Bristol Mission Net Zero

Creating a regional investment pipeline for clean energy projects across the West of England

Mission Net Zero (MNZ) was established to create the enabling conditions for significant investment in the West of England’s transition to net zero. Led by Bristol City Council, the programme brought together local authorities, energy organisations, community partners and investors to address barriers to decarbonisation and accelerate project delivery.

the challenge

A key challenge was moving beyond individual project opportunities to create a consistent, region-wide process for identifying, assessing and progressing clean energy projects towards investment. The partnership needed a practical framework that could work across different organisations, governance structures, funding routes and levels of project maturity.

Working as part of Arup’s delivery team for Work Package 2, the Regional Climate Investment Plan, GCF supported the design of the systems, governance and processes needed to turn regional net zero ambitions into investable propositions.

Designing the investment pipeline

GCF led the design of the investment pipeline process that would support projects from initial identification through to investment and delivery.

The pipeline was designed to:

create a consistent approach to project assessment and prioritisation;
align projects against strategic, technical, commercial and financial criteria;
support projects of different sizes, sectors and maturity levels;
identify suitable funding, investment and delivery routes; and
provide a clear pathway from project concept to decision-making and implementation.

The approach connected energy planning outputs with commercial, governance and investment considerations, ensuring projects could be assessed not only for their carbon impact, but also for deliverability, affordability and investor readiness.

Alongside the pipeline, GCF designed the operating model required to support long-term programme delivery.

This included reviewing governance arrangements, decision-making processes and approval routes across the partner organisations. GCF developed options for investment, delivery and governance models and explored how projects could progress through different pathways depending on their scale, complexity and level of risk.

developing The model

The operating model considered:

governance and decision-making routes;
business case requirements;
project bundling opportunities;
procurement and delivery approaches;
ownership and stewardship arrangements; and
potential public and private investment mechanisms.

Stakeholder and market engagement

To ensure the proposed approach reflected both regional priorities and market expectations, GCF undertook engagement with local authority partners, funders, investors and wider stakeholders throughout the programme. This work informed the development of investment criteria, governance routes, delivery models and the operating framework required to support future investment decisions.

Impact

GCF helped establish the commercial, governance and process foundations required to support the Regional Climate Investment Plan.

The resulting framework provided:

a structured regional investment pipeline;
a defined operating model for progressing projects;
assessment and prioritisation processes aligned to investment decision-making;
pathways for business case development and project advancement; and
a scalable approach capable of supporting multiple organisations across the West of England.

By focusing on the non-technical barriers to delivery, GCF helped create a practical route for progressing clean energy projects from regional ambition towards investment and implementation.