We need real people to act as ambassadors for a just transition

The new UK government has a strong mandate to act on climate, nature and net zero. Labour’s commitments on climate are ambitious. Setting up Great British Energy, providing clean power by 2030 and upgrading five million homes are targets whose success relies on broad acceptance from society.

This transition will touch every part of our everyday life. Sixty percent of the emission cuts needed require us to change our lifestyle in some way – from what we eat, to how we travel and how we heat our homes. For these changes to be accepted, they need to feel like a good idea for everyone, in both principle and practice.

At a summit hosted by Labour Climate and Environment Forum (LCEF) in July, the new Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Ed Miliband spoke about the need to “win the fairness politics of net zero”. He recognised the importance of citizen engagement and the need for ambassadors for engagement. Mr Miliband spoke about communities across the country saying ‘I’m not just seeing what’s happening – I’m part of this.’ 

We believe this calls for a people-centred climate story, shared by powerful storytellers. If we want to get everyone excited about what the transition could mean for all our lives, we need to trust a wide range of people – as ambassadors – who can help us get there. 

Our Climate Ambassador programme trains and supports a diverse array of trusted spokespeople – from scientists and healthcare practitioners to engineers – in being impactful ambassadors for engagement. They have an important role in ensuring every community has an opportunity to be part of a fair transition to clean power. 

The goal of the programme is to unleash the UK’s most authentic and passionate climate storytellers. These ambassadors are able to connect with communities on a local level – from linking our love of nature with climate action to helping people become more familiar with climate solutions. As trusted spokespeople, they have the power to inspire millions through media and policy engagement.

Climate Outreach has so far trained over 300 Climate Ambassadors to connect climate change with peoples’ lived experiences. The programme has focused on supporting climate experts in sharing their climate story with audiences outside of academia. Now we are scaling up and connecting with other trusted members of society such as healthcare professionals and renewable energy specialists.

Our Climate Ambassador programme is built on the understanding that trusted climate messengers play a vital role in helping communities participate in the transition to a low carbon society. The power of relatable, everyday testimony is reinforced by the consistently high trust that we all assign to ordinary people who are on the same journey as us. Climate Ambassadors are authentic and have a genuine connection with their audiences. One of our ambassadors, climate adaptation expert Juliet de Little regularly engages local communities and government on operationalising climate justice principles in flood risk areas. She told us that the programme has helped her to “seek a balance of explaining complexity simply, without being patronising” and that she is now conscious of her role in telling the climate story and thinking about who are the trusted messengers.

So what’s the pathway to becoming a Climate Ambassador? Our Climate Ambassadors participate in a full day training workshop that draws on decades of social science evidence to find practical techniques for making climate change feel relatable and relevant to different public audiences. Following the workshop, Climate Ambassadors receive coaching and support to put their new skills into practice. We help them to map their own journey to becoming expert communicators and to identify opportunities for sharing their climate stories with the public, the media or policy audiences. 

To grow our Climate Ambassador network, we rely on partnerships and grants. For the next stage of the programme, we hope to work with partners who are keen to help us grow our network. We want to focus on diversifying our network of trusted spokespeople on climate, from healthcare practitioners to renewable energy professionals and others in many different sectors across the UK. These trusted messengers have the capacity to influence diverse communities across the UK into playing an active and impactful role in our clean energy future. We want  to be as inclusive as possible, and we would love it if you could join us on this journey. 

If you would like to partner with us on the next stage of our Climate Ambassador programme, please contact Programme Manager, Tara Bryer: tara.bryer@climateoutreach.org.