Five years of Climate Leadership – an interview with the Climate Leaders Group Co-Chair
In this case study Nina Skubala reflects on the last five years of the Bristol’s Climate Leaders Group, which she has co-chaired since its founding in 2020. Set up by the Partnership after Bristol became the first city to declare a climate emergency, this group is a space for organisations leading the way on climate action to share their experiences and best practices as they work towards reducing their carbon emissions.
Why was the Climate Leaders group set up?
The main goal of the Climate Leaders is simple: get companies to reduce their carbon emissions as quickly as they can in a just and fair way.
The group was established to support businesses who were leading the way in decarbonisation to come together in a safe and trusted space where people can ask questions and talk freely about the approaches they are trying. It brings together a mixture of cross-sector organisations in a place-based network, connecting local businesses over local decarbonisation issues, working together to overcome common challenges.
What drew you to being involved in the Climate Leader Group?
I was part of setting up this group, along with sustainability strategist Jessica Ferrow and Claire Jacob, Head of Communications and Partnerships at Bristol Climate & Nature Partnership. We wanted to set up an innovative learning space that focused on the practical actions that businesses can take while also challenging each other to explore what was possible.
The result was the Climate Leader’s Group. A dynamic peer-to-peer network led by the needs of the current membership. The topics we cover are those suggested, and often led, by the group’s members. The intimate size of the group allows us to understand the direction of travel for members to inform in depth roundtable discussions and support sessions.
Our members are also experts and leaders in their fields, which I find unique from other forums in this space, in addition to leading the way with climate action. Alongside hosting external expert speakers, often members will lead the group through topics they have deep insights on, to help build the expertise of the membership.
Why do you think an organisation should consider becoming a Climate Leader?
The benefits are two-fold.
Firstly, it provides a supportive network for sustainability practitioners who are assigned with challenging task of decarbonisation. The meetings are fantastic, providing a space to share experiences and helpful insights, and There are also communication channels which members regularly use to keep in contact outside of the meetings. This highlights the depths of the relationships and peer-to-peer support formed within the group.
Secondly, we are able to cascade learnings from the group to the wider business community. For example, the group will hold an expert-led session on a certain topic, then based off the conversations generated at that session a Climate Action Breakfast aimed at a more general organisation audience might be held, inspiring other businesses, to share the insights gained with others.
How has this group grown over the last 5 years? Any key achievements?
We have had a core of people who have been there from the start, which I feel is a testament to the value of the group. In Bristol there are a lot of different forums, competing for people’s limited time and capacity. The fact that people repeatably attend, and are willing to share their experiences and expertise, shows the value of the group.
This is also reflected in the resources that capture the group’s key learnings, which passes into the wider business community when shared by the Partnership.
The aim for the group isn’t to grow massively – we are selective in the fact that we want to ensure everyone involved is making strides to work towards their decarbonisation goals, but we have seen a steady growth in membership over the last five years, reflecting the progress of Bristol as a whole.
Could you share your favourite experience(s) of being involved in the Climate Leaders Group?
My favourite part of the meeting is actually before the session properly starts, and people are connecting over refreshments. Food brings people together, and trying to stop the organic conversations that people are having over the pastries so we can formally begin the session is a nice problem to have as a co-chair.
One of my funniest memories is when we held a place-based session on nature recovery at Windmill City Farm – where I was the only person to turn up in wellies, everyone else was in normal clothes!
I also must highlight the interesting speakers this group attracts. The calibre of the Climate Leaders Group means that we can bring in the big guns – at times they even approach us. For example, James Close, Head of Climate Change for NatWest, spoke with the group in the lead up to COP26.
How would you place the Climate Leaders Group within the wider environment context?
I don’t think that there is any other group like this in the country. My career has seen me carrying out work at Business Improvement Districts in London, where we explored Bristol’s approach, and there is always admiration at how the connected the business community is in the city and the reciprocal support networks established.
With all our members working within the Bristol context, it provides a space to discuss shared challenges that at times can be unique to this city, such as: staff getting to work, grid connectivity and office spaces. This local connection is a core element of the group, and it also allows our meetings to be largely in person. This is important as it allows members to form relationships built around trust, helping create a space for challenges to be shared and respected.
This group is a mix of sectors, which I’ve found has allowed members to be more open with the challenges they are facing. It might seem surprising, but we often find that different sectors – such as corporate law and theatre – still face very similar decarbonisation challenges.
This group is just one element of the Bristol climate space, which interconnect and complement each other’s aims. For example, while senior staff might attend the Climate Leaders Group, I have always encouraged more junior staff to attend the Partnership’s monthly networking events – the Green Mingle – and the Climate Action Breakfasts as part of the Climate Action Programme. This helps support the spread of ideas down the chain, with leaders saying they want to implement this, and the staff who action it being more likely to have an understanding from attending one of these events.
What does Climate Leadership look like to you?
Being ambitious. Being optimistic about getting to net zero. Being humble that you might not know exactly how to achieve this just yet. Being open and brave about working with the resources available in the city. Being generous with what you have learnt along the way to help others. Importantly this isn’t a space to gate keep, it’s a space to support, share and celebrate.
What do you hope for in the years ahead?
The space and the language around climate actions have changed significantly since the founding of this group. Five years ago, there wasn’t an official definition of net zero with no standardisation across organisations and as a group we have been able to navigate this changing landscape together.
Looking ahead to the next five years, this will be a pivotal time for climate action. In a time when policy and public agenda might not always reflect this urgency, a group where key organisational representatives are voluntarily making the effort to drive Bristol decarbonisation forward is an important and powerful thing. In this space we aren’t just working together to tackle the climate crisis – we are focusing on paving the way for a just transition, nature recovery, and climate adaptation, across Bristol.
The Climate Leaders Group is open to any organisation with credible and ambitious emissions reduction targets and a plan for reaching them. If you would like to join a supportive community of organisations who are playing a pivotal role in accelerating Bristol’s progress towards becoming carbon neutral, please complete our expression of interest form below. More information about criteria can be found here.
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