Regional and local policy-making on carbon reduction requires user-friendly greenhouse gas inventory and quantitative scenario tools. We present one such tool - the Greenhouse Gas Regional Inventory Project (GRIP) - and discuss stakeholder reaction to this interactive computer-based approach. We then provide results on a set of 38 stakeholder-led interviews that were undertaken using GRIP to explore prospects for achieving deep cuts (-60%) in CO2 emissions by 2050 in the North West region of England. Seventeen energy stakeholders, despite being engaged in a professional capacity with the climate change and carbon reduction issues, struggled to find ways to reduce emissions by as much as 60% by 2050. This should worry policy makers in central government who consider that local and regional implementation of energy policy will be straightforward. Our findings, we argue, support a greater role for energy policy making at the sub-national regional scale in England. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.