This report examines the degree to which cities can drive low carbon growth and looks in detail at the city deals process as a means of achieving this.

‘City deals’ have been introduced to unlock the economic potential of cities, transferring power, tools and support from central government. So far, deals have been agreed with the eight core cities, known as ‘wave one’, and a further 20 cities, known as ‘wave two’, are in the running to agree deals by November 2013. The report looks at how wave one cities integrated low carbon ambitions into their deals and makes recommendations about how this can be achieved and embedded more consistently among wave two cities, as they agree their deals in the coming year.