Our progress on just transition
Over the past year, Bristol Climate & Nature Partnership has taken concrete steps to continue to embed just transition across our programmes, championing a response to the climate and nature crises that actively reduces, rather than reinforces, inequality.
We believe that climate and nature action can and should deliver on the pressing issues our region faces – green growth and resilience, improving quality of life, creating new jobs and increasing equity. But a just transition won’t happen by accident. It needs to be planned, resourced, and delivered collaboratively.
We published our first statement of intent on just transition in January 2023 and provided an update on our progress in March 2024. This post continues that series, outlining the specific actions we have taken over the last 12 months. We hope that by sharing tangible steps we have taken we will inspire others, and we welcome feedback that will help shape our work going forward.
Community Leadership Panel on Just Transition
As part of the National Lottery Funded Community Climate & Nature Action project, we have facilitated 10 Community Leadership Panel sessions focusing on large-scale initiatives with potential impacts on local communities. Community leaders shared their insights and experience to inform strategic project and policies and advocate. The Panel provided a comprehensive written recommendations report for each project it reviewed. Read more in the panel insights report.
Climate Leaders
We updated our Climate Leaders Group Terms of Reference to encourage members to consider principles of a just transition as part of their climate action activity, for example, identifying and mitigating the impacts of transitioning to a low-carbon business model on workers and communities. We also ask members to report on their just transition activity in our annual reporting process.
Climate & Disability Programme
In October 2025 we hosted a showcase to celebrate and share a diverse range of resources developed through our two-year Climate & Disability programme, which was led by Associate Emma Geen and supported by members of the Climate & Disability Forum.
The resources included: a refreshed version of the UK’s first community climate action plan created by and for a community of Disabled people, an inclusive transport toolkit for communities; an energy and disability report; a food and nature project report and a climate justice in action podcast series. In early 2026 we launched of a range of guides for local authorities which were developed through three strategic roundtables.
Mission Net Zero
We recruited an Inclusion Advocate, Grace Reid, as part of our role in the Mission Net Zero project. Working with partners, they provided expert advice and helped embed just transition across the programme’s activity. This has included, for example, supporting partners to develop ambitious goals and mini-action plans that would embed just transition principles in a wide range of outputs, including a regional green energy accelerator. An Inclusion in Action Toolkit was developed as part of this work.
We also provided opportunities for peer-to-peer learning and increased access to opportunities for community groups we had not previously worked with, through a dedicated series of Mission Net Zero workshops.
Capsule: A film exploring just transition
As part of our Community Climate & Nature Action Project, the Partnership commissioned film-maker Euella Jackson to creatively explore the theme of just transition. The short film Capsule was launched in September 2024. The film alongside a ‘making of’ companion piece is available to watch here. It forms part of our work to use creativity to help engage more diverse people with climate, nature, and the intersection with social justice.
Community Prospectus
We launched Bristol’s first Community Climate Action Prospectus, demonstrating the potential for community-led climate and nature action to be accelerated with investment. This prospectus aims to attract funding to:
- support local supply chains
- create local employment opportunities and deliver social and environmental benefits
- extend communal use and ownership of new assets through models such as social enterprise
- provide tangible routes for local businesses to meet their ESG commitments
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI)
We launched a new organisational strategy for 2025-27 which includes a continued commitment to building an equitable and inclusive workplace, with recruitment and professional development practices helping to ensure that our organisation will increasingly reflect the region’s diversity.
The whole team has undertaken an in-depth Diversity, Inclusion, Cohesion and Equity (DICE) two-day course, and our DEI policy and action plan has been embedded in staff objectives and quarterly reporting to enable ongoing momentum and accountability.
Advocating for climate justice
Through Bristol’s Global City Forum, we have advocated for climate justice to be embedded in the city’s international strategy.
Via the One City Environment Board and our wider programme of activity, we continue to support Bristol’s approach to green jobs and skills, and in particular to influence efforts to ensure that these opportunities are accessible and inclusive.
Just transition is a growing and evolving area of work for us. We will continue to deepen our thinking, expand our learning and listen to and collaborate with others on this.
We commit to using our platform, network, programme, and partnerships to progress social justice and challenge inequity wherever possible, and we look forward to sharing our progress with members and partners across the city.
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