The transition to net zero in Wales needs to be viewed as a cultural shift rather than solely a technological challenge, according to industry leaders.
Speaking on the Business News Wales Public Sector Wales podcast, Ben Burggraaf, CEO of Net Zero Industry Wales, described the scale of the challenge as unprecedented, comparing it to a second industrial revolution compressed into a single decade.
“A lot of people see the journey to net zero as a technical or technological challenge. It isn’t. It is a cultural challenge,” he said.
The need to rapidly deploy investment and transform industries within a short timeframe, he argues, means that traditional ways of working between the private and public sectors must evolve.
Burggraaf highlights the importance of increasing collaboration between government and business. He notes that many processes remain transactional, with businesses submitting applications or proposals and waiting for a response, rather than engaging in continuous dialogue.
“It needs to be more collaborative,” he said.
“That means having more engagement in between the formal processes, having much more consultation, and creating a trusted space where the private and public sector can work together.”
This need for greater collaboration is echoed in other parts of Europe, where formal frameworks have been established to support joint working between industry and government. Burggraaf suggests that Wales could benefit from similar structures to foster a more cooperative approach.
Helen Nelson, Director of Strategic Planning and Climate & Nature at Future Generations Wales – also speaking on the Public Sector Wales podcast – stressed the importance of cultural change.
“Whilst there are technological advances, challenges, and opportunities that we all need to make, we need business, financiers, politicians, and communities to work together on this,” she said.
Nelson points to the risk of polarised debates around net zero and argues that more inclusive decision-making will be crucial to ensuring progress.
“The more that we can collaborate, the more that we can involve communities, businesses in our towns, villages, and cities, the more likely we are to succeed,” she said.
The role of communities in shaping net zero policies is seen as essential. Nelson highlights initiatives such as community-based energy and publicly owned energy as ways to ensure that people see tangible benefits from the transition.
“People feel the benefits, whether that’s through jobs, income from community energy, or reinvesting in local services such as arts and health,” she said.
Burggraaf also raises concerns about “vision fatigue” in industrial areas, where communities have been promised regeneration and transformation without seeing results.
“They’ve heard a lot of stories about what could be done to revitalise their communities, and very little of those plans have actually become a reality,” he said.
He stressed the importance of delivering major net zero projects, such as floating offshore wind, to build confidence and demonstrate that change is possible.
Both Burggraaf and Nelson emphasise that the road to net zero will involve challenges and risks. Burggraaf suggests that both the public and private sectors need to develop a higher tolerance for risk within acceptable limits.
“If you want to do transformational change, there is a lot of upheaval and there will be things that go wrong,” he said.
“But we need to be accepting of that risk in order to create a more collaborative space.”
