Advancing Low-Carbon Strategy for Government with a Bespoke Analytics Platform

Butterfly Data worked with the UK Government to design and develop Butterfly Effect Net Zero (BENZ)— an Alpha-stage, single-source-of-truth analytics platform to support Net Zero planning.

Challenge

The UK Government needed a clearer, data-driven understanding of the opportunities and challenges facing the Net Zero supply chain to successfully meet its 2035 and 2050 Net Zero targets. This required answers to several critical questions:

• How might we identify and predict which strategic technologies will drive the UK’s Net Zero ambitions?
• How might we understand and map the critical supply chains and their geopolitical dependencies, risks, and opportunities?
• How might we bring together novel data sources, analytical techniques, and scenario modelling to inform policy and investment decisions?
• How might we collaborate with international partners to access leading practices and strengthen global connections essential to the UK’s transition?

Solution

Our approach focused on integrating novel datasets and analytical methods to support scenario planning and strategic foresight:

1. Leveraging open-source and proxy datasets to detect trends, surface early warning signals, and explore ‘unknown unknowns’
2. Applying visualisation and modelling tools to test the impacts of different decisions on Net Zero progress
3. Building and refining an Alpha product around hypotheses that matter to stakeholders

In collaboration with Intandem and Bays Consulting, we engaged in regular, iterative meetings with government departments, demonstrating progress and collecting input to shape ongoing development. This enabled us to enhance data quality and functionality through real-time collaboration.

The project showcased collective intelligence at scale by engaging government stakeholders, private sector partners, academics, and subject matter experts in a joint effort.

Participating departments in early user testing included:

• Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ)
• Department for Business and Trade (DBT)
• Ofgem
• Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO)
• Government Office for Science (Go-Science)

Impact

The result is BENZ, an Alpha-stage data and analytics platform providing government departments with a shared, cross-government view of the Net Zero supply chain.

Key benefits:

• A unified platform that brings clarity and structure to a complex policy area
• Strong validation through user testing across seven departments, with highly positive feedback
• A recognised solution to a critical data gap, offering actionable insights that were previously unavailable

Using Collide, our analytics and visualisation platform, BENZ offers a strong foundation for future development. Government users now have a prototype that demonstrates the value of integrated, cross-department data for scenario modelling and strategic decision-making.

The platform is now well-positioned for a Beta phase, where internal datasets and secure hosting environments can be integrated to expand capability and operational use.