Tell me you’re tackling the climate crisis without telling me you’re tackling the climate crisis

The rapid and algorithm-hungry news cycle and the distraction of parliamentary turbulence can make our jobs as climate communicators challenging. In many cases national and international efforts to address the causes of our heating planet have been weaponised by opposing political groups. The profound economic, health and security benefits of transitioning away from fossil fuels have been clouded, and green policies watered down or underfunded.

We know that facts are necessary but not sufficient. The majority of people in Britain want leaders who take bigger, bolder action to address the climate and nature crisis; but they have other important concerns as well. Stories centred on climate change might move Progressive Activists to act, but for the majority an approach which demonstrates the benefits of climate action, without actually mentioning the climate, might be a better option.

At Carbon Copy we’ve coined a new term. Changeprint is a word to describe the wider positive impacts of taking collective action. It’s about celebrating and recognising what we can grow when we work collaboratively – focusing on doing more good, rather than on taking away harm.

What we’ve realised, through six years of uncovering the UK’s most inspiring and powerful local climate action stories, is that “reaching net zero” is almost never the main goal of a project.

Take Katie Collier and her team at Bike Worcester, for example. Faced with a decision between driving her kids to school or risking a bike ride on Worcester’s very cycling-unfriendly roads, Katie and fellow parents set up a Bike Bus – an organised ride to school for children, parents and carers that keeps kids safe and reduces the need for motorised transport. There are now around 16 Bike Bus routes serving different areas and schools in the city, improving health and wellbeing, reducing pollution and, conveniently, also reducing carbon emissions.

This non-climate-focused climate action story is just one of hundreds shared with us from project leaders and participants across the country, each creating a Changeprint in their local area.

We recently conducted a research study with support from sustainability consultancy Eunomia. Our goal was to understand more about how projects like Katie’s are achieving success, and how to replicate that in other places around the UK. We compiled the findings into a useful high-impact local climate action guide, called From Footprint to Changeprint.

The headlines from the guide are brilliantly hopeful. We found that success is possible everywhere, and that even projects with lower levels of funding could create significant impact. We also discovered shared characteristics and success factors that many of the fantastic initiatives we investigated have in common and in defining these, uncovered the insight that they can be copied and adapted to many different projects and organisations.

Britons care about climate, and most of us want more ambitious action to tackle it. What’s perhaps less often said is that actually, there is huge ambition in places around the UK and what’s needed is for people locally to feel empowered to turn this into action.

Our role at Carbon Copy is to show what’s already being done. To highlight those amazing groups that have already begun to create a better future for those in their area. To demonstrate that climate and nature projects aren’t just about emissions and biodiversity targets, they’re about making all of our lives better. And to provide resources, like our free guide, to help more people get started, copy what’s working and join in wherever they live.

In collaboration with partners, Carbon Copy’s aim is to engage one million more people locally in UK climate action by 2030.