CAST reports provide further detail on specific research projects across our five member institutions, as well as our partners and additional collaborators. They cover several research areas and key topics, ranging from food & diet to government-led change.
They are designed as a resource which provides further information on a specific CAST project, including research methods, case studies, analysis, actionable insights and recommendations.
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Community climate hubs: the Greener and Cleaner peer-learning model for low-carbon lifestyles
February 2025
Greener and Cleaner is working with researchers from the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST) to evaluate the outcomes of engaging with the Greener and Cleaner Hub. This study aims to understand how using the community climate hub influences people’s understanding of climate change and their uptake of low-carbon behaviours.
What’s Stopping Us? Applying psychology to accelerate climate action in sport
November 2024
A report that explores insights from social psychology, such as understanding people’s values, overcoming misperceptions about what other people think, and the role of leadership and social norms can offer sports organisations a deeper understanding of how to create change.
Brought to you by Sport Positive, UNFCCC Sport for Climate Action and Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST).
International Round Table: Financing Climate Action at City Level
October 2024
An online International Round Table on Financing Climate Action at City Level took place on November 15th, 2023. Participants were from city and regional governments in Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, the USA and the UK. The event enabled the exploration of financial issues associated with city-level climate action. It was a follow-up to an earlier international round table on accelerating climate action at city level, where finance was identified as a topic of particular interest. This report summarises the points that emerged from the discussions.
Cornwall Council Active Travel Social Prescribing Pilot – Process evaluation report
October 2024
Cornwall Council is working with researchers from the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST) to evaluate the Council’s Active Travel Social Prescribing Pilot. The aims of the pilot are to promote increased levels of physical activity through walking, wheeling and cycling, support modal shift to active travel, address any barriers to using active modes, and demonstrate links between infrastructure provision and social prescribing schemes. The pilot is being conducted in Bodmin, Penzance, and St Austell and the China Clay Area. This report is the first of two which will present the findings of an evaluation study to measure the outcomes for the participants.
Community healthy food interventions: Review of outcome metrics and toolkits – Report for Cornwall Council and the WellFed Cornwall Network
August 2024
One challenge facing health care professionals, local authorities, food growers, and charities or voluntary sector organisations that are trialling community food interventions is how to measure and evidence the outcomes. The aim of this review is therefore to identify a range of evaluation metrics and toolkits that are used in community-based diet interventions, with a focus on health, climate, and community benefits.
CAST Guidelines: How can citizens’ assemblies help navigate the systemic transformations required by the polycrisis?
July 2024
These guidelines are intended for policymakers, practitioners, researchers and civil society actors interested in taking a systemic approach to the environmental and social crises facing the planet today. They explore how citizens’ assemblies could generate a genuinely transformative response to such challenges by addressing underlying systemic issues.
Ethnicity and UK climate perceptions: Why we need greater diversity in engagement and research
July 2024
This report brings together preliminary insights on how people of colour in Britain experience, perceive and engage with climate change and climate policy. It outlines why UK climate discourse must better consider the perspectives of different ethnicities and recommends actions that researchers, research funders, insights commissioners and campaigners can take.
Behaviour change interventions to encourage uptake of e-bike shared mobility in Cornwall
May 2024
Cornwall Council is working with researchers from the Centre for Climate Change and Social (CAST) to develop recommendations for encouraging low-carbon behaviours among residents and Council employees, including the uptake of active travel (i.e., walking, wheeling, or cycling). This report presents the findings of a study which trialled two behaviour change interventions to encourage people to use active modes; 151 residents and 14 Council staff took part.
Catalysts of Change: People at the Heart of Climate Transformations
March 2024
Drawing on five years of CAST research conducted in collaboration with policymakers, local authorities, charities, businesses and community groups, this report synthesises five key messages and sheds light on how we can achieve the social changes needed to tackle climate change. The report provides useful insights and recommendations for policymakers and practitioners working towards emissions reductions and net zero targets. It is a vital resource for people involved in policy, business, charity projects, community groups and the media and illuminates the importance of people-centred climate policy and provides actionable steps to better engage the public with climate solutions.
Social visions for a low-carbon future
March 2024
Undertaken as part of the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformation’s (CAST), as part of its Visioning Theme, this report details our approach to engaging local publics in imagining a low-carbon future. We provide a detailed account of our method, describing the visioning workshops we conducted with participants in the UK, China and Sweden. The main aim of this report is to showcase the co-developed place-based visions created by our participants, presenting illustrated accounts of their place-based visions for a low-carbon future in a way that would not be possible in an academic paper.
Raising the floor as well as the ceiling? How minimum climate standards could help England’s Devolved Authorities align new projects with net zero
January 2025
This report sets out how Devolved Authorities are trying to align their funding and investments with net zero. It also outlines the challenges Authorities face in supporting low-carbon projects and how they could address these. The insights draw on analysis of net zero investment policies of regional and devolved governments across the UK, and interviews with officials at six English Combined Authorities and the GLA.
Circular Economy in the Community: A Pilot Project Exploring Sustainable Models for Repair and Reuse Hubs in Wales
November 2023
This report, written by Carly Baker, Rhiannon Craft and Prof Wouter Poortinga, presents the findings of a pilot project, in collaboration with Keep Wales Tidy, exploring sustainable models for repair and reuse hubs in Wales. It includes a literature review, four case studies, and the results of in-depth interviews with two policy experts and six practitioners involved in the running of existing repair and reuse centres. As well as this, it comprises recommendations for the Welsh Government in their plans to support 80 repair and reuse ‘hubs’ across Wales.
Cornwall Council behaviour change and engagement programme – survey of residents
September 2023
This report, written by Dr Mark Wilson and Professor Lorraine Whitmarsh MBE for Cornwall Council, presents the survey findings which measured Cornwall residents’ perceptions of climate change and their current behaviours in four key lifestyle areas: travel, home energy use, products they buy, and food, and their willingness to alter some of these behaviours in favour of low-carbon alternatives. It also measured to what extent the cost-of-living crisis has already prompted behaviour change. The purpose of this report is to help develop recommendations for encouraging low-carbon behaviours and to provide an evidence base to inform the Council’s climate action.
International Round Table – Accelerating Climate Mitigation at City Level
July 2023
This report, written by Dr Tim Braunholtz-Speight, Prof. Carly McLachlan and Harry Barton, provides a summary of key themes and questions that emerged from discussions at the online International Round Table on Accelerating Climate Mitigation at City Level hosted by CAST, The Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), giving an indication of the pressing issues and current approaches being adopted by those at the forefront of making climate change mitigation happen at city and regional scales.
Organisational transformations for a greener future
February 2023
This report shows how transformative change is being driven through the integration of behavioural and technological innovations and provides a set of principles with applicability across the diverse business community. It provides evidence from four case studies of different UK businesses, with each working to achieve their own vision for sustainability.
From carbon footprints to cultural influence: engaging live music audiences on travel choices
November 2022
By harnessing the cultural footprint live events have, can faster progress be made on cutting their carbon footprint? This report – supported by the CAST Impact Fund – is based on roundtable discussions with specialists from across the music industry, a survey of festival audience members, and a review of climate communication research.
Developing an evidence-based toolkit for car reduction
October 2022
In collaboration between CAST, Climate Outreach and the Scottish Government we seek to understand and support the development of evidence-based messages to build awareness of and engage with some key audiences around visions of transitions to lower-carbon transport lifestyles in Scotland.
Net Zero Living
June 2022
Together with Ipsos, we have taken an in-depth look at the public’s attitudes towards climate change and how policymakers can increase support for, and participation in, sustainable policies.
Accessible veg: A pilot project exploring the barriers and benefits to CSA memberships for food insecure households
June 2022
The Accessible Veg project was set up to help food-insecure households get fresh vegetables by becoming members of their local community-supported agriculture (CSA) veg bag scheme.
Citizens’ Climate Assemblies: Understanding public deliberation for climate policy
July 2021
This report presents an in-depth analysis of climate deliberation, focussed on the UK’s national Climate Assembly, France’s Convention Citoyenne, and regional UK processes.
The Co-Benefits of Climate Action: Accelerating City-Level Ambition
July 2020
This report from CDP, The Tyndall Centre, and CAST, looks at the additional benefits that climate action delivers, and how cities can utilise these in their decision-making processes.
Mainstreaming low-carbon lifestyles
April 2019
The report, commissioned by the Low-carbon Lifestyles & Behavioural Spillover (CASPI) team at Cardiff University, is designed for the wide range of individuals and organisations involved in influencing sustainable behaviours, including national policy-makers, local authorities, professional campaigners, and those leading community-level initiatives.