Making a Green Economy Happen

The West Midlands Combined Authority runs the West Midlands Greener Together Forum, which is open to citizens in the West Midlands, as well as green activist groups. This forum aims to engage these groups and people in decision making, so that the decisions made by the local authority are sensitive to and receptive to local concerns. The forum is open several times a year, with the aim of enabling the authority to inform their own sustainability plans with the views of the broader public, and of civil society organisations in the region.

Presented by: Ed Cox, Director of Inclusive Growth and Public Service Reform, West Midlands Combined Authority

West Midlands Greener Together Forum

This solution offered by the West Midlands Combined Authority allows businesses in the combined authority area to make a Net Zero Pledge, thus encouraging small-scale contributions towards the region's Carbon Net Zero by 2041 pledge. Having made the pledge, these businesses are then provided access to business networks and opportunities that will guide their commitment to net zero, as well as being able to publish the pledge logo on their website. They are also given access to a range of marketing materials through the pledge scheme which they can use to advertise their commitment to Net Zero to the broader public.

Presented by: Ed Cox, Director of Inclusive Growth and Public Service Reform, West Midlands Combined Authority

West Midlands Net Zero Pledge

'Community Green Grants' are offered by the West Midlands Combined Authority to potential projects that tackle the issue of green deprivation, or work to improve local environments. Grants fall either into the 'small grants category (£3,000-25,000) or the 'large grants' category (£25,000-100,000). Small grants are afforded to projects looking to run activities in green spaces, enable families with limited access to green spaces to access these, and to turn unused brownfield areas into green 'pockets' that will benefit urban communities. Large grants are afforded for green corridor projects, projects looking to create new green spaces, and those looking to improve local biodiversity.

Presented by: Ed Cox, Director of Inclusive Growth and Public Service Reform, West Midlands Combined Authority

Community Green Grants 

The West Midlands Combined Authority has created a SMART (Sustainable Market for Affordable Retrofit Technologies) Hub . The Hub works with local businesses to grow opportunity in the retrofit sector, including through creation of new employment and business opportunity. The Hub also works to secure funding for retrofit works in the West Midlands, and to work on 'demonstrator projects' which showcase the potential to bring homes to a net zero standard. Finally, the Hub also offers market development support: looking into the existing challenges in the retrofit sector and attempting to remove those market barriers, thus facilitating work in the sector.

Presented by: Ed Cox, Director of Inclusive Growth and Public Service Reform, West Midlands Combined Authority

SMART Hub

Enapter creates hydrogen electrolysers that are roughly the size of a microwave per unit. These can be joined up into a much larger scale electricity generator, if numerous units are joined together, allowing any quantity of hydrogen-based electricity to be generated. The business builds its units in this way because by creating a standardised and mass-produced commodity, it will be able to spread its solution faster around the globe. As the by-product of using hydrogen to generate electricity is water vapour, hydrogen generated power is much cleaner than using fossil fuels. Moreover, it can be used to power difficult-to-decarbonise sectors such as the steel industry.

Presented by: Vaitea Cowen, Enapter

Enapter website

Many energy solutions today are technology driven, which does not take into account the contexts of local areas and needs of rural populations. A capabilities-led approach can be a solution to this problem. Focus groups discussions can be facilitated by researchers in order to find out the needs and capabilities, and ascertain how these relate to energy needs. In this research, it was found that a lack of stable electricity access caused issues of night-time safety; inability to work due to lack of lighting in the home and workspace; educational disruptions to children's learning and ability to complete homework; and constraints to religious worship due to lack of electricity in religious buildings. The research team was then able to craft a series of renewable energy solutions that would benefit the village based on their needs and energy requirements, and suggested the use of solar PV coupled with energy storage. The use of a capabilities approach to identify needs and propose solutions is effective because it responds to the context-specific needs of a rural area, ensuring that the technological solutions provided are context-appropriate.

Presented by: Xinfang Wang, School of Chemistry, University of Birmingham

Assessing technological solutions for a rural community