Net Zero Cities – A City Sprint In Action

Accenture invites you to join the ‘Net Zero Cities – A City Sprint In Action’ session during Leeds Digital Festival 2022.

Cities are on the front line for limiting global warming to well below 2°C. More than half of the global population live in cities, consuming more than 78% of the world’s primary energy and generating 70% of total carbon emissions. Across the full spectrum of industries and sectors, localised approaches to sustainability will be key to supporting mitigation and adaptation.

This session builds on the work of Accenture’s Net Zero City Sprint program – a cross-sectoral initiative in collaboration with the World Economic Forum with the goal of creating an enabling environment for clean electrification and circularity, resulting in urban decarbonisation and resilience. We bring to you a 1-hour interactive session on urban decarbonisation with city and business leaders. In this session, we will bring to life our jointly developed Toolbox of Solutions, a World Economic Forum digital platform containing over 200 best practices and case studies for policy, business, and finance models. The session includes an interactive exercise to identify targeted near-term actions with the City of Leeds to accelerate their journey to net zero.

Cities are complex systems. They are focal points of society, culture, enterprise, and industry, making them epicenters for resource consumption and emissions. Join this session and form part of the dialogue of how the City of Leeds can decarbonise and reach its goals of becoming a Net Zero city by 2030.

Liz Burlon

Liz has 10 years’ experience in utilities across Water, Electricity and Gas utilities in the UK, Ireland, and Europe. She has successfully designed and delivered solutions for clients across the value chain, from electricity transmission to electricity and gas distribution, water production and distribution, and retail digital transformation. In addition to work with our Utilities clients, Liz has performed global strategic roles for Accenture and the World Economic Forum and leads the Accenture Net Zero Cities Programme globally.

Agenda:

6pm – Leeds Net Zero Carbon Cities Interactive Session

• Part 1: Facilitated by Rebecca Kyle (Accenture)
  • Opening and Welcome
  • Introduction to Net Zero Cities – presentation (Accenture)
• Part 2: Facilitated by Liz Burlon (Accenture)
  • Net Zero City Sprint applied to Leeds – presentation (Polly Cook; Chief Office of Sustainable Energy and Air Quality at Leeds City Council)
    • Briefing on the City of Leeds including net zero strategy and context across the following emissions drivers, including in flight activities:
      • Built Environment
      • Power and Energy Infrastructure
      • Transport and Urban Form
    • Audience participation using Mentimeter to assess and prioritise Net Zero challenges and opportunities for Leeds
• Part 3: Playback and reflections on the session outcomes and next steps.

7-9pm – Networking and Drinks

Following the session, we will be hosting some drinks and food at the venue, so please join us afterwards to network and learn more about what Accenture is doing in the Net Zero space.