Bristol’s trailblazing community-led climate action to expand across the West of England
Bristol Climate & Nature Partnership’s Community Climate and Nature Project has been awarded £1.75million from the National Lottery’s Climate Action Fund to scale up its impact and reach.
This funding will support and mobilise community-led climate and nature action and leadership across the region. It will also enable advocacy for national policies that better support this kind of local action, unlocking greater impact both regionally and across the UK.
This award is testament to the power of community-led solutions in tackling the climate and nature crises, whilst also enhancing the quality of life for local people.
Over the past five years, the innovative and collaborative initiative has developed a model for how to put communities at the heart of effective climate and nature action. This approach has empowered 17 community organisations in Bristol to co-produce climate action plans tailored to their communities. Most recently, six new community organisations have launched plans – Shirehampton Community Action Forum, Rising Arts Agency, Bristol Older People’s Forum, Hotwells and Cliftonwood Community Association, One Green Kitchen, and Gloucestershire County Cricket Club & The Next Test.
The plans were developed in close collaboration with their communities, identifying climate and nature action that will bring the social benefits they want to see. They highlight priorities including improved public transport, more access to affordable local food, opportunities for young people to connect with nature, developing community energy projects and reducing the risks from flooding and heatwaves.
“We’re thrilled that this grant will enable an even more diverse range of communities across the region to take the lead on environmental action in their area. Climate and nature action can bring positive benefits to local people, but this is only possible if they are empowered to shape and guide it. We’re hoping the learning from working with the region’s diverse communities will inform a blueprint for scaling community climate and nature action across the UK.”
Amy Harrison, Head of Community Partnerships at Bristol Climate & Nature Partnership
The project has enabled several communities to turn their plans into action, developing with tangible benefits. This includes Heart of BS13’s flower growing and composting social enterprise; Ambition Lawrence Weston’s new gardens, a community fridge, food share and zero waste store, Eastside Community Trust’s support for residents around cold homes and retrofitting, and ACH’s cookery entrepreneurship course for refugees and migrants. To date, more than 11,000 local people have engaged with climate and nature action through the project and CO2 emissions have been reduced by 382 tonnes – the equivalent of 2,255 short haul return flights.
Building on this success, the grant will support a further three years of work and extend the project’s reach across the West of England, including to Bath & North East Somerset, South Gloucestershire, and North Somerset. Led by Bristol Climate & Nature Partnership, the initiative will be delivered by 42 partners across the region, including core partners the Centre for Sustainable Energy, Bristol City Council and the West of England Combined Authority, with UWE Bristol newly appointed as an evaluation and policy partner.
“Across the West, we care deeply about our planet. Nature thriving means greener, healthier places for us all to call home. Bristol Climate & Nature Partnership are an important part of that work. They have already empowered communities from Shirehampton to Hartcliffe to deliver projects that bring social and environmental benefits. Excitingly, this new National Lottery funding will help grow their work and impact across our wider region. More communities will be able to take the lead to build climate resilience and nature recovery, as together we start a new chapter for the West of England.”
Helen Godwin, the new Mayor of the West of England
This next phase of the project will launch in September 2025, creating new, funded opportunities for six community organisations across the West of England to co-create community climate action plans through a tried and tested capacity building programme. Alongside this, local artists will collaborate with communities to explore themes of climate, nature, community and just transition. Creativity has played an important role in the project, as a powerful tool for engaging communities around climate.
This phase will also establish a new network of Bristol-based communities engaged in the project, supporting them to stay connected, share insights and build collective momentum. Advocates from six Bristol community organisations will serve as champions and mentors, helping to inspire and guide community-led climate and nature action across the region. In partnership with UWE Bristol, the project will capture learnings to champion the vital role of community-led action in driving national progress on climate and nature goals.
“This is innovative and impressive work by Bristol Climate & Nature Partnership. A place-based approach to action on climate and nature, building up the power of communities and creating an enabling local environment, is a more inclusive, more equitable way of doing things, that will deliver tangible outcomes. I’m glad to see Bristol once again showing leadership on this front.”
Kerry McCarthy MP for Bristol East and Minister for Climate, Department for Energy Security and Net Zero
We have released a series of resources over the last few weeks to share learnings from the project. You can find them here.
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