When awarding the PACER initiative funding the UKRI declared that ’the majority of the UK’s national emissions budget will be used in the Built Environment’. Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) are increasingly the only gatekeepers to lower whole life carbon in the built environment with the ability to set targets and decide which projects are permitted. PACER is a software tool designed to be operated by LPAs to assess the carbon documentation submitted with applications and to guide officers in the analysis of those proposals.

Aiming to make the decision-making transparent and democratically sound, PACER will have been used since its launch early 2025 during the assessment of a range of proposed projects. The panel will discuss how it works, the characteristics of the submission requirements and early outcomes found by its development partner Westminster City Council. In aiming to implement Retrofit First policies, how have the planning authority adopted these digital tools and could this be a mechanism adopted by authorities around the UK?

The panel will feature Ian Poole, Whole Life Carbon Officer at Westminster City Council, alongside representatives from Innovate UK, Preoptima, and other collaborators, who will discuss PACER’s potential as a nationwide mechanism for carbon assessment.