Why the power of collaboration, community and communication will be the key to unlocking our climate future

Across three days of video podcasts, live panels and collaborative workshops, climate experts and industry leaders from government, business, industry and the third sector came together – to share ideas, challenge assumptions, and identify the practical steps needed to accelerate Wales’ transition to a fairer, greener future.

During these conversations, three key priorities emerged: Collaboration, Engagement and Community – as pillars that must shape our climate future and drive down carbon emissions over the next decade and beyond.

Let’s take a closer look...

Collaboration is key to progress

Many of our speakers reinforced that working together is the only way to move from ambition to action. From housing and energy to farming and transport, progress will depend on shared goals, consistent standards and pooled resources between industries, businesses, local councils, stakeholders and communities.

Sara Elias (Nesta Cymru), Simon Minett (Challoch Energy) and Jarrad Morris (FleetEV) are just three of many speakers that emphasised the importance of collaboration.

Likewise, Steve Cranston from Tai Ar y Cyd said: ‘If we want to go fast, go alone, but if we want to go far, we need to go together’.

By sharing knowledge, ideas, resources and investment, Wales can move faster and ensure no one is left behind. 

Building trust through engagement

Education and engagement were common threads across every session of the conference. Many speakers mentioned the twin-track approach to engagement – whereby people need to see and feel the benefits of change before they can believe in it.

Simon Minett from Challoch Energy explained that ‘engaging people and communities in the conversation and addressing their real needs such as comfort, health, money – while linking them to energy improvements – will make them sit up and listen’.

From awareness campaigns to real-world demonstrations, speakers like Jo Ullah (Powys County Council) and Peter Jones MBE (Natural Resources Wales) also stressed that participation builds trust. When people understand why change matters and how it affects them, they are more likely to become active partners in shaping solutions.

Bespoke approach for communities

Rural and urban communities face different realities – from access to public transport to digital connectivity. That’s why a ‘one-size-fits-all' approach simply won’t work.

Speakers across all three days called for local, community-led solutions, tailored to the unique needs of each area.

Jim Cardy from the Welsh Government Energy Service captured this sentiment perfectly. He said: ‘Transport decarbonisation needs to work for everyone and communities working together will be key to achieving a just transition.’

So, what are the next steps for climate action in Wales?

Alongside the three themes above, many contributors recognised the importance of policy and infrastructure change to unlock faster progress – including Abigail Ward from Energy Savings Trust who highlighted affordability as a key barrier.

She noted that ‘the UK Government needs to address the price of electricity if we are to make the electrification of home heating affordable’.

Indeed, from planning reform to smarter investment, it’s changes like this which will help accelerate action and ensure Wales’ climate ambitions translate into tangible outcomes.

Wales Climate Week as a whole has reignited conversations; built new connections; and generated bold ideas that the Welsh Government will now collate and use as evidence to inform and develop the next Carbon Budget.

The energy and insight shared proves that Wales not only has the ambition – but the capability – to lead by example.

Together, we’ll pave the way for a cleaner, fairer future for Wales.

If you’d like to catch up on any of the sessions from Wales Climate Week, you can do so here.