Despite the scale of planned industrial change, understanding of decarbonisation technologies is generally low, even among those working in affected sectors. Misconceptions and lack of exposure to local Cluster Plans contribute to scepticism and undermine trust in both industry and government.

Community responses are shaped by historical and contemporary experiences – ranging from distrust following past policies that resulted in de-industrialisation to concerns about fairness and environmental degradation. People want to see investment and regeneration, but only if it reflects their needs and identities.

A just transition must address social, environmental and economic concerns in a way that is responsive to place. Host communities often feel excluded from planning processes and are sceptical that benefits will be fairly distributed. Transparent and locally-specific communication of both benefits and potential negative impacts is required to build public trust and avoid perceived greenwashing.

Two relevant terms are now defined. ‘Just transition’ describes an intended process that ‘secures the future and livelihoods of workers and their communities in the transition to a low-carbon economy’ and that ‘is based on social dialogue between workers and their unions, employers, government and communities’. ‘Social licence to operate’ (or SLO), which is a reflection of the level of public – and particularly local community – support for technologies or projects. SLO depends on a variety of actors, including industry, government bodies and local communities; the strength of an SLO can vary over time and scale as experience and events impact perceptions in local, regional and national contexts. The level of public support can have a significant impact on the SLO for industrial decarbonisation projects.

Concepts of just transition and SLO help develop an understanding that large-scale industrial decarbonisation is an ongoing process with positive and negative aspects that are meaningful and matter to people and the places where they live. People’s views and experiences – whether based on expectation (perceived) or actual events (materialised) – can strongly influence how society talks about and reacts to industrial decarbonisation. These influences can, in turn, shape or reshape the choices and actions taken by governments, companies and communities.

Across the globe, we are seeing a resurgence in resistance to green policies, particularly in relation to concerns about cost, fairness and the speed of proposed changes. In many cases, political and media narratives are playing a significant role in shaping public concerns – portraying net zero policies as expensive, disruptive or disconnected from everyday life. This framing has contributed to the politicisation of environmental action and decarbonisation initiatives and has, at times, undermined public trust and support. In this context, the findings of this report – related to both obtaining social licence to operate and achieving just transitions – are more important than ever.

Awareness
Research across the clusters, carried out by many IDRIC-funded projects described in other sections of this report, confirmed previous findings of generally low levels of both awareness and understanding of specific decarbonisation actions such as carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS).

Research led by the University of Glasgow with people working or training in sectors likely to be affected by decarbonisation and CCUS actions in Scotland, highlighted a range of misconceptions that fed into misunderstandings, including a tendency to equate environmentally responsible behaviour with recycling/re-use, coupled with beliefs that CO₂ can be ‘used up’ by re-use; beliefs that CO₂ (and greenhouse gases generally) is pollution, toxic and/or inflammable; and confusion between CO₂/carbon and net zero/zero.

However, research with various participants from different regions of the UK, carried out in a number of IDRIC-funded projects described elsewhere in this report confirmed widespread support for the goal of avoiding climate breakdown.

In the Tees Valley, Teesside University research found that the deployment of industrial decarbonisation technologies other than carbon capture and storage (CCS) is underpinned by a clear recognition of the urgent need to act on climate change across engagements with stakeholders, the public and community groups. Research involving key industry figures in Teesside showed that CCUS is acknowledged as a valuable transitional tool for achieving net zero, although they viewed carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) as preferable to geological CO₂ storage, which they saw as less sustainable. The project found that CCUS was recognised for its dual benefits: contributing to environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals and enhancing the region’s image as a green technology leader, which can attract a sustainability-focused workforce.

Weak translation of support into support for specific decarbonisation actions
IDRIC’s research reveals not only reluctance or even resistance to the implementation of decarbonisation actions, but also provides some important indications of the reasons for these responses.

In a Cardiff University study, researchers engaged with community figures and ran full-day workshops in Port Talbot and Pembroke Dock to explore regional perspectives through structured group tasks and facilitated discussions. The headline graphic shows some of the outputs of these workshops. There were concerns about past accidents and broken promises made by both industry and government, but also acknowledgment that the industries provide needed jobs. In Port Talbot, people expressed global concerns and collective responsibilities towards decarbonisation, as well as concerns about potential impacts of local change. When people were shown plans designed by industry and government, they expressed some degree of ‘vision fatigue’ due to past experience of plans that had never materialised. Indeed, some people stated a preference for past plans for tidal infrastructure that were no longer on the table.

Positive, concrete suggestions for what is needed to overcome barriers
Findings from across the projects suggest that transparent communication of benefits and impacts may avoid perceived greenwashing, cynicism and public rejection. In University of Manchester research, residents in the Humber and Northwest expressed an appetite for more information. Local institutions were seen as being important for building effective partnerships, although with potentially limited power to influence outcomes.

In the same project, stakeholders in the Humber, Northwest and Teesside highlighted how its proximity to major industrial emitters, supportive local political landscape, and the existing social acceptance of net zero initiatives, position the area uniquely for successful CCUS adoption. They also identified good existing physical infrastructure, a strong industrial heritage and common shared vision across partnerships as regional strengths for building an SLO for industrial decarbonisation more generally.

Just transitions
Research highlights the importance of social aspects of a just transition. For example, work led by the University of Sussex revealed a contrasting understanding of industrial places existing between policy/industry stakeholders and host communities. Policies and cluster discourses tended to take a techno-economic perspective to place and industrial decarbonisation (eg focusing on market competitiveness, technological innovation and economic growth). Place was mostly invoked as a cluster branding technique, and local communities seen as passive recipients of information and place changes.

Contrastingly, host communities tended to adopt a socio-cultural interpretation of place (eg strong ties to place and community through work, social and family connections). Whilst pride in connections to local industry and its strategic UK importance did exist, many residents expressed ambivalent and often negative views of current industrial activities and impacts. There was a feeling of increasingly exploitative community-industry relationships across localities, and a growing sense of unfairness regarding the uneven share of industrial costs/benefits and public investment between industry and host communities.

Economic aspects
The analysis of regional economic impacts carried out by Imperial College London revealed that investments in decarbonisation can generate substantial job creation and Gross Value Added (GVA) across various sectors. The distribution, however, depends on the region – where some regions, such as the Humber, offered higher returns due to their existing industrial infrastructure and resources. A key finding is that there is an urgent need for region-specific policies that address skills development and retraining, and ensure that disadvantaged communities are included in the transition towards low-carbon solutions. A key practical implication for a just transition is the importance of aligning decarbonisation strategies with social equity, ensuring that the workforce is equipped with the necessary skills for emerging low-carbon sectors.

Ensuring that communities are not only informed but actively involved in shaping industrial decarbonisation efforts is essential to rebuilding confidence and legitimacy in the continued transition ahead. It is also important to accept that communities have the right to make their own value judgements and that SLO may be unattainable for some projects and actions. This report prioritises the urgent need for effective engagement on both sides, rather than seeing just transition and SLO work as matters of more effective persuasion.

Since its launch in 2021, IDRIC has funded 100 projects exploring the key dimensions of the whole system of industrial decarbonisation. That work is brought together in the 2025 Frontiers Report series, which includes the full report on public perceptions and just transitions.

• Further reading: ‘Decarbonising UK industry: IDRIC’s transformative impact’. Since its launch in 2021, IDRIC has developed an influential network of over 700 industries, trade associations, governmental/public bodies and research institutions, to accelerate the pace and scale of industrial decarbonisation. As the organisation nears the end of its current phase of work, its Director, Professor Mercedes Maroto-Valer, also the Robert Buchan Chair in Sustainable Energy Engineering at Heriot-Watt University, looks back over four busy years. 
• ‘Research update on.... policy and governance’. The energy transition is not only about technological innovation; the ways in which public policy incentivises and regulates decarbonisation initiatives bear greatly upon society, writes Benjamin Sovacool, Professor of Energy Policy, University of Sussex.