Climate crisis | Rethinking Poverty

Climate crisis

The climate crisis is the greatest threat facing humanity today. Here, we explore the different ways people are trying to tackle it. What is clear is we can only address it if we also address poverty and inequality.

Banks vs the climate: ‘Who cares if Miami is six metres underwater in 100 years?’

By Lukasz Krebel

20 Jul 2022

Stuart Kirk, Global Head of Responsible Investment at HSBC Asset Management, last month asked investors: ​“Who cares if Miami is six metres underwater in 100 years?” His widely-reported comments demonstrate the...

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Local government at the heart of a just transition

By Ellie Radcliffe

08 Jun 2022

As the energy price cap rises today, CLES Senior Researcher, Ellie Radcliffe, reflects on her recent visit to the Apse Big Energy Summit and considers the role of local authorities in balancing...

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How are young people writing about the climate crisis?

By Jordan Dilworth

13 May 2022

The Orwell Youth Prize, which is run by The Orwell Foundation, uses the writing of George Orwell as a starting point to inspire young people to write about their...

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Come dancing with systems

By Barry Knight

10 May 2022

A low ebb Those of us working for social justice and human rights have faced strong headwinds in recent decades. A world obsessed with economic growth has led to...

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Citizen-led renovation: climate policy’s secret weapon?

By Rapid Transition Alliance

19 Apr 2022

Citizen-led retrofitting, long the poor relation of climate policy, could now be its secret weapon in accelerating rapid transition. Home renovation through the citizen-led model is making breakthroughs from... Read More

Beyond the framework: the co-benefits of deliberation

By Jez Hall

31 Mar 2022

A new paper examining Shared Future’s Leeds Climate Change Citizens Jury highlights the co-benefits of deliberation, writes SF Director Jez Hall. Local authorities wanting to achieve meaningful carbon reduction, are increasingly turning... Read More

Climate action support for community business

By Power to Change

30 Mar 2022

Power to Change has been a major funder of community-led climate action over recent years, with as much as 25% of our funding supporting community business climate action, including our CORE and Next Generation energy programmes. Our mission... Read More

Levelling up: policy frameworks for collective wellbeing

By Pippa Coutts

24 Mar 2022

Levelling up is never going to be one size fits all. To support the development of areas that currently have poorer economic and social outcomes, we need to recognise... Read More

IPCC report reveals how inequality makes climate change impacts worse

By Harpreet Kaur Paul

17 Mar 2022

Nearly half of the global population – between 3.3 and 3.6 billion people – lives in areas highly vulnerable to climate change. The brief window in which to limit... Read More

Realising a community-powered transition to net zero

By Rethinking Poverty

11 Mar 2022

IPPR North and partners Scottish Power this week launched their new report on Net zero places and developing a community-led response to the climate crisis. The report argues that... Read More

‘Levelling up’ the UK is a golden opportunity for climate action – but the government is failing

By Jacob Ainscough

10 Mar 2022

Economists no longer talk of decarbonisation as a cost; climate action is now widely seen as an investment. Like any investment in new economic sectors, money spent is expected... Read More

Is degrowth – making less, but better – the future that the fashion world has been waiting for?

By The Alternative UK

09 Mar 2022

Fascinating article from the Vogue Business news site on the growing relevance of degrowth – producing and consuming less and less to mitigate climate meltdown – and fashion. It... Read More

Developing a shared framework for a hopeful future

By Hugh Eliis

03 Mar 2022

In November 2021, a group of ten people gathered together in Letchworth Garden City for two days of conversation. We began with a clear sense of our collective failure... Read More

We can’t level up without restoring nature

By Alex Chapman

10 Feb 2022

The government’s favourite term, ‘levelling up’, contains little meaning – just enough to be politically useful, but not enough to support any real plan. At NEF, we investigated the role of... Read More

Planning for people and planet: Quietly revolutionary ideas from practice

By Frazer Osment

20 Jan 2022

Change is coming. It has to. Tackling the twin crises of climate breakdown and nature loss is the biggest challenge we are ever likely to face. It will hit... Read More

Lessons from a citizens’ jury on climate change

By Maria Lucien

19 Jan 2022

With COP 26 starting in Glasgow on 31st October 2021, we have brought together the recommendations from six citizens’ juries and assemblies run by Shared Future over the last... Read More

Transforming markets: why markets need a makeover

By Barry Knight

13 Jan 2022

If Martians landed on Earth tomorrow, they would be surprised by many things, but they would be shocked by an economic system that allows a few billionaires to play... Read More

Earth, wind and fire – the just transition

By Rebekah Diski

07 Jan 2022

This is an article from the fourth issue of the New Economics Zine. You can read the full issue here. Last month, over 500 workers at the GKN car factory... Read More

Land justice: this land is our land

By Josina Calliste

30 Dec 2021

This is an article from the fourth issue of the New Economics Zine. You can read the full issue here. Land is ultimately about power. Those who own the land... Read More

A community wealth building energy transition

By Eleanor Radcliffe

28 Dec 2021

On the eve of COP26, and with the challenges we face in tackling the climate crisis becoming ever more apparent, CLES and Carbon Co-op today release a major new toolkit for councils,  a... Read More

Kendal underlines the importance of community-led climate change action

By Peter Bryant

23 Dec 2021

The Kendal Climate Change Citizens’ Jury, commissioned by Kendal Town Council gave us at Shared Future, as the facilitating team, an opportunity to reflect on the importance of instituting... Read More

Glasgow and its appetite for green community business

By The Alternative UK

21 Dec 2021

While the COP focus is on Glasgow, and the Scottish central belt, we thought we’d share some vibrant local Glasgow initiatives and community business that address zero-waste shopping, and... Read More

You can’t achieve levelling up without a Green New Deal

By Miatta Fahnbulleh

16 Dec 2021

This is an article on levelling up and the Green New Deal from the fourth issue of the New Economics Zine. You can read the full issue here. ‘Levelling up’... Read More

Resources for the metropolises of the 21st century

By Mariona Sanz

09 Dec 2021

UK Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES) Chief Executive, Sarah Longlands, spoke last month at La Metròpoli Pròspera, organized by the Metropolitan Strategic Plan of Barcelona. Following her appearance... Read More

How local authorities can help deliver climate justice

By Ellie Radcliffe

10 Nov 2021

In recognition of today’s Global Climate Strike and Fridays for Future’s demand for intersectional climate justice, CLES’s Ellie Radcliffe explores the role of local authorities in the UK in... Read More

Democracy Pioneers amplify young voices in the climate conversation

By Katy Rubin

03 Nov 2021

Katy Rubin reflects on Democracy Pioneers, a project she facilitated for Shared Future to engage Glasgow’s policymakers on climate change through the medium of theatre. On 14 September, eight young... Read More

Democracy in flux: Reflections on a decade at Involve

By Tim Hughes

19 Oct 2021

Today is my final day at Involve, the public participation and democracy charity, which naturally brings with it a time of reflection after 11 years spent at the organisation, and... Read More

Powering the just transition in Yorkshire & the Humber

By Rebekah Diski, Alex Chapman & Chaitanya Kumar

06 Oct 2021

The UK faces an uneven decarbonisation challenge, with some regions and industries under particular pressure to reduce emissions. Many of the places and communities most acutely affected are also... Read More

Same Storm, Different Boats – the impacts of climate change fall unevenly and unequally

By Simran Basi

21 Sep 2021

It is easy to think of climate change as a problem for future generations to deal with and tackle, especially if its effects are not felt directly. But millions... Read More

The IPCC report and beyond: Talking Points on the state of our planet

By Rethinking Poverty

02 Sep 2021

August is often dubbed the silly season, but this one has been packed with momentous events: the publication of the latest IPCC report, the chaotic exit from Afghanistan, and... Read More

The road to recovery

By Lydia Prieg

10 Aug 2021

The past year has been extremely difficult for all of us. Over 4 million people in Britain have tested positive for Covid, and over 150,000 people have died with... Read More

Talking Points reflects on our post-pandemic future

By Rethinking Poverty

04 Aug 2021

What does the experience of Euro 2020 and its aftermath tell us about the state of England today, and about the outlook of the younger generation as we emerge,... Read More

Orwell Youth Prize Winners: Starting Small by Creating Norfolk Wetlands

By William Walker

28 Jul 2021

A NEW DIRECTION: STARTING SMALL BY CREATING NORFOLK WETLANDS “A powerful and original interpretation of this years’ theme, drawing the link between the local environment and the climate and... Read More

The Orwell Youth Prize 2021: Reader responses

By Orwell Youth Prize

21 Jul 2021

The results of The Orwell Youth Prize 2021 will be revealed at our Celebration Day on Thursday 22nd July, and we are looking forward to sharing another year of exceptional... Read More

The Bank of England’s new ​’net zero’ mandate could be a game changer

By Lukasz Krebel

05 Jul 2021

The Bank of England’s (BoE) Monetary Policy Committee meets today, and will publish its first Monetary Policy Report since the Bank was given an updated ​‘net zero’ mandate at the... Read More

The Case for Growing our Own Beans

By Anna Tervahartiala

22 Jun 2021

As the pandemic has stood the world on its head, one of the debates which has been thrown wide open is that of the future of the economy. PSJP... Read More

Rethinking Poverty: what needs to change?

By Barry Knight

09 Jun 2021

We have the ideas for change It is now more than three years since Rethinking Poverty began to compile resources to support the development of a good society without... Read More

Talking Points reflects on the 2021 local elections

By Rethinking Poverty

04 Jun 2021

The results of May’s 2021 local elections will have dismayed those who care about progressive causes, as showcased in Rethinking Poverty. But can we learn anything from them about... Read More

What’s Earth Day got to do with Wellbeing?

By Hannah Ormston, Ben Thurman, Jennifer Wallace

26 May 2021

“In nature nothing exists alone.” Rachel Carson, Silent Spring (1962) Over the last 13 months – and during a time of isolation, separation, and loneliness – many of us... Read More

Talking Points looks at the future of work

By Rethinking Poverty

06 May 2021

As the UK takes further steps towards ending the restrictions of lockdown, April’s Talking Points looks at what the pandemic has meant for the future of work and what... Read More

Three lessons from Bogota on making cities safer for women

By Tiffany Lam

06 May 2021

In the UK, Sarah Everard’s murder has prompted debate around women’s safety, with 80% of women of all ages having been sexually harassed in public spaces. In Bogota, work is being... Read More

Cities must cut their ‘consumption emissions’ – here’s how

By Joe Blakey and Jana Wendler

29 Apr 2021

Almost every city now has some form of climate target. For instance Manchester, in northern England, aims to be zero carbon by 2038. But such targets generally focus on emissions... Read More

Caring for the earth, caring for each other

By Isaac Stanley

21 Apr 2021

During the peak of the first lockdown, people gathered on their doorsteps to clap for carers. Now it’s time to truly recognise their value. The inadequacies of England’s current... Read More

Powering social value through recovery

By David Burch

08 Apr 2021

On 11th March, we released our yearly analysis of the contribution that Manchester City Council’s procurement spend makes to the city’s economy and how it can support the achievement of wider... Read More

US stimulus package inspires Talking Points

By Rethinking Poverty

07 Apr 2021

January and February’s Talking Points focused on poverty and equality and the climate crisis, looking for glimmers of hope and finding not many – at least not in the... Read More

Building Back Better with a Green Industrial Revolution

By Simran Basi

24 Mar 2021

The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted the UK economy and, nearly a year on from its outbreak, the number of people unemployed continues to rise. The latest figures show that an... Read More

Kendal Citizens Jury on Climate Change

By Shared Future

18 Mar 2021

What should Kendal do about climate change? That was the challenge tackled by a diverse group of local residents of Kendal during the summer and autumn of 2020. Commissioned... Read More

Glasgow locals demand an eco-housing and sustainable energy development

By The Alternative UK

11 Mar 2021

When we exalt the power of the local, sometimes we mean really local. We were alerted to this stirring Glasgow story this week. A patch of ground in the... Read More

Talking Points: February 2021  

By Rethinking Poverty

04 Mar 2021

February’s Talking Points is inevitably focused on the climate crisis and the crisis of poverty and equality. Following the Chancellor’s budget announcement, what can we hope for? In both... Read More

Valuable work

By Nadia Whittome

02 Mar 2021

The Covid-19 pandemic has shone a light on the discrepancy between the work we most urgently need as a society, and the work we value and reward. So many of... Read More

Coastal communities in the time of Covid

By Fernanda Balata

25 Feb 2021

In 2015, we put out a paper outlining a common vision for coastal communities. Our work found that creating and supporting good, sustainable jobs is completely compatible with maintaining a healthy... Read More

Sustainable cities after COVID-19: are Barcelona-style green zones the answer?

By Anupam Nanda

16 Feb 2021

The lockdowns and restrictions introduced to control the spread of COVID-19 have resulted in huge changes to urban life. Previously bustling city centres remain empty, shunned in favour of suburban or... Read More

Talking Points: January 2021  

By Rethinking Poverty

04 Feb 2021

With a new lockdown announced on 4 January and schools closed across the country, 2021 got off to a bad start. By 25 January, Gordon Brown was warning that... Read More

Conscious consumerism: can we shop our way out of the crisis?

By Caroline Hartnell

02 Feb 2021

‘Anyone who believes that exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either a madman or an economist,’ remarked the economist Kenneth Boulding. Yet growth dominates... Read More

The case for a four day week

By Anna Coote & Aidan Harper

28 Jan 2021

  Shorter working time should be at the heart of post-pandemic recovery. That’s the message of The Case for a Four Day Week, published by Polity this month, and written by... Read More

A coal mine, trust, and just transition in Cumbria

By Chaitanya Kumar

19 Jan 2021

An essential ingredient to achieving net-zero carbon emissions in the UK is trust. This is what we highlighted in our report last year titled Trust in Transition. Without trust, efforts to accelerate... Read More

Talking Points looks back on 2020

By Rethinking Poverty

07 Jan 2021

2020 has been a year like no other in living memory, with two months pre-Covid and the rest of the year forming the first part of the post-Covid era.... Read More

Degrowth: why we need a new political economy

By Caroline Hartnell

17 Dec 2020

Degrowth, or he end of growth is not the end of the world, says Parrique. ‘It can be the beginning of many worlds.’ … Basically, degrowth means a decline of... Read More

Putting place at the heart of a green recovery

By Eleanor Radcliffe

03 Dec 2020

With fresh discussion this week about the importance of a green recovery, it is increasingly clear that post-Covid rebuilding must have a just transition away from a carbon-based economy... Read More

Talking Points: November 2020  

By Rethinking Poverty

02 Dec 2020

A recent article by Gordon Brown in the New Statesman bore the title ‘How to save the United Kingdom’ – and he is not alone in painting a bleak... Read More

Green recovery: what is it and how do we get there?

By Caroline Hartnell

18 Nov 2020

The rhetoric across the political spectrum is that we need a green recovery. We are also seeing growing public outrage at increases in poverty. This was the background to... Read More

Citizens assemblies to #BuildBackBetter

By Caroline Hartnell

11 Nov 2020

When we think about building back better, we are thinking about power and how we make decisions, said Compass’s Frances Foley, introducing a webinar on citizens assemblies called Deliberating and doing:... Read More

Out with the old, in with the bold: six propositions for building back better

By Sarah Davidson

05 Nov 2020

Those of you who follow the work of the Trust will know that our calls for governments to focus on societal wellbeing aren’t new. We have been working on... Read More

Transformative Green Deal Politics

By Jon Bloomfield

29 Oct 2020

The urgency of the climate change challenge has been visibly growing, dramatically illustrated by the bush fires that swept across much of Australia at the end of 2019. The... Read More

A caring economy: why invest in one now?

By Caroline Hartnell

28 Oct 2020

What is a caring economy? And why invest in it now? ‘Building a caring economy’ was the topic of a New Economics Foundation (NEF) briefing, hosted jointly with the Women’s... Read More

Use Covid recovery to get to net zero: the Citizens Assembly’s verdict

By Chaitanya Kumar

22 Oct 2020

In the first of its kind in the UK, a National Citizens Assembly has deliberated and this week produced a detailed set of recommendations to get the UK on... Read More

Talking Points: September 2020

By Rethinking Poverty

07 Oct 2020

This month’s Talking Points picks up August’s discussions of the changing world of work and the knock-on effects on cities. It also looks at the inexorable rise of poverty... Read More

Talking Points: July 2020  

By Rethinking Poverty

05 Aug 2020

With recovery packages being debated the world over, we stand at a crossroads. This month we start by looking at the widely divergent options we face, and the need... Read More

Pandemic truths 5: How Covid-19 shone a spotlight on the warped values of our current way of life 

By Andrew Webster

23 Jul 2020

‘What’s natural is the microbe. All the rest – health, integrity, purity (if you like) – is a product of the human will, of a vigilance that must never... Read More

Can we “green growth” our way out of the coming slump?

By The Alternative UK

22 Jul 2020

It doesn’t exist, says Jason Hickel. And more from the “de-growth” discourse. Here, we turn to economist and anthropologist Jason Hickel a lot when we want to hear a... Read More

A green recovery for local economies

By Jonty Leibowitz

16 Jul 2020

Covid-19 and the climate emergency both expose in different ways the fundamental lack of resilience in how we develop local economies in the UK. There has been a lot... Read More

Talking Points: June 2020  

By Rethinking Poverty

08 Jul 2020

As the UK moves further away from lockdown, the question of recovery comes ever more to the fore. This month we start with the new #BuildBackBetter coalition, launched against... Read More

Looking Back Better: the Future Forum on climate change

By Alex Talbott

18 Jun 2020

While human suffering is not a win for climate justice, could new timescales for international cooperation foster the mechanism for urgent environmental action? Our body has a virus, a... Read More

How to make elite power listen to the people? Organise

By James Morrison-Knight

10 Jun 2020

‘If I’m honest I am just tired Tired of everyday filling up my car and Knowing that I’m paying for the bombs in Iraq Tired of pretending like it... Read More

Talking Points: May 2020

By Rethinking Poverty

03 Jun 2020

As the UK takes the first faltering steps out of lockdown, the focus is more than ever on the ‘what next?’ question. Will the coronavirus crisis lead to a... Read More

A post-growth economy: thinking the unthinkable

By Caroline Hartnell

27 May 2020

Monday 11 May saw the launch of a new report from Positive Money called The Tragedy of Growth. That same day a webinar brought an audience of almost 900... Read More

Reducing inequality in Oxford: enter Covid-19

By Caroline Hartnell

20 May 2020

Almost a year ago, on 1 March 2019, I met with a group of people from Oxford – city council officials, an elected councillor and staff of social enterprise... Read More

Talking Points: April 2020

By Rethinking Poverty

06 May 2020

Life continues to be dominated by coronavirus. This month’s Talking Points focuses mainly on the all-important question of ‘what next?’ Has the market economy had its day? Will we... Read More

Crisis conversations – Reset #1: learning as we go for long term transition

By Andrew Simms

30 Apr 2020

How quickly the brain adapts to the new normal – Emily Maitlis, BBC Newsnight, 25/03/2020 In late 2018 the Rapid Transition Alliance launched with the purpose of building a... Read More

From many Yeses to one big Yes: towards a global Green New Deal

By Caroline Hartnell

29 Apr 2020

‘Only a crisis – actual or perceived – produces real change. When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. That,... Read More

Want to keep a city participating in Dagenham, or citizens assembling in Paris?

By The Alternative UK

16 Apr 2020

Coronavirus, and its strange distancing, compels us all to rethink how we come together. Our mutual care and sense of collective responsibility is expressed by NOT being physically close,... Read More

5 ways coronavirus could help humanity survive the ecological crisis

By Matt Mellen

09 Apr 2020

This pandemic is a further wake up call things need to radically change and many of the emergency measures help the planet too The human tragedy of the coronavirus... Read More

Talking Points: March 2020  

By Rethinking Poverty

08 Apr 2020

Since the last Talking Points went out, our world has been completely turned upside down. The country is in lockdown. Nothing is certain. March Talking Points is inevitably focused... Read More

How should we talk about COVID-19?

By Uplift

31 Mar 2020

These are uncertain and challenging times for people trying to push for progressive, people-first solutions to the crisis presented to us by COVID-19. Being deliberate in the way in... Read More

This small German town took back the power – and went fully renewable

By Bertie Russell

18 Mar 2020

The case for ambitious and transformative environmental policy is being made with increasing fervour and a series of “Green New Deals” – a reference to Roosevelt’s economic reform programme... Read More

Talking Points: February 2020  

By Rethinking Poverty

11 Mar 2020

There has been so much bad news on poverty in February that it sadly has to be the top story in this month’s Talking Points. We also offer a... Read More

Moving beyond Brexit: an agenda for national renewal

By Miatta Fahnbulleh

04 Mar 2020

The vote to leave the EU should have been a wakeup call. Instead, we’re three years on and little has changed. Brexit is making it harder to deal with our economic and... Read More

Flatpack Democracy 2.0

By The Alternative UK

19 Feb 2020

We are very pleased to bring you news of Flatpack Democracy 2.0 (buy here). This is the compendious update to the original booklet from Peter Macfadyen, ex-mayor of the... Read More

Talking Points: January 2020

By Rethinking Poverty

05 Feb 2020

On 23 January, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists announced that the ‘Doomsday Clock’ has moved 20 seconds closer to midnight – the closest it has come to signalling a... Read More

NEF reviews 2019 and their missions to transform our failing economy

28 Jan 2020

The New Economics Foundation have published their Review of the Year, which looks at all their activity in 2019, with a particular focus on their ‘three missions to transform... Read More

A “local economic blueprint” for Totnes could inspire other places to maximise their renewable assets

By The Alternative UK

22 Jan 2020

Much inspiration to be had from Totnes over the years – birthplace of Transition Towns, for example. Like many, their council has declared a climate emergency – but unlike... Read More

Talking Points looks back on 2019

By Rethinking Poverty

08 Jan 2020

2019 has been a tumultuous year. While poverty and inequality continued their inexorable rise, the climate crisis finally erupted on to the national agenda. At the same time solutions... Read More

NEF on how to rebuild trust for transition

17 Dec 2019

The New Economics Foundation has published its report Trust in Transition, which argues that the ‘rebuilding of trust in transition to a zero-carbon economy is perhaps the central political... Read More

Talking Points: November 2019 

By Rethinking Poverty

04 Dec 2019

This month’s Talking Points focuses on the way our economy works: the role of business in society, Wales’s ground-breaking Foundational Economy model, and the primacy of the local, for... Read More

Work less to help the climate? How a shorter work week can cut emissions

By Anupam Nanda

22 Nov 2019

The idea of a four-day working week is gaining traction. Recently, several high-profile companies have trialled reduced hours. And in the UK, the Labour Party has pledged a 32-hour four day work... Read More

CLES manifesto sets out how the next government can truly serve people, places and planet

19 Nov 2019

The Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES) has launched ‘The manifesto for local economies’, setting out a vision for ‘how the next government should create local economies that serve... Read More

NEF proposes three missions to transform our failing economy

15 Nov 2019

The New Economics Foundation (NEF) has published a new report, New Rules for the Economy, which propose ‘three missions to transform our failing economy’. The report depicts the UK... Read More

Talking Points: October 2019

By Rethinking Poverty

06 Nov 2019

This month’s Talking Points looks at a variety of ideas for improving people’s lives – from good architecture to kindness and a newly woven social fabric. We also look... Read More

The Green New Deal: can we afford NOT to pay for it?

By Caroline Hartnell

06 Nov 2019

On the 4 November, economist Ann Pettifor was speaking at the London School of Economics. ‘The Case for the Green New Deal’ was the title of her fascinating talk,... Read More

Put people at the heart of the green transition, argue IPPR and WWF

05 Nov 2019

The IPPR and WWF have published a collection of essays, Putting people at the heart of the green transition, which sets out what ‘a Green New Deal (GND) could... Read More

Our future depends on co-operation

By Ed Mayo

16 Oct 2019

It is a time of great distraction. Our plans to leave the European Union are burning, our government is fiddling with its leadership and, while it makes for news... Read More

Rewilding a key pillar in our fight against global heating

11 Oct 2019

Green New Deal for Nature, by Simon Lewis, of University College London and University of Leeds, forms part of Common Wealth’s Green New Deal (GND) series. The report advocates... Read More

Talking Points: September 2019

By Rethinking Poverty

09 Oct 2019

This month’s Talking Points looks at rising poverty and inequality and what can be done about it – from reforming Universal Credit to introducing UBS/UBI, taxing wealth more, and... Read More

Younger generations to bear burden of climate breakdown

03 Oct 2019

The Institute for Public Policy Research has published Inheriting the Earth? The unprecedented challenge of environmental breakdown for younger generations, the second discussion paper in a series that ‘seeks... Read More

Too little, too late? Reflections on the 20 September climate strike

By Caroline Hartnell

02 Oct 2019

The introductory statement to the UN Climate Action Summit on 23 September 2019 makes chilling reading, though it insists that there are still solutions available: ‘The last four years... Read More

Workers must be the ones to design a just transition

01 Oct 2019

A new report from Ellie Mae O’Hagan outlines the role of trade unions in a Green New Deal. It is part of Common Wealth’s Green New Deal (GND) report... Read More

Shifting ownership to avoid climate catastrophe

26 Sep 2019

Johanna Bozuwa and Carla Skandier of Democracy Collaborative have contributed to Common Wealth’s series on the Green New Deal with their piece, Shifting Ownership for the Energy Transition in... Read More

45° Change shows the way

By Jon Edwards

25 Sep 2019

The core premise of Neal Lawson’s ‘45° Change’ is that the post-1945 welfare state approach to dealing with societal challenges has broken down. The neoliberal, market-driven system that has... Read More

How Community Wealth Building can help the Green New Deal

24 Sep 2019

Last month we announced the launch of Common Wealth’s Green New Deal project, a series of reports that will aim to serve as a ‘comprehensive road map for a... Read More

CLES on climate emergency: ‘the time for action is now’

17 Sep 2019

The Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES) have published ‘CLES on… climate emergency’, the third piece in their new series of provocations. It argues that while movements such as... Read More

We need to transform our institutions to deliver a Green New Deal

12 Sep 2019

Common Wealth have published another report in their Green New Deal series, this time looking at political movements and institutions. Written by Miatta Fahnbulleh of the New Economics Foundation,... Read More

Talking Points: July/August 2019

By Rethinking Poverty

11 Sep 2019

This month’s Talking Points ranges widely from US companies’ new professed purpose of improving our society to a change of direction at Joseph Rowntree Foundation, ideas for transforming public... Read More

Publicly owned energy for a Green New Deal

05 Sep 2019

Common Wealth have recently published the report Why We Need Publicly Owned Energy for a Green New Deal. Written by Cat Hobbs, founder and director of We Own It,... Read More

Road Map to a Green New Deal: From Extraction to Stewardship

By Mathew Lawrence

03 Sep 2019

Executive summary Tinkering at the margins of an economic model driving environmental breakdown is guaranteed to deepen the climate emergency. To thrive, only a systemic response to a systems... Read More

Who has the power to restore nature?

By Chris Williams

28 Aug 2019

The UK’s 25 year environment plan — to lead the world in the ​‘natural capital approach’ — contains many bold statements about the capacity of this approach to produce positive change for nature. One aim is... Read More

Housing in 2040

By Sally Thomas

29 Jul 2019

Reflections from the 2019 annual conference of the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA) Our annual conference looked at the future of housing, focusing on our tenants, homes, communities... Read More

Common Wealth launch a road map for Green New Deal

11 Jul 2019

The think-tank Common Wealth this week launched their Green New Deal project, a series of reports to be published over the coming months that will serve as a ‘comprehensive... Read More

Talking Points: June 2019 

By Rethinking Poverty

09 Jul 2019

This month’s Talking Points reflects on the causes of inequality and puts forward some suggestions for tackling poverty rather than just more ‘bad news’. We also look at the... Read More

New think-tank dedicated to democratising ownership in face of climate crisis

27 Jun 2019

A new think-tank, Common Wealth, ‘dedicated to democratising ownership’, seeks to ‘rapidly and justly transform our economy in the face of climate breakdown’. The organisation sets out its ‘simple... Read More

Making the European project heroic again

By Pierre Calame

26 Jun 2019

The European Union has seen globalization in narrow economic terms as the creation of a single global market rather than the irreversible, interdependent relationships between the world’s societies and... Read More

Climate justice and social justice must go together

By Stephen Pittam

18 Jun 2019

In April I attended Ariadne’s annual meeting in Belfast. Ariadne is a European peer-to-peer network of over 600 funders and philanthropists who support social change and human rights. Participants... Read More

Back to school: some personal reflections on Losing Control and CTRLshift

By Mark Wilkinson

04 Jun 2019

In this blog, Mark Wilkinson, Losing Control advisory council member, reflects on the Losing Control conference in February, CTRLshift: an emergency summit for change in May, and the way community groups in towns and... Read More

Alternative Editorial: CTRLshifts into next gear

By Indra Adnan

30 May 2019

CTRLshift is all about ‘shifting control’ from national-level political parties and corporations to the people and organisations collaborating in towns, cities and regions – very much the agenda of... Read More

A reduced working week needed to fight climate crisis

29 May 2019

A new paper from Autonomy UK, The Ecological Limits of Work: on carbon emissions, carbon budgets and working time, written by Philipp Frey, explores working hours and productivity in... Read More

Talking Points: April 2019

By Rethinking Poverty

01 May 2019

 The big development this month is the re-emergence of the Green New Deal in the UK, offering a way forward to address poverty, inequality and climate change. Also this... Read More

Out there is in here: the importance of systems change

By Caroline Hartnell

24 Apr 2019

Systems change is an area Rethinking Poverty intends to look at in a systematic way, examining some of the key concepts such as emergence and design, equifinality, etc. While... Read More

A Green New Deal is what post-Brexit Britain needs

11 Apr 2019

Following their meeting on Good Green Jobs For All on 1 April, which Rethinking Poverty reported on, the New Economics Foundation last week launched their new pamphlet on why... Read More

Eradicating poverty and tackling climate change are inextricably linked

By Caroline Hartnell

10 Apr 2019

I have been very aware for a while that Rethinking Poverty should be including climate change in its focus. But a gut feeling about the interconnectedness of everything isn’t... Read More

Degrowth: A call for radical abundance

By Jason Hickel

19 Mar 2019

What do we need for a good society and a sustainable future? We need to de-enclose social goods and restore the commons, so that people can access the things they need... Read More

Talking Points: February 2019

By Rethinking Poverty

06 Mar 2019

Is the zeitgeist changing? While the beginning of February saw a spate of calls for the rich to pay more taxes, the end of the month has seen a... Read More