Bristol Green Capital

The Community Climate Action Project is an ambitious, citywide programme funded by the National Lottery’s Climate Action Fund. It demonstrates the important role communities can play in achieving the city’s climate and nature ambitions, whilst also improving people’s quality of life.

Phase 1 – coproducing community climate action plans

The first phase of the project during 2021-2022 saw six community organisations co-produce the city’s first community climate action plans. These ambitious plans were developed by neighbourhoods experiencing inequality and disadvantage, along with the communities of Disabled people and refugees in the city. Leading climate action at a community level provides opportunities to improve the lives of local people and ensure the needs of Bristol’s diverse communities are better represented as the city feels the effects of the cost-of-living and energy crises.

Phase 2 – community leadership on climate and nature action

The current phase of the project runs until 2025 and includes:

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  © Eastside Community Trust

  Local and citywide climate action – through six innovative community-led live projects, in parallel with a strategic citywide project taking a community-led approach to accessible, sustainable transport in collaboration with Sustrans.

• Championing community leadership on climate – by establishing a new Community Leadership Panel on Climate and Just Transition for the city with the support of Praxis.
• Empowering other communities in Bristol to lead climate action – through a learning and peer mentoring programme to support and inspire twelve new community organisations to co-produce climate action plans with and for their communities.
• Communicating creatively about climate and nature with citizens – through a series of neighbourhood and citywide engagement events and creative commissions.
• Creating a framework to translate citywide strategies into neighbourhood reality – by working collectively with strategic city leaders and community partners to develop a unique Bristol approach to community Ieadership on climate.

Putting community climate priorities into action

Our community partners from phase 1 are now busy delivering six innovative community-led projects responding to a climate related priority identified by each community in their climate action plans:

• ACH have created a new climate learning programme to train refugees and vulnerable migrants about green jobs and the skills and knowledge needed to access them, whilst also establishing a pipeline into skilled employment opportunities.
• Ambition Lawrence Weston are regenerating local green spaces to maximise growing opportunities, giving residents the opportunity and skills to grow and cook their own sustainable fruit and vegetables, reducing food miles, enabling access to lower cost, healthier food options and improving biodiversity locally.
• Bristol Disability Equality Forum (BDEF) are creating a Repair and Engagement Hub which will lower emissions and waste from disability aids, enable access to cheaper aids and repairs, divert unneeded equipment from landfill and relieve some of the financial pressures faced by Disabled people. It will be a new social enterprise run by and for Disabled people.
  

  © Lockleaze Neighbourhood Trust

• Heart of BS13 are reducing carbon emissions from ineffective waste disposal in the community, by pioneering a closed-loop household food waste collection system and attracting green economic development to the area.
• Eastside Community Trust are working with Bristol Energy Network to reduce carbon emissions from energy use in homes and community buildings, while improving the resilience of local households and organisations to more extreme temperatures and rising energy prices.
• Lockleaze Neighbourhood Trust are working with Avon Wildlife Trust and Bristol City Council to rewild Lockleaze for 14,000 local residents, transforming Lockleaze’s 41 acres of greens and grass verges to encourage wildlife and support nature recovery with the support of a Community Ecologist.

‘We are pioneering the way to show that all community work is climate work. We are becoming experts in climate work because the benefits of things like warmer homes, cleaner air, better public transport, access to green jobs and nature are invaluable to our local residents.” Donna Sealey, Ambition Lawrence Weston

You can access all the phase 1 community climate action plans along with a suite of free supporting materials such as films and blogs posts, and the creative commissions from our community partners and project artists.