Latest updates – Page 2 – Cynnal Cymru

Top tips for increasing nature and biodiversity at work

Why is this important

A recent report in Harvard Business Review demonstrated that even small interventions to increase access to nature – in offices from Canada to China – increased staff creativity, productivity and helpfulness. Natural England’s “Links between natural environments and mental health” 2022 paper also affirms that spending time in natural environments is associated with positive outcomes for mental health, stress and psycho-social wellbeing.

Both reports indicate that increasing access to nature need not be large-scale, expensive or onerous to generate these benefits. Whilst not every organisation can invest in a green roof or living wall, even micro spaces can become ‘stepping stones’ to connect up habitats and provide feeding stations for wildlife. For staff too time-pressed to fit in a regular nature walk, daily glimpses of nature at work and a chance to see, smell or hear our incredible biodiversity are also effective in boosting mood and performance.

Public bodies already have a duty, under the Environment (Wales) Act 2016, to maintain and enhance biodiversity and their partners and suppliers are being asked to showcase their biodiversity commitments too when they tender for public contracts.

With all these reasons to incorporate nature more in both our personal and professional lives, we are delighted to share some top tips to help!

How you can take action for nature

Let it grow!

Take part in No Mow May and Let it Bloom June – Plantlife’s annual campaign urging everyone to pack away the lawnmower, let wildflowers grow freely and help nature. Whether you’re in a city, town or the countryside, it’s easy to take part.

Adopt a green space

Adopt a verge or a green space near your place of work. Download Plantlife’s ‘Road verge and green space management best practice’ guides and learn how to transform verges and green spaces.

Small is beautiful

No lawn or green space is too small! Even the smallest wild patch can provide vital food needed by bees and butterflies, connecting us with nature and giving nature the best start to summer.

‘Nature isn’t neat’

Check out the MonLife’s ‘Nature isn’t Neat’, approach to establishing joined-up green space management to create wildflower-rich pollinator habitats across Gwent local authority areas. This includes a comprehensive toolkit to support organisations and community groups.

Turn a neglected space into a vibrant garden

Keep Wales Tidy are giving away free garden packs to community groups, schools and other community-based organisations to turn neglected spaces into vibrant gardens. Whether you want to grow fruit and veg, create a green community hub, or boost local biodiversity, there are several packs to choose from.

‘Biodiversity Basics’

If you are a community or town councillor, you can take part in One Voice Wales Biodiversity Basics (Module 25 – Biodiversity basics Part 1 and Module 26 Part 2) designed by the Cynnal Cymru training team. This course teaches the basics of biodiversity, nature recovery and ecology to enable good decisions and effective Biodiversity Action Plans.

Citizen science

If access to land in your work place or at home is limited, why not explore biodiversity in your local area by using the LERC App, contributing to nature conservation, planning, research and education by submitting biodiversity records.

You can also help control and reduce the spread of invasive species at home or work with the help of this easy-to-use toolkit from the Wales Resilient Ecological Network.

Increasing nature & biodiversity at your business premises

Using the expertise of its Landscape Architecture team, Groundwork has pulled together a free Nature & Biodiversity toolkit which outlines the different nature-based features your business could consider at different scales of investment and impact.

Practical examples of organisations taking action for nature

From small growing initiatives to site-wide biodiversity action plans, the following businesses and organisations are already taking action to increase biodiversity within their community and place of work.

1. Incredible Edible Network

Transport for Wales are supporting and working with the ‘Incredible Edible Network’ of growing initiatives including ‘Incredible Edible Abergavenny’ and Machynlleth (via Edible Mach) which plant fruit and vegetables in public places for anyone to help themselves.

2. Action on Climate Emergency

Action on Climate Emergency (ACE) Monmouth are a community group supporting a variety of nature-based initiatives to boost biodiversity and carbon capture. This includes coordinating seed swaps, a pesticide free Monmouth, sustainable open gardens and supporting nature enhancement in school gardens.

3. Y Stiwdio – A place to make, learn and grow

Y Stiwdio in Pembrokeshire is a creative space where wellies are welcome. A place to make, learn and grow. Y Stiwdio volunteers have created a community described as ‘A special place for all of us with secluded seating and a variety of wildlife-friendly plants to enhance the centre of the village’.

4. Cardiff University – Ecosystem resilience and biodiversity action plan 2024-2026

Cynnal Cymru has office space in the Sbarc|Spark building in Cathays Cardiff. While it is located in an urban area, we were pleased to discover the surrounding land was being used to create wildlife friendly spaces including mini meadows, hedgerows and a bug hotel. The Ecosystem Resilience and Biodiversity Action Plan, sets out how Cardiff University are going to maintain and enhance biodiversity and promote ecosystem resilience across Cardiff University’s campuses.

5. Capital Coated Steel – Biodiversity garden

Capital Coated Steel are an excellent example of how a steel manufacturer has made space for nature on a previously derelict site. The Biodiversity garden supports staff well-being, helps to educate visitors and repurposes waste. The project initiated by, Simon Nurse, and co-created with his team, has now taken on a life of it’s own! You can follow the latest updates on Simon’s Linkedin page.

6. Greener Grangetown, Cardiff – Sustainable Drainage Systems

Greener Grange is a nature-based intervention to retrofit a sustainable drainage system into existing urban streets, creating over 100 raingardens while leaving space for parking and other needs. Not only does the system reduce flooding, it has increased biodiversity and provides multiple benefits to the local community. You can read more about the Green Grangetown project on the Nature Based Solutions hub.

Top tips for increasing nature and biodiversity at work Read More »

Cynnal Cymru Response to the 2025 Future Generations Report

All 56 public sector bodies in Wales to be real Living Wage employers in the next five years

As the Living Wage Foundation’s accreditation partner for Wales we host Living Wage Wales in-house, and are funded by Welsh Government to support any employer who wants to commit to this proven method of poverty alleviation. We will be following up with the public bodies to support them in fulfilling their new obligation.

Supercharge actions with multiple benefits

We will continue to provide the tools and support to 100s of organisations and 1,000s of individuals within Wales through our training programmes in areas such as Carbon Literacy and Nature Wise. We will improve how we report on our multiple impacts as a charity on areas such as cost, jobs, carbon, and healthy life expectancy.

No more short-term fixes

There is a wealth of strategies, evidence and plans for a better future for Wales. Building on our work on the Well-being of Future Generations Act Business Toolkit, we will work with partners to distil key ‘no-regrets’ actions different size organisations can take for improving the future now. This will help support a movement of change, rather than a reliance on help that may never come.

A national food resilience plan

We will continue to promote good practice with our members and networks around the procurement and supply of local food for schools, the NHS, local authorities. Our recent celebration event with the Welsh Government Foundational Economy team and pioneering individuals and organisations showed what is happening now, and what is possible in the future.

Simplify partnerships and funding

We will continue to challenge public sector grant funding to be multiple years, and continue to challenge ourselves in working with the right partners or supporting others who are better placed to deliver.

Review and strengthen the Well-being and Future Generations Act

We will help use our history, and current experience and networks to help inform the future review. We were the lead partner of the previous ‘The Wales We Want’ National Conversation’ which helped inform the Act, and many of our staff helped set up the Future Generations Commissioner’s Office. We are proud of our history and want to continue to help others shape a better future for us all.

We want to make Ameerah proud!

Simon Slater, CEO

The 29th April marked the 10th anniversary of the Well-being of Future Generations Act becoming law in Wales. The Future Generations Report 2025 — is a statutory publication released every five years by the Future Generations Commissioner to track progress and guide the steps public bodies should take.

Find out more about 2025 Future Generations Report

Cynnal Cymru Response to the 2025 Future Generations Report Read More »

A group of people sitting in a room listening to speakers on the stage.

Climate storytellers in Wales explore new ways to inspire audiences with Media Cymru and Ffilm Cymru Wales

Five innovative Research and Development (R&D) projects share £100,000 of investment from the Media Cymru x Ffilm Cymru Wales Climate Stories Fund. Launched in December 2024, the Climate Stories Fund was devised and delivered by Media Cymru and Ffilm Cymru Wales to support R&D projects for feature films or immersive experiences sharing impactful climate stories that stimulate action in fresh and compelling ways. The competition was highly competitive. Media Cymru and Ffilm Cymru Wales selected five outstanding projects to progress through a 4-month R&D sprint taking place from April to August 2025

30 April | Growing the sustainability workforce

Upskilling your workforce involves both specialists and non-experts – join us for a facilitated discussion around pathways to do both.

We will hear from Jennifer Rudd from Wales Net Zero 2035 Challenge Group on ‘Climate Education for the Workforce, proposals to steer Wales towards net zero by 2035’; Dan Wood from Natural Resources Wales on ‘Skills emerging leaders need to support a sustainable future’ and Finley Povey from Transport for Wales will talk about ‘How apprenticeships can kickstart your own sustainability journey’.

There will also be an opportunity to join the discussion in our Q&A session at the end.

Where: Online (Zoom)

Time: 10am – 11:30am

This event is free to attend. Spaces are limited so please be sure to register as soon as possible.

Book your space now

Why this matters

In this current climate and nature crisis, green careers are becoming more desirable and necessary. Looking towards a sustainable future, more and more people are rethinking the places they work for and the kinds of roles they play. With net zero goals and the growing visible local impacts of extreme weather, we urgently need more people taking action in their workplace as well as communities. Given that we spend up to a third of our days in the office, too, it’s crucial that you and your staff feel fulfilled and passionate about your work. Learn how to be a part of meaningful change towards a just transition in your job role or staff development.

Speakers

Jennifer Rudd – Wales Net Zero 2035 Challenge Group

Dr Rudd has a decade of experience working in chemistry and the technical circular economy, developing next generation solar panels and working on hydrogen generation and carbon capture. Using this knowledge, Dr Rudd developed the You and CO2 programme in 2018, seeking to teach young people about climate mitigation. Since then, she has worked on a number of climate change education programmes across the disciplines, age ranges and countries. She has helped train teachers in Nigeria, co-created a programme for Welsh primary school pupils to learn about fast fashion, co-developed a new scale for measuring climate capability and consulted for a range of third sector and educational institutions on climate change education programmes.

Dr Rudd is a member of the Net Zero by 2035 commission, advising Welsh Government on pathways to Net Zero, she has been invited to present her work in the Senedd and at trade events in London.

Dr Rudd has communicated the climate emergency through national talks, radio and printed media and gave a TEDx talk in 2019. She is regularly invited to give talks on climate change mitigation and climate change education and was nominated for two Swansea University awards in 2020.

Finley Povey – Sustainability Coordinator Apprentice at Transport for Wales

Finley joined Transport for Wales as a sustainability coordinator apprentice in January 2024 and has worked across the Sustainable Development and Climate Change team supporting on future generations, sustainable impact, heritage, environmental compliance, ecology, and climate change initiatives. This includes supporting policy or delivery plan development, ensuring administration activities and other duties are undertaken effectively, undertaking environmental audits across various TfW locations to assess environmental impact and compliance with sustainability best practice, working on decision-making tools to align with the Well-being of Future Generations Act and social value, as well as supporting the creation of TfW’s first sustainability exemplar project to integrate well-being, energy-saving, and biodiverse features into a depot site. In her talk, Finley will be telling us about why organisations should give apprentice opportunities to help build the next generation of sustainability conscious champions.

Daniel Wood, Biologist at Natural Resources Wales

Daniel Wood is a biologist at Natural Resources Wales with over seven years of experience in the environmental sustainability sector. At 24, he founded his own regenerative agriculture enterprise in Swansea, supplying local veg boxes using regenerative techniques. He has since led community-focused programmes such as the ‘Grow for Home Project’ with Cae Tan, empowering disadvantaged communities to grow their own food.

Daniel also serves as the biodiversity and communications representative for Cae Felin, a community-supported agriculture scheme linked with Morriston Hospital, delivering social prescribing outcomes. As a member of the Future Generations Leadership Academy, Daniel recently founded The Future Generations Society, a youth-led network amplifying changemaker stories, highlighting green career pathways, and creating educational content to inspire the next generation of leaders.

Facilitators

Simon Slater, Director at Cynnal Cymru – Sustain Wales

Early on in his career, Simon worked with the late Rhodri Morgan and Welsh Government as they explored what it meant to have the duty to promote sustainable development in your constitution. His Wales experience renewed his interest to work for the benefit of communities and the environment. He has subsequently worked across the world as an environmental advisor with royalty, charities, government, councils, and business. This has included borrowing ideas from Wales, such as creating a Board member for Future Generations for a Regional Development Agency 10 years before the Welsh Act.

More recently he has been running sustainability or community regeneration charities such as Sustainability West Midlands, the Springfield Project, and ecobirmingham. He is looking forward to coming back to Wales to continue to be part of the country’s sustainability story. “Wales changed me, now I want to be part of a charity that is helping Wales to change”.

Clare Sain-ley Berry, Deputy Chief Executive, Cynnal Cymru – Sustain Wales

Clare has a background in delivering partnership projects for the natural environment and sustainable resource use and uses this to help shape our policy and development work. She enjoys facilitating collaboration across sectors and devising practical programmes to deliver strategic aims.

Clare has helped develop our training offer, particularly around the nature crisis, to look at how individuals in all work roles can work towards sustainability with greater agency and confidence.

Our thriving community of mutually supportive members provides an opportunity to share learning, challenge thinking and mobilise action, be this through co-designed events, hosting networking sessions or simply sowing seeds for future collaborations or thought-leadership.

If you would like to talk to a member of the team about how we can support your organisation, please contact membership@cynnalcymru.com.

Join a growing movement for positive change >>

30 April | Growing the sustainability workforce Read More »

Should we chase wellbeing over growth?

The theme of this month’s Cynnal Cymru newsletter is ‘growth’ in its broadest sense. It’s a word that is often associated with positivity. I’m writing this on the first working day of British Summer Time, although it is still very much spring. Growth is in the air – with the daffodils having sprouted and blossom season in full swing. Growth in this context is very much welcome, even to hay fever sufferers like myself. But there are some debates where the concept of growth is more contentious.

Our role as Cynnal Cymru’s Fair Economy team is to make a contribution towards a fairer economy for Wales. Our two core work strands are partnering with the Living Wage Foundation in Wales – hosting Living Wage Wales in-house – and working with the Welsh Government to support their ambitions for Wales’ foundational economy. For those of you who don’t know, that’s the ‘mundane’ areas of the economy that are nonetheless incredibly important in underpinning everyday life – think care and health services, food, utilities, and similar. They haven’t always got the attention from economic policy makers that advanced manufacturing or cutting-edge technology have, but they make up a huge section of the economy – with 51% of Welsh employees working in the foundational economy. Their working lives and the contributions they make deserve attention too.

It’s predominantly through these living wage and foundational economy workstreams that we engage with the concept of growth – the narrower idea of economic growth. Far from springtime flowers to some this concept evokes thoughts of industrialisation and environmental harm. The public policy debate in Wales – particularly where it intersects with the third sector – has seen a debate around whether economic growth is a desirable goal, with efforts to move towards a ‘wellbeing’ approach instead.

Whereas in years past many would look to settle the inherent tensions between development and sustainability via an ambition for ‘sustainable growth’, some in the Welsh policy space are now looking to other concepts, such as ‘degrowth’, or asking for a ‘wellbeing economy’ to replace efforts to increase GDP.

To me, a wellbeing economy is clearly a highly desirable aim. Focusing on a broader set of metrics than simply growth makes a huge amount of sense. We know that a rising tide doesn’t always lift all boats. The gap between the rich and the rest is growing. There is increasing evidence that, to some extent, pay has partly decoupled from productivity. The labour share of national income in the UK has fallen in recent decades, as a greater share goes to those who own, rather than those who work.

Source: Our World in Data

But does that mean we should eschew the quest for economic growth in favour of a wellbeing economy? The chart above – which maps life satisfaction and GDP per capita – suggests this may be a false dichotomy. There is a clear correlation between reported life satisfaction (which I would suggest is fairly synonymous with wellbeing) and GDP per capita. It follows that a growth in GDP per capita – economic growth – is very likely to correspond to a growth in wellbeing.

It’s right that we look to a broad set of measures when trying to create a fairer economy for Wales. It is fairly unsurprising that the Nordic countries of Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Iceland find themselves at the top right of the graph – with some of the highest GDP per capita and life satisfaction in the world.

The Nordic model of strong trade union rights and mass union membership to protect worker incomes is a successful one. It rebalances economies away from the ultra-rich having a unilateral say over how much they pay their workers and how much they keep in their own pockets. Wales would be sensible to emulate it as much as it can. But we shouldn’t forget that this model does include having amongst the highest GDP per capita in the world.

And whilst there is some evidence of productivity growth (which tracks pretty consistently with GDP growth) and pay decoupling, there is no evidence of a total decoupling. Strong growth in GDP still means rising wages – for people of all income brackets. When we talk about how we can tackle poverty in Wales, economic growth is a tried-and-tested method.

Economic growth is good for the rights of workers, too. Harvard University’s Dani Rodrik found in his paper ‘An Industrial Policy for Good Jobs’ that the ‘sine qua non’ (for fellow non-Latin speakers, that’s ‘without which, not’ – an indispensable ingredient) of good jobs is a high enough level of labour productivity. That is, increasing productivity (doing more with less), a key component of economic growth, results in jobs that ‘provide a middle-class living standard, adequate benefits, reasonable levels of personal autonomy, economic security, and career ladders’.

The trade-offs between measures to support economic development and considerations such as equity and environmental protection are complex and multi-faceted. But Wales is one of the poorest areas of Western Europe on many measures. This results in human misery – including child poverty and people trapped in work where they are paid and respected too little. We should be hesitant about well-meaning calls to eschew economic growth.

The ambition of many to become a wellbeing economy is a welcome one. But the increasingly common refrain of ‘wellbeing or growth’ is looking at the issue the wrong way around. We should instead consider how we can continue to decouple growth from carbon emissions and utilise economic growth in Wales to reduce poverty and increase wellbeing.

Should we chase wellbeing over growth? Read More »

28 April | Celebrating the Foundational Economy

The Welsh Government is committed to supporting businesses in parts of our local, everyday economy, also known as the Foundational Economy. Its aims are to build a resilient society and improve goods and services, together with the economic and social relationships that underpin them, which are essential to living a good life.

Please join us at this event to celebrate the Foundational Economy and launch a new Foundational Economy Mission Statement.

We will be showcasing results from Welsh Government funded projects that have applied innovative approaches across a range of Foundational Economy sectors such as food, transport, housing and construction.

Foundational Economy projects showcased by organisations such as:

Castell Howell – Authentic Cuisine and Celtica Foods
Food Sense Wales – Welsh Veg in Schools
Development Trust Association Wales (DTA) – The Assured Growing Toolbox#
Menter Môn – Larder Cymru and Tech Tyfu
Social Farms and Gardens – Future Farms
Cookalong Clwb
Menter a Busnes
BIC Innovation – Increasing Welsh Food
Cardiff Council – Cardiff Food Hour
Carmarthenshire Council – Wellbeing of Future Generations menu development and School Meals Pilot
Monmouthshire Council – Meals on Wheels service
Can Cook – Well Fed Social Enterprise
Cardiff Met – Foundational Economy Innovation Network, CEIC Programme
PLANED
Simply Do – WISH project
Wood Knowledge Wales
Cyfle – Building Skills
NetRet Group

The Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy, and Planning will also attending to meet project leads and give a keynote speech, launching the new Foundational Economy Mission Statement.

There is no charge to attend this event, please note there will be video recording and photography on the day and lunch will be provided.

This event will be hosted by the Welsh Government in partnership with Cynnal Cymru.

Agenda to follow shortly.

Date: Monday 28th April 2025
Time: 10:30 am – 14:30 pm
Location: Norwegian Church Arts Centre, Harbour Drive, Cardiff Bay, CF10 4PA.

Cost: Free

Note: In order to register for this event, you MUST receive a confirmation email.

28 April | Celebrating the Foundational Economy Read More »

Making Funerals More Sustainable

Nothing is certain except death and taxes.

At least that’s what Benjamin Franklin said in 1789, which has fueled centuries of debates over taxes, but not so much on the subject of death. We all care about what happens to us after we die, whether that’s the way our funeral is handled or how our loved ones are supported. These days, as with everything else, more of us are thinking about the impact death has on the environment.

In Wales annually there are around 36,000 registered deaths, 80% of which will result in a cremation at one of 18 local authority and private crematoria across the country.

To encourage and support the transition of the funeral sector to more sustainable ways of working, Cynnal Cymru members Brendan and Carolyn Day introduced the Greener Globe Funeral Standard in 2020. Both had a keen interest in the environment, with Brendan having had a career in the bereavement sector and Carolyn having worked in insurance and compliance. It made sense, given their shared interests and expertise, to create a sustainability audit process for businesses in the funeral sector. After five years, Greener Globe Funeral Standard now has registered clients not just in Wales, but also across the UK, Ireland, and the Netherlands.

*Carolyn Day and Brendan Day Directors of Greener Globe Funeral Standard present the Environmental Bronze Award to Clive Phillips at Margam Crematorium.*

Bespoke online questionnaires are provided for crematoria, funeral directors, and suppliers, with a cemetery version being released this spring. The first step requires the funeral organisation to demonstrate that it has recognised the need to operate sustainably by adopting an environmental policy and providing evidence that this is cascaded throughout the organisation.

The second step is the completion of the full Sustainability Audit Questionnaire covering key aspects of the business, each answer being evidenced with copies of documents or photographs uploaded to the GGFS website.

The audit generates an award – Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum – depending on the score generated by the environmental benefits/cost environmental aspect scoring matrix. In addition, a bespoke improvement plan is provided to indicate where further changes can be made to lessen the impact of the business on the environment.

It is great news to report Margam Crematorium, operated jointly by Bridgend and Neath Port Talbot Council, became the first crematorium in Wales to receive the Trusted Crematorium Bronze Award.

To protect the environment, crematoria must reduce their carbon footprint. Their primary fuel is gas, which results in the production of CO2. Margam Crematorium must be commended for significantly reducing its gas consumption, by working closely with its cremator suppliers, Facultatieve Technologies who have developed new software and hardware. As a result, between January – August 2024 a total cumulative gas saving of 186,000kWh was recorded. A pro rata annual reduction in CO2 of 52tons. This saving will be ongoing and can be rolled out to other sites, not only in Wales, but across the UK.

Brendan and Carolyn look forward to Margam Crematorium completing the sustainability audit and achieving a higher award.

Mark Isherwood MS, Chair of the Cross-Party Group for Funerals and Bereavement in the Senedd presenting The National Association of Funeral Directors (NAFD) with their Environmental GGFS Bronze Award. From left to right - Phil Blatchly, NAFD Wales President; Barry Pritchard, NAFD Chair; and Mark Isherwood MS, Chair of the Cross-Party Group for Funerals and Bereavement in the Senedd. — Mark Isherwood MS, Chair of the Cross-Party Group for Funerals and Bereavement in the Senedd presenting The National Association of Funeral Directors (NAFD) with their Environmental GGFS Bronze Award. From left to right – Phil Blatchly, NAFD Wales President; Barry Pritchard, NAFD Chair; and Mark Isherwood MS, Chair of the Cross-Party Group for Funerals and Bereavement in the Senedd.

If you know a crematorium, cemetery, funeral director or supplier who is looking to work more sustainably, please contact Brendan and Carolyn at info@ggfs.co.uk

If you would like to talk to a member of the team about how we can support your organisation, please contact membership@cynnalcymru.com.

Join a growing movement for positive change >>

Making Funerals More Sustainable Read More »

19 Feb | Ask the Expert: Electric Vehicle fleets and infrastructure

Curious about starting an Electric Vehicle (EV) fleet? Confused about the planning and infrastructure required?

Join Cenex experts, Keith and Connor, for a specialist session on the future of transport. If you have any specific questions in mind then please send them over beforehand or a brief explanation of what you would like to discuss.

Book your place >>

What is ‘Ask the Expert’?

‘Ask the Expert’ is a new series of informal drop-in events where you can join our specialists for a short presentation and guided discussion around a chosen topic.

Who is it for?

This session exploring EV fleets and infrastructure is for Cynnal Cymru members only.

If you would like to talk to a member of the team about how we can support your organisation, please contact membership@cynnalcymru.com.

Join a growing movement for positive change >>

Our experts

Keith Budden

Head of Business Development | Cenex

Keith Budden leads Cenex’s work to develop partnerships with public and private sector organisations, helping them deliver net zero mobility. Over the last ten years he has enabled Cenex to grow and increase its impact across the UK, Europe through the development of Cenex Nederland and globally including helping establish the Global Sustainable Mobility Partnership of partner NGOs.

Keith has significant experience of working in international settings having lived and worked in East and West Africa. He has recently led Cenex EV policy advice for the Governments of Seychelles, India, Thailand and Uruguay. He has previously worked for International energy company E.ON, Birmingham City Council as well as environmental NGOs.

Connor Allen

Technical Specialist | Cenex

Connor is a chartered Automotive engineer with professional experience in data-led fleet strategy development, low emission vehicle testing, and project management.

As a technical specialist within the Cenex Policy, Strategy and Innovation Team, he delivers customer projects relating to the development and deployment of new and emerging low emission vehicle technologies.

Cenex was established as the UK’s first Centre of Excellence for Low Carbon and Fuel Cell technologies in 2005.

Today, Cenex focuses on low emission transport & associated energy infrastructure and operates as an independent, not-for-profit research technology organisation (RTO) and consultancy, specialising in the project delivery, innovation support and market development.

They also organise Cenex-Expo, the UK’s premier low carbon vehicle event, to showcase the latest technology and innovation in the industry.

Their independence ensures impartial, trustworthy advice, and, as a not-for-profit, they are driven by the outcomes that are right for you, your industry and your environment, not by the work which pays the most or favours one technology.

Finally, as trusted advisors with expert knowledge, they are the go-to source of guidance and support for public and private sector organisations along their transition to a zero-carbon future and will always provide you with the insights and solutions that reduce pollution, increase efficiency and lower costs.

To find out more about them and the work that they do, visit their website.

19 Feb | Ask the Expert: Electric Vehicle fleets and infrastructure Read More »

CLCC: A fond farewell after five years of success

In 2019, a group of representatives from registered housing associations across Wales sat down around a table with one aim: to find a way to work together to help alleviate the climate emergency.

They agreed that understanding their carbon impact, both as individuals and organisations, and being able to make informed decisions on reducing carbon emissions, had the potential to be transformative for the social housing sector and communities. Thus Carbon Literacy Cartrefi Cymru (CLCC) was born – a consortium that would provide a platform for knowledge sharing across the sector, collaborative problem solving, and peer to peer teaching to deliver Carbon Literacy training to staff across Wales.

One phrase in the meeting notes from the earliest days of the CLCC succinctly summarised what the approach would be:

“This consortium is about reaching you where you’re at and helping from there.”

Fast forward five years, and the CLCC is now coming to a close, having achieved exactly what it set out to do. The consortium’s flagship project, a fully accredited Carbon Literacy training course tailored to the social housing sector, has been delivered to 598 people across Wales, thanks to the enthusiasm and dedication of the CLCC trainers who have passed on their knowledge to their peers and colleagues. The course has received two substantial updates and has been fully translated into Welsh. Its final iteration will continue to be used by members to certify their staff as Carbon Literate. Many of those housing associations are now certified Carbon Literate Organisations, and continue to champion carbon reduction in the workplace. As was inevitable with a large group of disparate organisations, not everyone’s time as members of the CLCC looks the same. Each had their own priorities, their own challenges to overcome. But the consortium’s ethos of looking at where each member was and guiding them to where they wanted to be played a huge role in the success of the project.

Bron Afon Community Housing was a part of the CLCC from the start, and remained as members throughout the lifetime of the consortium. Nadine Davies, Community Decarbonisation Officer at Bron Afon, said, “The CLCC has enabled us as an organisation to come together and learn about the importance of climate change and carbon emissions. It provided us with valuable skills, networks, and guidance for us to deliver the course to our colleagues successfully.”

Reflecting on her term as Chair of the CLCC since May 2023, Nadine added,

“The CLCC created a space for us to discuss and share in confidence what was going well and what our struggles were when delivering Carbon Literacy. I found the regular meetings and coming together with others delivering the course useful and it was good to listen and take on board points raised. I very much enjoyed my time as Chair of the CLCC and without it I don’t think we would have had as much success with the delivery of Carbon Literacy as we have. I look forward to continuing to deliver Carbon Literacy to the rest of our staff and the wider community to help tackle climate change.”

Fast forward another five years from now, and we hope that we will still be seeing the positive impact the CLCC has had. Consortium members are talking about rolling out Carbon Literacy to their tenants – and with more than 100,000 houses owned across the consortium, that’s a lot of people. We’ve created a Climate Essentials course to help trainers pass on key knowledge in a shorter, more accessible format, and encourage interest in the full training. For some member organisations, certified Carbon Literacy training is now mandatory for all new staff, and will continue to be delivered long into the future. For those housing associations who want customised training or advice, individually or collaboratively, Cynnal Cymru’s team can work with them to ensure that the success of the CLCC is just the first step on their carbon reduction journey.

In November 2020, when the world was coping with an unprecedented global pandemic, 29 members of the CLCC still found the time to meet, to talk about what they wanted the consortium’s future to be. Many of the initial targets had already been met, with 65 people already certified as Carbon Literate, and 83 people about to take the Carbon Literacy Train the Trainer course, at the time making it the biggest ever Carbon Literacy Train the Trainer cohort. But the world had changed since the CLCC’s inception, with training now having to be delivered remotely, collaborative working much harder than it had been in the past, and organisations rightly prioritising core business continuity and the wellbeing of their staff over less immediate concerns. It would have been very easy for Covid-19 to spell the end of the CLCC, but luckily its members were committed to keeping it very much alive. It’s thanks to them, the dedicated support of their colleagues, and the enormous enthusiasm of hundreds of people across Wales, that we can look back on the past five years and honestly say that the CLCC has made a difference – and its success will continue to inspire more and better changes to how we live.

CLCC: A fond farewell after five years of success Read More »

Being human in the age of disinformation. On trust and climate change communication.

Have you ever asked for advice from someone who wasn’t necessarily an ‘expert’ on the situation or topic? What made you do that? Was it that they cared about you and understood you? Was it their profession, a common background, or shared beliefs that led you to trust their judgement? Perhaps you judged their trustworthiness based on how you’d seen them act in other situations?

What does that mean for climate communication? Inspired by a recent pilot training, our Sustainability Strategist Dr Karolina Rucinska considers the role of trust in climate communications.

—

When I was in secondary school, staring at a whiteboard with mathematical equations would fill me with dread. I could not make sense of these abstract concepts at all. But when my friend sat down with me and used plenty of real examples, it would all suddenly click in my mind. In other words, by showing me how the equations mattered in my own life, I was able to truly understand them. Was that school friend more educated or credible than the maths teacher who had been teaching for decades? Certainly not, but he found a way to relay the information in the right way for me . It took me years to realise that I just needed the right messenger for the information to sink in. A recent training by Climate Outreach cemented this idea for me.

Trust is a big deal

Trust is a combination of three factors: the person who seeks it, the person who gives it, and the context. Thus, trust can be interpersonal and institutional, and it is fundamental to all aspects of our lives. According to the 2023 edition of the Ipsos Veracity Index, the top five trusted professions are nurses, pilots, librarians, doctors and engineers, but the least trusted are politicians, government ministers, advertising executives, journalists, and estate agents. This suggests that we can trust unbiased and highly trained people with strong codes of ethics and who can help in life-threatening situations.

But we are all guilty of asking for a second opinion. Even after a long call with an expert, like a doctor, we call our nearest and dearest before making big decisions. Don’t we?

In times when information is distorted, opinions divided, and situations are developing too fast to grasp, we reach out to people who mirror our beliefs. And given that trust in politicians is at an all-time low,, how can citizens trust what is being told to us?

Trust at scale

The good news, according to the 2023 Climate Barometer Tracker survey,is that the UK public do trusts naturalists, conservationists, charities, and NGOs. The bad news, and because climate change impacts all aspects of our lives, is that we listen to other voices too. So, if you are an expert on climate change, pandemics, flooding, vaccinations, and people prefer to call their mums rather than trust you, don’t take it personally. Instead, find voices that resonate with the audiences you want to reach.

The Climate Outreach research report on the issue of climate communication found that trusted people are seen as some combination of:

human

sincere

down to earth

kind

reliable

honest

Who do you think of when you imagine these qualities? Likely those people closest to you, rather than experts putting out reports on climate change.

Earning trust in climate messages, at scale, is desperately needed. With so many conflicting messages and a deep skepticism about the media from many of the general public, there is a lot at stake.

Take low-carbon heating, for example. You can have all the facts and figures, but at the end of the day you’ll likely make the decision because a neighbour or friend made the switch and convinces you to do the same.

Earning trust at scale, therefore, goes beyond finding the right “already trusted” messenger or influencer such as scientists. Earning trust at scale needs everyday messengers who can relate, convey real passion, have a deep, lived experience and are credible. For example, a chef who runs a small restaurant with seasonal foods speaking to other chefs who are looking to diversify their menus and cut food waste. A parent who walks their kids to school speaking to parents who want to stay active and reduce petrol costs but feel alone with the challenge. But earning that long-term trust requires a few more ingredients, plus an unbroken chain of promises, and results.

The triangle of trust

The Trust Triangle, first coined by Frances Fei and Anne Morriss in 2020, was adopted by leadership trainers and coaches because it elegantly displays the key elements that leaders and teams need to perform.

Now, it has been applied by Climate Outreach in their quest to communicate effectively. They advocate three qualities that communicators need to demonstrate for their audiences to trust them and be open to influence:

Passion: This person really cares about this issue.

Credibility: The person knows what they’re talking about. They’re not just making it up on the spot.

Empathy: The person understands that people have different perspectives. They’re not lecturing or talking down to others.

Crafting a trusted message therefore is about being authentic and knowing yourself as well as the audience. Yes, it is also about showing hard facts, but always within the context and tone of your audience.

Trust starts with your first audience: yourself

’One thing I have learnt from the past few years working in the field of sustainability is that to connect with others, we better know ourselves first. In climate change, where food preferences and chosen mode of transport can lead to arguments, we better know why we do what we do.

To start you crafting a message, begin by asking yourself a few questions:

How reliable am I?

Do I trust myself?

Am I someone that others can trust?

What’s motivating me to communicate?

Do I have a genuine interest in understanding where my audience is coming from?

What non-climate interest makes me feel passionate?

To find out how to use these questions, and to fully appreciate the ideas shared in this piece, and to put them all together, I recommend reading the report Beyond Trusted Messenger and to follow Tara Bryer for further updates about the training.

If you or your organisation would like to take deeper action against climate change – including communicating with staff, customers or wider stakeholders – please get in touch!

Being human in the age of disinformation. On trust and climate change communication. Read More »