.
Find out more about 3Ci’s Net Zero Neighbourhood programme in our published reports.
With thanks to our session chairs, speakers and audience who participated in 3Ci’s agenda at the Connected Places Summit 2025.