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Regional Growth and the Net Zero Transition: Midlands
How the Midlands can accelerate sustainable growth and the net zero transition.
Read time: 7 mins Added: 26/11/2025
Birmingham Grand Central skyline
Each of the UK’s regions has its own unique set of challenges, barriers and drivers affecting how it approaches the net zero transition. The regions are all united, however, by their ambition to effect change and create a just, equitable transition to sustainable business. In the last of edie and Lloyds Corporate & Institutional’s roundtable series on place-based approaches to net zero, we shine the sustainability spotlight on the Midlands.
The Midlands has been a trailblazer on net zero action since its first energy strategy was produced in 2018. The region is committed to reach net zero by 2041, with a strong track record in collaborations such as that with the National Energy Systems Operator (NESO), which created a place-based approach to energy infrastructure in the region. Despite its innovative pilots and ambitious deals, challenges remain that must be overcome for the region to truly lead the way on the sustainable transition.
Held under Chatham House Rules, the roundtable discussion provided a clear look at the challenges and opportunities shaping place-based climate action in the region. Participants spoke openly about the political climate surrounding sustainability, the barriers to local delivery, the shifting ESG narrative, and the practical role of finance in enabling a Just Transition.
No shortage of ambition
As edie’s Publisher and chair of the roundtable Luke Nicholls emphasised, the Midlands has no shortage of ambition. However, while the roundtable attendees were all actively pursuing novel paths to net zero, through examples such as retrofitting, research partnerships or innovations in manufacturing, many described being held back by uncertainty, policy volatility or fragmented delivery.
A number of participants noted that, while national commitments remain legally binding, there has been a change in the language used around sustainability in recent months. Thankfully, this shift in tone has not resulted in an abandonment of targets, the participants agreed. Most large organisations still stand by their 2040 or 2050 goals, though they noted several have extended their nearer-term milestones from 2030 to 2035 or beyond. It was noted that, while ambition remains, the pace of change has lessened slightly, with the Just Transition falling down the agenda in a number of cases presented.
A group of senior Midlands regional leaders from housing, academia, local authority and finance at an exclusive roundtable.1
Policy uncertainty and investor confidence
Some of the most significant challenges faced by investors acted as barriers to investment within sustainability. While the government’s support for flagship carbon capture and other green projects was welcomed, questions were raised about its capacity to follow through with second and third phases, considering competing financial challenges. One expert at the table noted that, without a clear case for policy support remaining over the next decade, international companies would be much more reticent to invest capital in green policies and projects in the UK.
These uncertainties, the participants agreed, are compounded by wider geopolitical and economic pressures. International conflicts, supply chain shocks, and rising input costs have reshaped priorities for many manufacturers, often at the expense of sustainability considerations. One participant was of the mindset that sustainability is “not even in the top 10” issues for local manufacturers currently.
Despite this, attendees did state that reframing the conversation could help maintain the necessary momentum. Rather than positioning climate action as an obligation, it should be presented as a means to deliver tangible benefits: warmer homes, lower energy bills, healthier communities, and more competitive local businesses. What is needed is a story that resonates: one that leads with terms of improved health, decent housing and energy security.
Huw Howells Managing Director, Manufacturing and Industrials & Regional Head, Midlands, Lloyds Corporate & InstitutionalThe Midlands region showcases what we have often seen at other roundtables in this series - while a number of challenges, both financial and regulatory, remain to be overcome, ultimately the region highlights enormous promise waiting to be unlocked.
Finance, affordability and the Just Transition
As we experienced from our other regional roundtables in this series, access to finance emerged as a key theme. While some participants in the Midlands noted that sustainability loans and green finance mechanisms are now more readily available, there are still some barriers to accessing this finance. One participant noted that few businesses would secure an ESG loan if the incentives aren’t aligned; companies will always go down the route of greatest financial benefit, he said.
This was particularly the case in the housing and built environment sectors, it was noted. One participant talked of the importance of retrofitting the UK’s ageing housing stock, which remains a vast and expensive undertaking. Participants noted that costs per home to achieve full green standards were high, with participants questioning how landlords could recover those costs without raising rents or compromising affordability.
The benefits of offsetting this spend are further complicated, another participant pointed out, due to the fact that much of the wider social value – e.g. reduced sick days, improved wellbeing, job creation – remains difficult to quantify or present as positive evidence.
Participants also noted that the average consumer is often not willing to pay for net zero. One said: “Customers aren’t interested in 2050; they’re interested in their energy bills now.”
Collaboration and local leadership
Another central theme of the Midlands discussion was the need for greater devolved powers and flexible local funding mechanisms. Participants argued that true place-based transition cannot be designed or delivered centrally: it must be locally led, trusted by communities, and adaptable to the distinct needs of each area.
Devolved funding, they said, has already proven effective where it allows local governments and organisations to experiment and tailor solutions without rigid national requirements. This flexibility, however, needs to be matched by resources and clear long-term plans. The participants agreed that constant change creates uncertainty and inconsistency – what is most needed is a clear path that investors know will remain consistent for at least five years.
Roundtable participants did note, however, that positive steps have been made by HM Treasury in recognising public assets within national debt accounting, but the table agreed that siloed thinking across departments remains a constraint. To embed collaborative, place-based thinking, systems must be designed to integrate housing, transport, energy, and education at the local level, they said.
Scott Barton Managing Director, Lloyds Corporate & InstitutionalWith financial and educational assistance, businesses have the potential to drive positive change and lead the region at the forefront of net zero action. What is needed now is greater collaboration between businesses and local government to create clear actions for progress.
Education and green skills
The conversation closed with an exploration of the region’s green skills agenda. Participants agreed that, while demand for sustainability-related skills is growing fast, there remains a disconnect between policy ambitions and the realities of education and training. To this point, one academic participant stressed the importance of experiential learning – giving young people opportunities to connect with nature and see firsthand the impact of sustainability technologies. Others described successful local initiatives that partnered manufacturers with schools to inspire children through design-and-build challenges focused on green innovation.
At university level, attendees advocated for greater emphasis on industry placements and internships, which they described as transformative experiences that turn abstract sustainability principles into lived professional practice.
The Midlands region has the ingredients to lead on net zero: an early energy strategy, clear targets and collaboration with the NESO. While some of the solutions to challenges mentioned in the roundtable are beyond business’ reach – derisking finance, for example, or improving policy certainty – others are ultimately possible through direct action, collaborative thinking and reframing the conversation. Positioning sustainable action as a risk reduction activity and highlighting key metrics and financial benefits, rather than specifically as part of ESG, could overcome negative sentiment around the term as well as create buy-in from averse finance departments.
Similarly, a focus on building green skills – through apprenticeships, training and community projects – could shore up the skills gap and create an upcoming workforce of talented individuals, trained in sustainable roles and motivated to support ESG strategies.
Lloyds Corporate & Institutional’s Scott Barton, Managing Director, said: “We were thrilled by the high level of discourse present around the table and were glad to take part in what turned out to be an engaging and solutions-focused discussion.”
What’s next?
Both Lloyds and edie look forward to presenting the full results of this collaborative roundtable series later in the year.
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- Ashlea Mallett, Head of Sustainability & Campus Services, Estates & Facilities, University College Birmingham
- Cheryl Hiles, Director of Energy Capital, West Midlands Combined Authority
- Dr Mark Swift, Director of SME Engagement, WMG University of Warwick
- Emily Landsborough, Head of ESG, Ibstock
- James Henry, Executive Director of Finance, Loughborough University
- Huw Howells, Managing Director, Manufacturing and Industrials & Regional Head, Midlands, Lloyds Corporate & Institutional
- Joe Reeves, Deputy Chief Executive, Midlands Heart
- Liza Jabbour, Professor of International Economics at Birmingham Business School, Deputy Director Birmingham Institute for Sustainability and Climate Action (BISCA)
- Luke Nicholls, Publisher & Series Host, edie
- Oliver Shaw, Director, Higher Education, Lloyds Corporate & Institutional
- Rachel Andrew, Director, Property and Asset Management, JLL
- Rufus Grantham, Partner, Living Places
- Scott Barton, Managing Director, Lloyds Corporate & Institutional
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