Case Study: Making Net Zero Go Work for Local Authorities
It all started with research.
As part of the Energy Revolution Integration Service projects, I was approached by NetZeroGo to improve their website offering, starting with speaking to local authorities across the UK in 1-2-1 user interviews.
Through those conversations, one thing became clear: there was a gap. Councils wanted to take climate action, but they were struggling to find and share the information they needed to do it well.
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That insight became an opportunity.
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Energy Systems Catapult, with funding from UK Research and Innovation and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, teamed up with the Net Zero Hubs and local authorities to respond. In 2022, they launched Net Zero Go—a digital platform to help councils collaborate, share knowledge, and access the tools they need to drive their local Net Zero ambitions.
This work supports the UK’s legally binding goal to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050—a goal that will require major changes in energy, transport, buildings, and industry.
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Want to discuss further? Contact me, or read on!
Step 1: Defining the challenge
​​The problem was this:
Despite a promising launch, the Net Zero Go team noticed that engagement was low.
Councils were signing up for accounts, but many weren’t coming back. The site had high bounce rates, confusing user journeys, and poor content findability.
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In short: people were struggling to find what they needed.
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That’s where I came in—as a user researcher, brought in to uncover what was going wrong, and how to fix it.
Step 2: understanding user needs
​​The Approach
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The Net Zero Go team had a great vision: a central hub for local authorities to share experience, learn from others, and access key resources for their own projects.
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But the team didn’t have a clear view of what users were actually doing on the site—or why they weren’t staying.
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I kicked things off by interviewing council leaders across the country. We explored:
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What would make the site genuinely useful to them?
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What kind of content or features would make them come back?
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What were they hoping to find—and where were they getting stuck?​
We also walked through the site together (and in some cases, I just let them explore on their own) to spot pain points, confusion, and missed opportunities.
Step 3: Digging deeper with tree testing
​​Combining moderated and unmoderated testing
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Based on the initial interviews, I realised we needed to dig into the site structure itself.
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I mapped out the current information architecture (IA) and set up a tree test—a method that evaluates how well users can find information based solely on navigation structure and labelling, without the influence of any visual design.
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Participants were given tasks that matched the goals they’d told me about in interviews. For example:
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“Find where you’d go to download a project toolkit.”
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“Where would you look to connect with another council?”
The test was sent out with clear instructions and expectations, and the unmoderated format let us gather more input, more efficiently.
Step 4: Presenting the findings
​​Gaining business understanding and buy in
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I compiled the insights from both moderated interviews and unmoderated testing into a report and shared it with the Net Zero Go stakeholders and development team.
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The response? Surprise and enthusiasm.
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They had assumed the issue was surface-level, but the findings showed deeper, structural challenges. Most importantly, the research highlighted three clear user journeys that needed prioritising:
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Peer learning – Councils wanted to connect with others via a forum to share real-world experiences and lessons learned.
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Resource access – The main reason to visit (and revisit) the site was to download toolkits and guidance documents—these needed to be much easier to find.
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CPD tracking – Users wanted a clear area to log CPD hours and demonstrate professional development to peers and managers.​
We also discovered the site’s taxonomy and naming conventions were confusing users—and that rethinking those would be key to improving engagement.