Manchester Hubbub in
How to inspire climate action at a city-level
Foreword
Over the past five years, Hubbub has had the privilege of working alongside communities across Manchester, exploring what local climate action looks like when it’s rooted in everyday life and shaped by local voices.
was born from a simple frustration many cities will recognise: bold climate commitments are essential, but they often feel too abstract for people to relate. As the political consensus on climate action has begun to break down, it’s more essential than ever to lift climate ambitions off the page and show the benefits for people, their homes, neighbourhoods and
Manchester was a testbed for what would happen if we focused Hubbub’s approach in one city, over the long term, and backed it with practical support, creativity and funding. Drawing on our core strengths - communications and behaviour change, deep community engagement, and convening unlikely and ambitious partnerships - we worked with local authorities, businesses, community groups and residents to show how climate action can be accessible, relevant and appealing.
From kitchen tables to high streets, from local parks to city-centre landmarks, the aim was to make climate action practical, positive and possible. In Our Nature has shown that climate action is about far more than just cutting carbon. Done well, it supports healthier homes, lower bills, stronger communities, new skills, better access to nature and a renewed sense of local
This report tells the story of that work. It brings together five years of impact and insight, alongside real-world examples of how change can happen at home, in communities and across an entire city.
Two principles run through everything you’ll read here: collaboration and positivity. By working with more than 80 organisations and focusing on issues people already care about - such as money, food, nature, sport, health and community - we’ve seen how broad audiences can be engaged when we meet people where they are, with hopeful and
This report is also a practical resource. It’s written for local authorities, funders, businesses and community organisations who want to design and scale community-led climate action. It shares what worked, what we’d do differently, and how local projects can connect to build a visible, citywide movement. We hope groups will use these learnings to replicate and grow impact in their own
So, what happens next? We’ll take these insights and tested models beyond Manchester, supporting other places to build climate movements that are greater than the sum of their parts. We’ll show the power of local action to deliver progress people can feel. We hope this report sparks new ideas and inspiration - and we’d love to explore how we can work together to make sustainability second nature,
Director and Co-Founder, Hubbub
Hubbub is an award-winning environmental charity that’s all about making sustainability second nature. We bring businesses, organisations, local authorities and community groups together to create campaigns that make it easier and more possible for all of us to make choices that are good for the environment. We combine data with storytelling, numbers with nuance and structured measurement with creativity.
Our work in Manchester began in 2021, when we partnered with Manchester City Council, Manchester Climate Ready, local and national partners to launch Manchester’s largest community climate programme: In Our Nature, with the aim to create a campaign that will leave a genuine legacy for the city.
When we began working in Manchester, we knew that making real progress on a complex issue like tackling climate change would require collaboration and joined-up thinking. Since then, Hubbub’s approach has been about reinforcing this strategy throughout our work, collaboratively with residents, community groups, local organisations, and city partners to create something greater than the sum of its parts.
After 1 year of In Our Nature
of people in Manchester had seen or heard about In Our Nature
of those people said it helped them understand role they can take to tackle climate change
(Hubbub polling of 1,000 residents from June 2022)
Our impact: 5 years in Manchester
People
and behaviours changed
Delivered 15 community climate action projects - Helping 368 people transform their habits and saving over 5 tonnes of CO2. That’s the equivalent of driving 20,000 miles!
People took action 6,500 times, from wasting less food to starting cycling or shifting to more sustainable diets
Launched a city-wide communications campaign with 27 million media opportunities to see, a social media reach of 635,000, 12,000 followers on social, and 56,000 website visits.
Reinvigorating Nature in Manchester
Delivered 62 community-led green initiatives
Transformed 17 urban nature areas
Supported 9 community nature projects with £40,000 of grant funding
Brought nature to the heart of Manchester – Over 100,000 visits to the In Our Nature Garden at the Castlefield Viaduct and 1,000+ visitors to the In Our Nature pop-up shop
Our learnings:
How to run a successful
community climate action project
Start with insight
Focus on what matters locally: topic that connects environmental impact with any social benefits your audience cares about. Build on people’s lived experiences and current priorities, that’s where genuine momentum starts.
Build on what already exists: thrive on trust and familiarity. Partner with local leaders, groups or projects already active in your area. Focus on supporting their capacity and long-term legacy rather than setting up something new from scratch.
Design through listening: using what you’ve learnt from listening to residents and grassroots groups. Ensure materials reflect your community, through inclusive imagery, translated resources, and plain language. Ask your local Council or Neighbourhood Teams for translation Check out our translated materials
momentum
Invest time and tangible support: value help they can’t easily get elsewhere, including design support, useful contacts, and guidance on funding applications. Alongside giving groups what they really need, providing tangible legacy items like tools, bikes, signage, or soil can also keep projects running beyond your involvement.
Agree what success looks like together: Being clear about your shared goals, how success will be measured, and what’s within scope, creates mutual accountability and
Stay connected with partners and local Keep Councillors, MPs, local organisations and key community groups updated on your progress. Staying in touch with what others are delivering in the area helps you align your work and can lead to new partnership opportunities.
Measure what matters
Make evaluation accessible:
lead to better feedback. Using short, visual surveys with emojis, icons, or pictures can help capture how people feel and what’s changed. The easier it is to respond, the stronger your evidence base.
Embrace unexpected outcomes: or activities might not always change behaviours right away, but they can create valuable co-benefits. Be open to learning what these benefits are through open questions. For example, our slow cooker workshops to help people save money on their energy bills, also led to participants trying new recipes and eating more veg.
Share your data and stories with those
Offer partner groups short impact summaries with anonymised participant data, quotes, photos, and carbon insights. These materials help them apply for new funding and tell their own success stories.
Throughout the In Our Nature programme, we collaborated with groups and organisations to create how-to guides and toolkits, composting how to run with Future how to start by Chorlton repair Café.
These learnings build on Hubbub’s
Five principles of working with communities
Building a movement of city-wide climate action
approach
Building a citywide climate movement requires a coordinated approach, bringing together on-the-ground and online initiatives to raise awareness of local issues, spark new behaviours, and build momentum that can grow far beyond a single project. It’s about turning good ideas into everyday habits that stick, at home, in communities, and across a whole city.
Here’s how Hubbub brought this to life alongside a coalition of organisations, applying our learnings and partnerships to deliver a diverse set of projects.
Raising awareness
At Hubbub, we focus on making climate action relevant to everyday life. By highlighting simple ways people can save money, learn new skills, and cut carbon, our projects show that sustainable living isn’t about sacrifice.
Creating a distinct, citywide identity for climate action that people could connect to was key for this. Our insights highlighted pride and nature as key levers for motivating Mancunians, so we built this into the design and communications. The In Our Nature identity was applied consistently at every touchpoint: a website, social media, online communications and on the ground events and activities, creating a recognisable campaign that the city could take part in, and take ownership of.
Changing behaviour
Creating real change takes time, trust, and genuine support. That’s why we avoid oneoff fixes and ran projects that worked with groups of residents over weeks and months, to build confidence and lasting habits.
Whether it was slow cooker workshops inspiring families to try veggie recipes while saving on energy bills, or local cycling clubs giving people confidence to get on two wheels, our behaviour-change projects started with people’s needs and provided the tools and encouragement to make sustainable living second nature.
Creating how to guides and practical learnings to help organisations replicate successful projects, for example Repair Cafes, Bike Libraries, and Slow
Climate action case studies
of the emissions cuts we need by 2035 come down to choices made in our own homes, and
Nearly a third 65%
home
Helping people take climate action at home starts with understanding what people care about, what they need support with, and how to capture their attention in a busy world. Over five years of working in Manchester, we’ve learnt a lot about what messages and framing people connect with. Through social media and other everyday touchpoints, we’ve used these learnings to create campaigns that show residents firsthand the real benefits of climate action for them and their household. By using creative design, relatable language, and engaging content we sparked people’s curiosity and made climate action feel
*House of Lords Environment Committee, calculated with the ‘In Our Hands’ (2022)
What we learned about helping people eat less meat and dairy
Food is about connection: diet are closely tied to our understanding of who we are and where we come from. People didn’t want to hear from celebrities or ‘experts’ - they trusted their peers more than anyone else.
Cut the jargon, and keep it positive:
Positive, plain language works best. That means focusing on benefits like taste, health and saving money, rather than using terms like “plant-based” or “sustainability” that felt “middle-class” and made people feel sceptical. If you want people to “eat more vegetables”, say just that.
Celebrate the easy wins: are already doing their bit to reduce their impact, and members were proud to share how they used up leftovers or batch cooked meals. We learned to highlight these wins and not shame anyone for not having the “perfect” sustainable diet.
“This work has helped me in speaking to communities in Manchester about low carbon diets. Knowing what aspects to emphasise such as the local benefits and the wider positive impacts of plant-based diets is helpful.”
Tudor Baker, Neighbourhood Climate Change
Make it a local story:
to see the benefits changing their diet might bring to daily life in their community, such as a chance to bring people together through local cooking workshops, or a sense of ‘our community
Community support: real help with the cost of living and basic cooking skills. That support has to be practical, relevant, and shaped by the voices of local people.
Get Winter Ready
Making it easy for people to save money on energy bills
1 in 2 Britons say they are worried that over the next 10 years, climate change will cause their bills and other costs to rise (Climate Barometer). As part of the In Our Nature programme, we ran a campaign to help people save energy and money at home. Instead of repackaging the same old energy advice, we focused on one high impact but lesser-known habit – reducing their boiler flow temperature to save up to £65 a year.
Used bold design to catch people’s Boiler flow temperature settings are new to many, and can sound complicated, so we used bold, colourful and playful content to spark people’s curiosity, and encourage them to find out We targeted renters and homeowners aged 25 – 55 who would be willing to make home changes. By targetting interests like Home DIY shows and money saving tips, we made sure the message landed with people who were ready to make a
Broke down the behaviour into simple, We partnered with Nesta to use their Money Saving Boiler Challenge guide, to make the technical process feel
The importance of collaboration and storytelling to reach new
Collaborating with location-specific social media influencers is a powerful way to reach a citywide audience. That could look like tapping into topics like fashion, food, nightlife or student weave climatefriendly choices into the story without making the environment the
In the community
To create real change across a city, you need to start in its communities. Our experience tells us that the best ideas don’t come from boardrooms but from community centres, parks and churches. Our work began by tapping into that local energy, sitting down with community groups, trusted leaders and residents to turn their ideas into projects they were excited about.
We began by listening. Every neighbourhood told a different story - they knew best when it came to what was working, what wasn’t, and what there was appetite for more of. Together, we built on these foundations, shaping projects with them that feel familiar rather than forced. We gave groups the time, guidance, design and marketing support they needed to make their ideas a success.
When the projects ended, we didn’t just pack up and leave. We captured what we’d learned side by side with the people who led it, creating simple guides and resources so others could pick up the idea, adapt it, and make it their own. That way, one great community project can spark many more.
“Bike It, Walk It is a testament to the work you and the team at Hubbub do, thank you for being AMAZING throughout the journey. Ordinarily funders provide finances and wait for evaluations, numbers etc - Hubbub is extraordinary in every sense of the word.”
Naz, Bike it, Walk It
to build her confidence and leadership, so she could lay the groundwork for long-term
Results from surveying the 16 women taking part in weekly cycling sessions:
100% 100% 100% 80%
Since working with Hubbub, Naz now runs multiple cycling or walking sessions and has spoken at the Greater Manchester Moving's conference.
That meant finding out what support Naz needed to deliver weekly cycling sessions, and what long-term investment was necessary for her work to thrive. Hubbub helped by:
Finding a location for a permanent bike
Helping her set up her own Community Interest Company “Bike It, Walk It”
Designing a bespoke logo and branding, and providing social media training to help Naz share her story and connect with more local residents
Providing funding for essential equipment like adult and kids’ bikes, helmets, a gazebo, cones, warm and waterproof clothing, lights and insurance
Mandem Summer
Cooking up change: making veggie
Despite the UK steadily reducing its meat consumption, Hubbub polling found that men are 50% less likely than women to identify as vegetarian or plant-based, with 40% of young men feeling unwilling to cut
To explore how to change that, we partnered with Mandem Meetup and A-Kin Club, two Manchester-based organisations connecting with men through culture, creativity, and community. The goal was to test ways to make plant-based food something social, satisfying and genuinely appetising for
We hosted a series of outdoor BBQ workshops for men and non-binary people to get hands-on with tasty, easy-to-make
Check out recipes inournature.uk/ tips/delicious-bbqrecipes-with-a-kin
“I volunteer at the Chorlton Repair Café both to help support my local community, and do something practical to directly reduce our impact on the climate as a whole. We usually fix around 60-70% of items brought in. Everyone is really friendly and we help each other out if we get stuck with a repair. It’s a really lovely group to be part of.”
Repair Café volunteer
Chorlton
Across a city
wide climate action works best when it feels like a movement. Connected, visible, and greater than the sum of its parts. Our approach brought together everything we’ve learned from helping people take action at home and in their neighbourhoods, linking these stories, voices, and successes to create momentum that reached across the
We collaborated with Sow the City and National Trust to create a wildlife garden on the Castlefield Viaduct. We ran a clothes repair workshops on a busy high street during Fresher’s week. And we hosted a swap shop workshop to help people run their own events. All of this was about turning local action into something collective. Through mainstream campaigns, community events, and creative communications, we shifted attitudes to make sustainable living feel like a shared social norm rather than a
level projects to ensure we reached beyond the ‘usual wouldn’t typically seek out advice on environmentalism. By meeting people where they were - through high street
brought climate action into the places where people already lived their lives.
Celebrating community heroes:
The In Our Nature exhibition
In 2025, we teamed up with the Manchester Museum for a pop-up exhibition to celebrate the people and community groups behind the In Our Nature programme. We showcased photos and videos of eleven community projects from across the city, putting a spotlight on the real difference that these people made. It gave visitors a frontrow seat to what climate action looks like in practice and showed them exactly how they can get involved themselves.
exhibition visitors
Community climate action needs a
By celebrating the amazing work of community groups in Manchester on a citywide stage, we’ve brought groups visibility, recognition, and a sense of legitimacy. Not only does this help them grow, but it shows people across the city that climate action is already happening, all around them.
Participants reported feeling more able and motivated to act on climate change: 64% agreed that taking part in their project made them feel they could do more themselves to tackle climate
Well-designed community nature projects can act as a powerful springboard positive experiences in nature and a strong sense of community to build confidence, agency and everyday climate
“Seeing the vegetables being grown has encouraged me to include them more in my diet, whether it’s literally the ones we’ve grown here or reminding me to buy and try more veg when I’m doing my weekly shop.”
Project participant
Big Ballot
Using humour and eye-catching design to get people talking about (and reducing) litter
2 million pieces of litter are dropped every day, costing UK taxpayers about £1 billion per year (Keep Britain Tidy). Despite best efforts, much of this ends up causing damage to our natural environment.
At Hubbub, we designed a tool to tackle this – the Big Ballot Bin, a first of it’s kind voting bin that allows users to vote with their rubbish. In 2023, we partnered with
reduction in drinks litter*
*within 60 metres of the bin drop in food
Manchester City Council and KFC to run Pick Your Side, a campaign that put our Big Ballot Bins to the test to find out whether sparking debate rather than wagging fingers could tackle litter and get people in Manchester talking rubbish. We put bins in four visible, high footfall areas and known city-centre litter hot spots and used topical (and sometimes controversial) questions to get people voting with their rubbish.
Conclusion
Manchester has shown us that it takes a city to build a climate movement. Over five years, we’ve seen that when a city creates a clear, recognisable identity for climate action, individual projects start to add up to something bigger – building momentum, pride, normalising sustainable choices and making it easier for residents to see themselves taking part.
At a time when many local authorities have climate action plans but face real constraints and fragmentation, initiatives like In Our Nature show how long-term, cross-sector partnerships can unlock more coordinated, efficient, and impactful action than any single organisation could achieve alone.
By investing in a shared city identity and providing practical support for communities, In Our Nature demonstrates the wider co-benefits of collaboration. It offers a clear roadmap for other cities to build on existing plans, stretch limited budgets, combine expertise, and mobilise wider funding, creating climate movements that are truly greater than the
revealed the power of collaboration in making sustainable living feel relevant, joyful, and
What’s next?
Hubbub will use these insights to refine and scale our approach to city action, taking our tested models, stories and support into new places and partnerships across the UK. We'll focus on deepening collaboration with local authorities, trusts and foundations, strengthening our partnerships on the ground, and applying Manchester’s learnings to help more communities build their own climate movements at pace and scale.
The lessons from Manchester will guide how we help other cities nurture their own led climate movements, sharing the practical tools, evidence, and stories that shaped success here. We’ll continue to listen first, test new models, and amplify what works, ensuring the ripple effects of our collaborative efforts in the city, extend far beyond Manchester.
Hubbub can help turn local ideas into national climate action
Engage residents and communities in your
We create strong community partnerships that drive local change and build trust. Our superpowers – engagement, behaviour change, and powerful partnerships, make us the go-to partner for delivering climate
Communicate complex topics like climate
Get cut through on your campaigns, with award-winning design and communications. Our campaigns reach diverse audiences and inspire action on complex issues - from creating greener, warmer homes and healthy sustainable diets, to embracing everyday circularity and connecting people with
We design and deliver bespoke behaviour change programmes with measurable results. Whether focusing on residents, customers or employees, we can help you reduce carbon emissions and meet your
Let’s make sustainability
second nature
About this report
This report summarises our key impact and learnings from our work in Manchester over the period of January 2021 – January 2026, including the In Our Nature programme. The report focuses on the elements of the programme and wider activities delivered by Hubbub, rather than the activities delivered by the other project partners involved.
Our work in Manchester has been supported by a number of grant funders: The Wates Family Enterprise Trust, Esmee Fairbairn Foundation and Garfield Weston Foundation, as well as a coalition of corporate funders - the Co-op, Coca Cola GB, Danone UK & Ireland, JCDecaux, KFC, Suntory Beverage Food I&E and Tetra
Our role in the In Our Nature programme was in partnership with a local coalition of organisations funded by the National Lottery's Climate Action Fund: Led by Manchester Climate Ready alongside Manchester City Council, Groundwork Greater Mancheter, Tyndall Centre