Young people finding the gaps in climate strategy, and suggesting new solutions

Back in September, we started an initiative to work with Young Leaders to systems-map all UK local government climate strategies into a single networked database. 

While mapping all strategies has proven to be over-optimistic… with nearly 50 mapped and connected we’re already learning a lot!

On the central page you can see all the plans we’ve mapped, with the observations and recommendations of the Young Leader who undertook the mapping. By putting them in a consistent structure and aligning them with a common set of goals (Shared Outcomes) we can immediately compare and contrast activity. 

But the real magic happens when you start to explore the Shared Outcomes, as we can immediately see that:

• There is a huge amount of climate action going on across the country, which is so encouraging to see, but it is uncategorised and siloed. For example there are few metrics, and no common metrics. 
• Many councils are not addressing key issues such as food, water consumption, or embodied carbon.
• While most strategies contain reference to health and nature recovery, the strategy is not aligned with maximising these outcomes.
• Most strategies highlight the need to engage with key stakeholders and local communities, but don’t provide a strategy to do this.

Another key observation is how current and up-to-date the strategies are. Some are recent updates, or even live dashboards, while many of the strategies are one-offs and out of date, outlining the activities planned for a few years previously and now hopefully completed. 

This is where the networked database can help to provide real insights. As shown in this video, you can explore Shared Outcomes and what Actions are being taken by your neighbours.