Highland Council has been recognised on the national stage after its Climate and Energy Team secured a major win at the APSE Energy Awards 2026, underscoring the authority’s growing influence in shaping Britain’s transition to a low-carbon future.
The awards, held in Birmingham as part of the APSE Big Energy Summit 2026 on 24 February, celebrate the role of local government in delivering sustainable energy solutions. Highland Council was shortlisted in four categories—Accessing and Managing Finance, Collaborative Working, Decarbonising Transport, and Supporting Innovation—ultimately taking home the Supporting Innovation Award.
Judges praised the Council’s “pioneering, place-based model” for decarbonisation, highlighting its integration of renewable energy generation, efficiency measures, and grid innovation. Central to this approach is the emerging Clean Highland Fund, designed to bring together public, private, and community investment while ensuring long-term economic value remains within the region.
The accolade coincides with formal approval by councillors of a new strategic framework outlined in the report Climate Change, Energy and Community Resilience. The document marks a decisive shift from isolated, project-led initiatives to a coordinated, programme-led model—one that unites climate adaptation, infrastructure investment, and community resilience under a single, place-based vision.
Under the approved strategy, the Council has committed to developing integrated investment pipelines across energy, housing, and infrastructure; deepening engagement with government and investors; embedding climate considerations across all services; and advancing a durable, long-term pathway to net zero.
Neil Osborne, the Council’s Climate Change and Energy Manager, said the recognition reflected a broader transformation in how the Highlands approaches the energy transition.
“Being recognised across all four categories demonstrates the strength of our overall strategic direction,” he noted. “With Council now formally endorsing our strategic framework, we are moving at pace from ambition to implementation. This is about creating a long-term, investable pipeline that brings together infrastructure, energy and community resilience in a way that works for the Highlands.”
His remarks echo a central theme emerging from this year’s summit: that large-scale progress towards net zero will depend less on individual projects and more on coordinated investment portfolios—structures capable of unlocking capital, reducing risk, and delivering infrastructure at scale.
For the Highlands, long defined by both its natural resources and geographic challenges, the shift may prove decisive. What is being constructed is not merely an energy strategy, but a durable economic model—one that seeks to ensure the dividends of the green transition are retained locally rather than exported elsewhere.
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