PCAN - Publications
Reports
Final Report of the Place-based Climate Action Network (PCAN)
Howarth et al, Place-based Climate Action Network (2024)
Climate Commission Cookbook: PCAN’s Recipe for Place-based Climate Action
Place-based Climate Action Network (2024)
A Framework-based Exploration of Typologies for Climate Governance: Lessons Learned from Edinburgh Climate Commission
Sarah Bryant (2024)
Climate Commentaries: A Collection of Articles for the Place-Based Climate Action Network (PCAN)
Kate Lock and Candice Howarth (Editors) (2024)
Turning up the heat: learning from the summer 2022 heatwaves in England to inform UK policy on extreme heat – Evidence report
Candice Howarth, Niall McLoughlin, Andrea Armstrong, Ellie Murtagh, Sara Mehryar, Anna Beswick, Bob Ward, Srinidhi Ravishankar and Adeline Stuart-Watt (February 2024)
How do UK citizens perceive the co-benefits of climate action?
This report was produced by Neil Jennings and Pauline Paterson from the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London (published 30 October 2023).
On multi-level climate governance in an urban/rural county: A case study of Surrey
This report was produced by Erica Russell and Ian Christie from the University of Surrey (published 25 October 2023).
Enabling Place-Based Climate Action in the UK: The PCAN Experience
A PCAN report by Candice Howarth, Jamie Brogan, Brendan Curran, Millie Duncan, Sam Fankhauser, Andy Gouldson, Alice Owen and Adeline Stuart-Watt (published 19 June 2023).
Net Zero: Local Authority Powers
This report was produced by Dr Dan Barlow, an Associate of the Edinburgh Climate Change Institute. It has been jointly supported by the Edinburgh Climate Commission, the Scottish Cities Alliance and PCAN (March 2023).
Evaluation of the impact of PCAN-supported Climate Commissions – Final Report
Rhona Pringle, Denny Gray, Mary Anderson, Lucy Harbor, CAG Consultants (February 2023).
Yorkshire and Humber Climate Action Plan
Gouldson, A., Harcourt, R., Lock, K., Duncan, A., and Sudmant, A. Yorkshire and Humber Climate Commission and ESRC Place-based Climate Action Network (10 November 2021).
The Economic Benefits of Local Climate Action
Researched and produced by the Centre for Sustainability, Equality and Climate Action, Queen’s University Belfast and the Place-based Climate Action Network for UK100 (October 2021). Report authors: Sean Fearon (Queen’s University Belfast), Prof John Barry (Queen’s University Belfast and Belfast Climate Commission) and Kathryn Lock (University of Leeds, PCAN).
Trends in Local Climate Action in the UK
A PCAN report by Candice Howarth, John Barry, James Dyson, Sam Fankhauser, Andy Gouldson, Kate Lock, Alice Owen and Nick Robins (published 18 March 2021).
PCAN Net-Zero Carbon Roadmaps
Three Net-Zero Carbon Roadmaps have been published by PCAN for Belfast, Edinburgh and Leeds.
Pathway to Net-Zero Infographics have also been produced for Belfast, Edinburgh and Leeds.
Climate Assemblies and Juries: A People Powered Response to the Climate Emergency
Research by Shared Future CIC, funded through the PCAN Fund (August 2020)
Turning words into action: How Community Municipal Investments can create a new sphere of civic engagement that will galvanise local action in the fight against the climate emergency
Research by Abundance Investment, funded through the PCAN Fund (23 June 2020)
A blueprint for accelerating climate action and a green recovery
Signatories: Ashden, Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Transport and Planning (ADEPT), Friends of the Earth, Grantham Institute – Climate Change and the Environment (Imperial College London), Greenpeace UK, London Environment Directors’ Network (LEDNet), Place-based Climate Action Network (PCAN) at LSE, Solace (22 June 2020)
Climate Commissions as a Stimulus for Place-Based Action: An Evidence Synthesis from Existing UK Case Studies
Alice Creasy, Matthew Lane and Rosanna Harvey-Crawford (2 March 2020)
UK Research on the Social Science of Climate Change: A Synthesis of ESRC and Related Investments
Sam Fankhauser, Ana de Menezes and Nina Opacic (Published: 9 September 2019)
Financing inclusive climate action in the UK: An investor roadmap for the just transition
Nick Robins, Andy Gouldson, William Irwin, Andrew Sudman and Jame Rydge (Published 1 October 2019)
Books
Governance Networks for Sustainable Cities: Connecting Theory and Practice in Europe by Katherine Maxwell. Routledge (2022).
Addressing the Climate Crisis: Local action in theory and practice edited by Candice Howarth (LSE), Matthew Lane (University of Edinburgh) and Amanda Slevin (Queen’s University Belfast). Palgrave Macmillan (October 2021)
Papers
Russell, E. and Christie, I., 2021. The Remaking of Institutions for Local Climate Governance? Towards Understanding Climate Governance in a Multi-Level UK Local Government Area: A Micro-Local Case Study. Sustainability, 13(24), p.13817. https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/24/13817
What next for local government climate emergency declarations? The gap between rhetoric and action Candice Howarth, Matt Lane, Sam Frankhauser. Climactic Change 2021. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-021-03147-4
Implementing rapid climate action: Learning from the ‘practical wisdom’ of local decision makers Andy Yuille, David Tyfield, Rebecca Willis. Sustainability 2021, 13(10), 5687; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13105687
Representing ‘Place’: City Climate Commissions and the Institutionalisation of Experimental Governance in Edinburgh Alice Creasy, Matthew Lane, Alice Owen, Candice Howarth and Dan Van der Horst. Politics and Governance. Vol 9 (2) 2021
Building a social mandate for climate action: Lessons from Covid-19 Candice Howarth, Peter Bryant, Adam Corner, Sam Fankhauser, Andy Gouldson, Lorraine Whitmarsh, Rebecca Willis. Environmental and Resource Economics. Accepted 3 July 2020. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10640-020-00446-9 (See Commentary by Candice Howarth)
Policy briefs
- Enabling Place-Based Climate Action in the UK: Recommendations from the PCAN Experience (Summary Report)
- Enabling Rapid Climate Action: The Experience of Local Decision-Makers
- Policy Summary: Trends in Local Climate Action in the UK
- PCAN Summary_We ve declared a climate emergency now what
- What is a local Climate Commission?
Podcasts
The PCAN Podcast was launched in March 2021 as a platform to discuss the wave of local climate action that has emerged across the UK. Researchers, politicians and practioners from across the Place-based Climate Action Network (PCAN) told their stories of trying to put climate policy into action on the ground.
Episode six – From global negotiations to local action | Jamie Brogan, Simon Moore and Rosanna Harvey-Crawford
In episode six, two special guest hosts report back from COP26 in Glasgow. Jamie Brogan, from Edinburgh Climate Change Institute and Simon Moore, from the University of Leeds, talk to a variety of delegates about the relationship between global negotiations and local level climate action.
Listen to episode six of the PCAN Podcast
Episode five – Climate action in theory and practice | Candice Howarth, Matt Lane and Amanda Slevin
In episode five Kate and John talk to three members of the PCAN family about their new book ‘Addressing the Climate Crisis: Local action in theory and practice’. The book is co-edited by Candice Howarth from Grantham Institute at the London School of Economics, Matthew Lane from the University of Edinburgh, and Amanda Slevin from Queens’ University Belfast.
Listen to episode five of the PCAN Podcast
Episode four – Belfast climate action | Clare McKeown and Amanda Slevin
In episode four Kate and John catch up with two core members of the Belfast Climate Commission, Clare McKeown, Sustainable Development Manager from Belfast City Council, and Amanda Slevin, PCAN Policy Fellow from Queens University Belfast.
Clare explains what it’s been like to work in close partnership with academics, and outlines the Council’s “absolute commitment” to tackling the climate emergency. Amanda discusses her involvement in Northern Ireland’s first Climate Change Bill, which is currently making its way through Stormont.
Listen to episode four of the PCAN Podcast
Episode three – Leeds climate action | Andy Gouldson and Polly Cook
In episode three we meet to two key players in the PCAN story, Andy Gouldson, Professor of Environmental Policy at the University of Leeds, and Polly Cook, Chief Officer for Sustainable Energy and Air Quality from Leeds City Council.
Andy set up the independent Leeds Climate Commission in 2017, which works closely with Leeds City Council. The Leeds Commission has led to the formation of ten other climate commissions around the UK, through PCAN, the Place-based Climate Action Network. Andy and Polly have also been instrumental in setting up one of the newest, and largest yet – Yorkshire and Humber Climate Commission.
Listen to episode three of the PCAN Podcast
Episode two – Edinburgh climate action | Jamie Brogan
In episode two meet a co-investigator for the PCAN project, Jamie Brogan, from Edinburgh Climate Change Institute (ECCI). Co-hosts Professor John Barry and Kate Lock talk to Jamie about the Edinburgh Climate Commission and his work on the interface between academia and industry.
Listen to episode two of the PCAN Podcast
Episode one – Introducing the PCAN project | Sam Fankhauser
In the first episode of this series by the Place-based Climate Action Network (PCAN), meet the founder of the PCAN research project, Professor Sam Fankhauser, from the University of Oxford (formerly LSE).
Join co-hosts Professor John Barry, from Queen’s University Belfast, and Kate Lock, from the University of Leeds, to find out how the project was born and how it has managed to help drive local climate action across the UK.