{"id":2428,"date":"2026-04-02T11:19:59","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T10:19:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/sci\/?p=2428"},"modified":"2026-04-02T11:19:59","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T10:19:59","slug":"joined%e2%80%91up-sustainability-transformations-insights-from-the-just-centres-regional-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/sci\/2026\/04\/02\/joined%e2%80%91up-sustainability-transformations-insights-from-the-just-centres-regional-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Joined\u2011Up Sustainability Transformations: Insights from the JUST Centre\u2019s regional review"},"content":{"rendered":"

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More than 140 initiatives across the North of England are redefining what a just transition can look like.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Text by Surabhi Mantha<\/b><\/h2>\n

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The JUST Centre (Centre for Joined\u2011Up Sustainability Transformations) \u2013 a major multi-university ESRC-funded research centre launched in 2025 and led by colleagues in the SCI \u2013 hosted a webinar on 6 March presenting Rapid Evidence Review. The aim is to explore how climate action and social justice are being brought together through local and regional initiatives across the North of England. Led by the Deputy Director of the JUST Centre, Professor <\/b>Matthew <\/b>Patterson (SCI, University of Manchester), the session presented findings from a major review<\/a> of more than 140 initiatives working at the intersection of climate, justice, and place\u2011based transformation.<\/p>\n

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The event brought together both researchers and practitioners whose work exemplifies these principles: Anisa Saleh from the Women\u2019s Environmental Network\u2019s (WEN) Climate Sisters programme<\/a>, Professor Lucie Middlemiss from the University of Leeds, Samanthi Theminimulle from The Young Foundation, and Andrew Pinches from Rossendale Valley Energy. Their contributions offered a grounded, multi\u2011perspective view of what joined\u2011up sustainability looks like in practice \u2013 and what it demands from institutions, communities and policymakers.<\/p>\n

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Mapping joined\u2011up sustainability transformations<\/b><\/h3>\n

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Patterson opened the session by highlighting that the purpose of the JUST Centre<\/a> is to understand and accelerate sustainability transformations that are people\u2011centred, socially just, and joined-up. The Centre\u2019s work is guided by three core questions: what works, when, where, and for whom; how such transformations can be accelerated; and who participates in shaping them. At the heart of this approach is a commitment to learning from place\u2011based, joined\u2011up action research, and to identifying lessons that governments, businesses, and communities can use to advance just and equitable sustainability transitions. To answer these questions, the team partnered with universities across the regions to build a database of initiatives across five major focus areas: Greater Manchester, Merseyside, West Cumbria, the North East, and West Yorkshire. This database forms the foundation for the Rapid Evidence Review.<\/p>\n

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Feminist approach to climate leadership<\/b><\/h3>\n

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Anisa Saleh introduced the Climate Sisters programme, an inclusive, feminist, intersectional climate leadership initiative run by WEN (UK-based organisation championing gender-centric climate action through curated community projects). The programme amplifies the voices of racialised and marginalised women in climate action, whose perspectives are often excluded from climate debates. Instead, it positions women as knowledge\u2011holders, not merely participants, and aims to build a movement of women leading climate action. Its vision is to build a world in which communities and the planet can thrive.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Recognising that climate impacts are experienced differently across places and communities, Saleh highlighted the importance of designing structures informed by lived experience. This includes connecting climate justice to housing, health, migration, and safety. The 12\u2011week, place\u2011based programme explores local, national, and international climate concerns while supporting the creative co\u2011production of climate responses and solutions, culminating in public exhibitions. Working with organisations such as SAWN (Support and Action for Women\u2019s Network) in Oldham, Women\u2019s Voices, local authorities, policy spaces, and others, the programme centres lived experience, gender, racial, and social equity. It also engages with wider climate and environmental networks, as well as academic and research partners, ensuring that community\u2011led perspectives shape broader climate discourse.<\/p>\n

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Who is leading just sustainability action?<\/b><\/h3>\n

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Lucie Middlemiss presented key findings on the types of actors driving joined\u2011up climate and justice initiatives across the North of England. The review revealed a diverse ecosystem of organisations involved in this work, including local and combined authorities, NGOs and charities, community groups, businesses, and regional networks such as the Yorkshire & Humber Climate Commission (YHCC). The YHCC brings together local authorities, businesses, and community actors to accelerate climate action in the region, and has recently partnered with the JUST Centre.<\/p>\n

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A major challenge highlighted in the report is the funding landscape. Grassroots organisations \u2013 often the closest to community needs \u2013 struggle to access stable, long\u2011term funding, while larger institutions are sometimes perceived as disconnected from lived realities. Most funding comes from government sources (local, regional, and national) and the National Lottery, but these streams are typically short\u2011term, competitive, and inconsistent. Across regions, participants expressed a strong desire for greater coordination, emphasising the need to connect initiatives within and across regions to share learning and build collective capacity.<\/p>\n

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The review also found that initiatives tend to begin from either a climate or a justice starting point and then expand to incorporate the other. Government\u2011led projects often start with climate goals and integrate justice later, while community\u2011led projects typically begin with social justice and then connect to climate action. Examples include Recycling Lives (Preston), which supports ex\u2011offenders through skills training and food redistribution \u2013 a justice\u2011led initiative with strong environmental benefits \u2013 and the Atom Valley project in Rochdale, Oldham and Bury, which supports Manchester\u2019s 2038 net\u2011zero ambitions with a focus on jobs and skills.<\/p>\n

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Net Zero Terrace Streets<\/b><\/h3>\n

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Andrew Pinches from Rossendale Valley Energy, a community\u2011led organisation supporting residents through practical, place\u2011based climate action, presented an innovative retrofit model designed for terraced housing, one of the UK\u2019s hardest\u2011to\u2011decarbonise housing types. He\u00a0 introduced the Net Zero Terrace Streets (NZTS<\/a>) application as a tool to support this approach.<\/p>\n

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Terraced homes that included limited space for air\u2011source heat pumps, complex building layouts and high risk of fuel poverty if poorly designed solutions are used. The solution, Pinches says, is ground\u2011source ambient loops in streets. Rossendale Valley Energy is piloting a street\u2011level ground\u2011source heat network, where boreholes run beneath the street and each home receives a compact shoebox heat pump. These fabric retrofit measures are tailored to each property where solar and battery systems are integrated into a smart local energy system and energy is shared fairly across homes regardless of roof orientation.<\/p>\n

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The project works with local grassroots organisations to build delivery partnerships and train energy champions, while a \u201cfairer warmth\u201d digital portal supports residents through the retrofit process. After piloting the approach in three homes, Pinches hopes the model can make net\u2011zero retrofits more affordable, inclusive, and community\u2011led.<\/p>\n

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What agendas are being joined-up?<\/b><\/h3>\n

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Samanthi Theminimulle summarised four agendas commonly linked to socially just climate action. Regional development is being advanced through job creation and strategic investment, exemplified by Atom Valley in Greater Manchester and locally controlled economic models such as Project Kar. Health and wellbeing improvements are visible in initiatives such as the Bee Network\u2019s air\u2011quality measures and energy\u2011efficiency retrofits that create warmer homes. Community resilience and place\u2011strengthening are becoming central to climate action. Networks such as Zero Carbon Cumbria foster shared learning and coordinated regional responses, while food and solidarity initiatives in Newcastle address fairer outcomes in food and housing systems. These agendas reflect the multidimensional nature of just climate transitions.<\/p>\n

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Across the initiatives reviewed, five broad modes of public engagement emerged. Many projects sought to strengthen political participation, whether through deliberative processes such as the Copeland People\u2019s Panel on Climate Change or leadership\u2011building programmes like Climate Sisters. A significant trend was the rise of collective low\u2011carbon living, moving beyond individual choices to foster shared action. Community climate hubs, for example, create local networks that help residents reduce their carbon footprints together. Initiatives such as Wellbeing Sheffield use wellbeing as an entry point into low\u2011carbon lifestyles. The research also highlighted a strong focus on skills and employment. Programmes such as Groundwork\u2019s apprenticeships and initiatives targeting women for low\u2011carbon roles ensure that the transition includes economic opportunity and professional growth. Finally, some engagement is indirect or passive, where residents participate as citizen\u2011consumers who benefit from large\u2011scale infrastructure improvements in energy, housing, and transport without needing to be actively involved in project delivery.<\/p>\n

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The Rapid Evidence Review highlights the diversity and value of climate\u2011justice initiatives across the North of England, showing how climate action becomes transformative when it is inclusive, place\u2011based and socially just.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Watch the recording of the JUST Centre\u2019s webinar here: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=sTg8y26DB4E<\/a><\/p>\n

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Access the full report here: https:\/\/pure.manchester.ac.uk\/ws\/portalfiles\/portal\/1834357876\/JUST_Centre_Rapid_Evidence_Review_March_2026.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

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