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Ever wondered "What can I do about climate change?". Rather than telling people what to do, the Climate Action Unit helps them discover how to do it. We offer cookbooks and cooking classes, not menu items.
Our sessions equip changemakers with the insights to unblock common barriers to climate action. We help align a group to find actions that are meaningful to them. We mobilise people and resources to put ideas into practice.
Our skills and insights are based on the CAU's indepth understanding of neuroscience and psychology to overcome a lack of agency (the ability to act).
We create a multiplier effect for climate action through helping an exponentially growing number of people to deliver effective projects in evermore communities.
Resources
- Transforming the stories we tell about climate change: from 'issue' to 'action' - A paper in Environmental Research Letters
- Climate Curious: Why there's much more to climate action than reducing your carbon footprint - A TEDxLondon podcast featuring Dr Kris De Meyer
Recent projects
Transition Labs
We are working with North Star Transition to establish multiple Transition Labs in several UK nations. Transition labs use a structured approach to convene unlikely allies from different sectors to solve systemic problems. We are currently running the Wales Transition Lab and the Scotland Transition Lab; the Regen Investment Lab (catalysing a regenerative financial market system); and the Wye and Usk Transition Lab (providing landscape-scale transformation across a large region).
Partner organisations
North Star Transition
When?
October 2021 - ongoing
Further information
Policy Pathways
A policy simulation scenario exploring how we can use existing policy levers (spending, taxation, regulation) to accelerate the transition to net zero.
Partner organisations
Chatham House, Fast Familiar
When?
August 2021 onwards
Further information
Net Zero Innovation Programme
The Net Zero Innovation Programme – now in its 3rd year - is a capacity-building programme focusing on the creation of effective, long-lasting partnerships between universities and local councils. It adopts a learning-by-doing approach by supporting mixed university/council teams to establish new modes of collaboration while delivering place-based projects to address climate and sustainability challenges.
Partner organisations
Local Government Association & UCL Public Policy
When?
January 2020 onwards
Further information
Past projects
- The Facilitator Programme
The CAU ran a bespoke training programme for organisational development consultants and leadership coaches. The aim of this training was to build their capacity to bring climate change decision making into the project work they do with clients in business and government organisations.
When?
May 2020 - November 2020Further information
- Developing Meaningful Action & Leading Change training
The CAU team ran a three day community training in Cornwall on how to develop agency for climate action. The purpose of the workshop was to help organisation and community leaders to deliver meaningful action on climate change.
Partner organisations
Treverbyn Community HallWhen?
February 2020Further information
Kings College London blog - "Helping communities manage anxiety on global issues"- Climate Action for Engineers
A climate action programme designed for an engineering company and their clients, to bring climate action into the forefront of their ways of working. In October 2021, we ran a workshop with and for Stantec clients, and in April 2022, we delivered a climate action workshop for Stantec's Directors. This will be followed by further capacity-building activities in 2022.
Client
StantecWhen?
September 2021 onwardsFurther information
- Church of England InSpire
The Climate Action Unit delivered a pilot programme to enhance the Church of England’s response to climate change. The purpose of the programme was to develop the skills of church community members to better engage their community in conversations and action on climate change.
Partner organisation
Diocese of OxfordWhen?
April 2021 - November 2021- Climate Action Programme for UK Parliament
In 2021 the CAU delivered its first programme on climate action for Members of Parliament and the House of Lords. The programme was developed to engage participants in meaningful dialogue and explore new opportunities to bring action on climate change into their roles. Over five sessions, participants engaged in a series of activities to examine how people respond to the complex nature of climate change.
When?
February 2021 - March 2021Further information
