Last night, 12 March, the People’s History Museum in Manchester celebrated the new, ESRC-funded Joined-Up Sustainability Transformations (JUST) Centre.
Speakers at the event shared political and social obstacles to reaching net zero. Researchers, policymakers, and representatives from community initiatives around the UK discussed effective strategies for low-carbon living.
The new centre is led by The University of Manchester together with the Institute for Community Studies at The Young Foundation, brings together universities across North England, including Lancaster, Leeds, Liverpool, and Newcastle.
Net zero
The UK aims to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, but this must be navigated carefully; if the transition to this green economy results in wider inequality, or causes some local areas to stagnate while others thrive, the UK will have missed the chance to create equal opportunities for all.
The JUST Centre is therefore dedicated to exploring innovative, coordinated strategies to achieve a just transition, emphasising the need to tailor solutions to support specific locations and communities.
At last night’s event, diverse approaches to mobilising local communities towards decarbonisation were showcased, including:
- Rossenadale Valley Energy: This community-led renewable energy group aims to address fuel poverty, bringing residents warmer and healthier homes at no extra cost. The group recently received the Energy Innovation Award 2024 for its Net Zero Terrace Streets project, which aims to decarbonise terraced houses using insulation, ground-source heat pumps, and solar panels.
- Climate Sisters: This project by the Women’s Environmental Network works with women’s groups in the London boroughs of Tower Hamlets and Hackney, empowering racialised and marginalised women to explore climate justice through a 12-week Feminist Climate Leadership programme.
- Project Collette: A community initiative from the Green Finance Community Hub, which aims to make energy ownership accessible to everyone. As the UK’s first large-scale, part-community-owned offshore wind farm, Project Collette – located on Cumbria’s coast – seeks to power a million homes yearly with a proposed 1.2GW of offshore wind. It strives to radically rethink community involvement in offshore wind by enabling communities to become part-owners and investors in the wind farm.
A place-based approach
The JUST team emphasised the importance of taking a place-based approach to addressing political and social barriers to achieving net zero by 2050. With £8.5m invested by the ESRC over the next five years, the centre will develop new ways of generating evidence about what works where, why, and for whom in sustainable living, enabling meaningful conversations between communities and decision-makers.
Professor Sherilyn MacGregor, JUST Centre Director and Principal Investigator, said:
“We know a lot about the dangers of not accelerating the transition, and we do have the technological know-how to get it done. What we urgently need to know more about is how decarbonisation can be joined up, with more and smarter investment in socio-economic development, so that all people and communities can feel the benefits as soon as possible. The JUST Centre will be doing this important research in collaboration with a range of partners who are thinking and acting outside the box to join up people, places and solutions.”
Social impact
Emily Morrison, The Young Foundation’s Director of Sustainability and the JUST Centre’s Impact Lead, said:
“Across the UK, there is so much good work that people are doing already locally, in homes, in communities; in business and the public sector; in local government, and mayoral authorities. Many are pushing the envelope, developing just transition strategies, not just net zero strategies. The JUST Centre is not about introducing more complexity – it is about seizing where there is already momentum, to do net zero in ways that can unlock social impact and drive societal transformation for all UK places and households.”
The Young Foundation’s 2022 study revealed that while 97% of the UK population wanted to participate in achieving net zero, 64% lacked confidence in the government’s ability to deliver it without leaving people behind.
Read more about the JUST Centre.
Climate change Inequality Institute for Community Studies Just transition Local economies Local government and public services Net zero Systems change Posted on: 13 March 2025