Workshop wisdoms from Mission Net Zero
Our Mission Net Zero workshop series, ‘Introduction to Community Action on Climate and Energy’ ran between January and June 2025. In this blog, Kati Inskip-Codogno, the Energy Efficiency Project Officer at St Werburgh’s Community Centre, outlines how they are taking forward the insights shared.
My role as Energy Efficiency Project Officer was created to engage with local communities after the Centre secured funding to install energy efficiency measures. I’ve been attending Bristol Climate & Nature Partnership’s Mission Net Zero workshop series to support the development of a community climate action plan for Ashley.
We saw inspiring case-study presentations from several Bristol wards, including Ambition Lawrence Weston, Hillfields, and Southmead Development Trust. They brought hope as we saw what is possible when communities come together. Bristol Energy Network also platformed their engagement programmes of home energy saving projects for Bristol communities.
In the final workshop, Grace Reid, the project’s Inclusion Associate delivered the ‘Just Transition in Action Model‘ for implementing diversity and inclusion within organisations. It is clear that there is a significant underrepresentation of global majority people within the UK environmental sector. What is evident, is that the climate emergency needs a coming together of all communities for transformative positive change. Only through embracing genuine diversity and inclusion strategies, will the necessary fair transformations happen.
The just transition in action model has served our emergent collective of Ashley representatives to support in the development of our own community-led climate action plan for Ashley. Its principles, founded in equity, inclusivity, accessibility and empowerment, underscore everything we hope to achieve. As a community hub and anchor organisation for Ashley ward, St Werburghs Community Centre is committed to co-creating this plan with grass roots organisations and young people to lead the design process. Anne Su from One Green Kitchen in St Paul’s has been supporting our development after recently launching their Climate Action Plan, which focuses on food, women and refugee communities. They have been an inspiring example of collaboration and inclusion.
We want to come together as a ward to share stories, knowledge, and skills around nature and climate. As part of our action plan we are now seeking funding opportunities to take the project forward.
Two highlights from recent community engagement at St Werburghs Community Centre, share the ethos of the Community Climate Action Project and the Mission Net Zero workshops; a Green Feast in March and mapping activities.
The first, was an event shaped in part by input from residents, that saw the coming together of diverse, intergenerational communities alongside experts in energy, biodiversity and active travel. The mapping activities invited communities to imagine what would make our ward feel safer and healthier in the future. We discussed topics such as vulnerably housed people, lack of local transport, and issues in accessing green and blue spaces within our dense urban area.
There is enthusiasm and ambition for climate action in Ashley, work achieved at St Werburghs Community Centre alongside other existing projects will no doubt feed in richly to our on-going community-led climate action plan.
I see how the inspiring work of Bristol Climate & Nature Partnership and partners is being disseminated, as part of a collaborative spirt in the sector, that we all share.
If you would like to support the community-led climate action plan for Ashley Ward please contact Goska Ong, Centre Director at St Werburgh’s Community Centre on
director@stwerburghs.org.uk
This workshop series is part of Mission Net Zero and is funded by Innovate UK’s Net Zero Living programme. Bristol Climate & Nature Partnership, Centre for Sustainable Energy, Bristol Energy Network, and Bristol City Council are working together to deliver this workshop series.
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