In recent years, decision-makers working from the international to local levels have become increasingly focused on developing and advancing the concept of a societal ‘green transition’. As the existential threats of the climate crisis and environmental degradation have become pronounced and urgent, the scientifically prudent period to shift from a fossil fuel to a renewable energy-based economy has dramatically compressed in scale. This rapid transition of our energy systems and economic models, now required to take place at an accelerated rate due to decades of inaction, can be understood as the green transition and is defined by the need for immediate, transformational change.

Navigating a green transition process requires decision-makers to develop specific capabilities to design, implement, evaluate and iterate. The monitoring and evaluation frameworks of these transformative policy agendas is a crucial component for enabling progressive systems change. Cities on the cutting edge of urban green transition policy, such as Manchester (UK), are currently grappling with this need to rethink how they evaluate their transformation pathways, an emerging case highlighted in this policy brief.