Building on The Young Foundation’s previous research exploring how more people can benefit through the transition to a greener future, our GoZero Index publishes today.
Mapping more than 30 datasets across housing, transport, health, employment and social data, the GoZero Index shares the unique combination of challenges faced by communities and in places around England. This builds an understanding of local ‘readiness’ for a fairer transition to net zero, and can be used to benchmark conditions across multiple locations.
Reaching ‘green’ targets
The UK is struggling to hit its ‘green’ targets, and our Institute for Community Studies evidence shows that current plans for the transition to net zero, even if achieved, risk reproducing existing inequalities and creating new ones. This work identified an urgent need to both accelerate national progress towards ‘net zero’, and to move beyond the narrow objective of decarbonisation, ensuring the journey to net zero is impactful, equitable, and accessible to all.
Targeted support to ensure no one is left behind
As the first tool of its kind, the GoZero Index challenges the highly technical and top-down approach to net zero policies, which have leant heavily on blanket decarbonisation approaches to infrastructure, energy, and technology.
Instead, recognising the deep spatial and social inequalities that the UK experiences, the Index helps to build a more rounded picture. It considers the local challenges and strengths that shape each place’s journey to net zero – providing both an overall picture of current ‘readiness’ for transition, and benchmarking readiness in four areas: agency, inequality, infrastructure, and economy. The Index can thereby help changemakers, funders and policymakers offer more targeted support to help people and places participate in and benefit from net zero policies.
Explore your journey to net zero
Use the map below to explore your own local area’s journey to net zero, and compare it with other places. Take a look at the overall readiness, or explore different combinations of the datasets underpinning the Index, to understand what ‘readiness’ looks like in terms of the economy and jobs market, the state of local infrastructure such as transport or buildings, existing inequalities, or people’s agency to make change where they live.
How to use the map:
- Select a local authority (or multiple authorities to compare) in the top search bar.
- Select the information you are interested in using the ‘Indicator’ drop-down menu – either overall readiness for transition to net zero across all evaluated datasets, or readiness for net zero transition connected to a specific dataset, choosing from agency, economy, inequalities, or infrastructure.
- Hover over neighbourhoods within a local authority, or use the colour scale to see how ready for net zero transition a place is – either overall or in the context of a specific dataset (blue is less ready and yellow is more ready).
The Index in practice
The Young Foundation has been trialling how the Index can be helpful in different scenarios and with different stakeholders. For example, we have been working with a local council to develop a framework helping the council address multiple challenges within a community or neighbourhood through a single net zero policy intervention.
We are also asking for people across the country to share the Index with their local MP so they can identify challenges and opportunities in their area, and consider how data-driven, joined-up, place-based approaches can achieve fairer, more inclusive climate action. You can share a letter with your MP directly via Action Network here, or you can email them manually by accessing their details here and sending this template letter.
Our Interim Director of Sustainability and Just Transition, Julie McLaren, says, “The GoZero Index recognises that places across the county face very different starting points in the journey to low-carbon living. By making these differences visible, we can help policymakers, funders, and changemakers design interventions that are fairer, more inclusive, and more effective. It’s only by having a complete picture that we ensure we don’t further exacerbate existing inequalities, and ensure that people benefit from a greener future. We urge people all over England to explore your area, and share it with your MP so they can make informed decisions that benefit local communities – on their very doorsteps.”
Next steps for the GoZero Index
Next, we’ll be working with our partners in the Centre for Joined-Up Sustainability Transformations (JUST), to develop a new iteration of a readiness tool. This includes adding new datasets, trialling its use with additional stakeholders, and developing a more interactive interface for public and professional use.
To stay up-to-date with the development of the Index, reach out to the team at sustainability@youngfoundation.org to explore how we can work together.
You can explore the Index and accompanying report here.
Climate change Community Community needs and priorities Education and employment Health and Wellbeing Housing and regeneration Inequality Just transition Local economies Net zero Places Posted on: 30 October 2025