cast.ac.uk

5 key messages from five years of CAST research: New report

5 key messages from five years of CAST research: New report

Read our latest CAST report: 'Catalysts of Change: People at the Heart of Climate Transformations', and watch our animation summarising 5 key messages from five years of CAST social science research on climate change and how we can achieve the social changes needed to tackle climate change.

Our Vision

The Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST) is a global hub for understanding the systemic and society-wide transformations that are required to address climate change. At the core of our work is a fundamental question of enormous social significance: how can we as a society live differently - and better - in ways that meet the urgent need for rapid and far-reaching emission reductions?

People at the heart of transformations

We want to understand how people can participate in transformation in their multiple roles as citizens, consumers, parents, employees, business leaders, policy-makers. This means recognising that people can act both directly to reduce emissions – like driving less – but equally have the ability to shape wider structural change – like changing organisational practices and shaping policies.

A focus on values and co-benefits

We set out to align the positive outcomes of action on climate change with those in other domains like health and wellbeing. CAST seeks to identify low-carbon futures and actions that also provide other co-benefits - like cleaner air, lower bills, more resilient or fairer communities.

"We want to work closely with people and organisations to achieve positive low-carbon futures — transforming the way we live our lives, and reconfiguring organisations and cities."

Prof. Lorraine Whitmarsh MBE, CAST Director

Explore our four areas of focus

Find out why we are focusing on four key areas: Diet, Mobility, Material Consumption and Thermal Comfort.

Our resources include policy briefings, working papers, academic articles, reports and other resources exploring the science of climate action.

We believe effective change requires working with people to understand their values and needs.

News from CAST

Our latest report

Why the NHS holds the key to action on climate change

England’s National Health Service (NHS) is the world’s first health system to commit to becoming ‘net zero’ [i]. This means cutting emissions of the gases driving climate change to as close to zero as possible and offsetting the rest, for example by planting forests and investing in emission-removing technologies. The…

The transition to a post-carbon economy must uphold social justice

The latest briefing from the COP26 Universities Network sets out why the transition to a net zero economy must be inclusive – and what policy tools can help get us there.

Why the UK needs a diverse leadership team for COP26

By Lorraine Whitmarsh, Sam Fankhauser, Katharine Steentjes, Candice Howarth – CAST & the Place Based Climate Action Network (PCAN) Last week, the UK government announced the team of politicians and negotiators who will host the UN COP26 climate negotiations in Glasgow next year – and they are all men. This…

The Path to Net Zero: “A clear mandate to policy makers for bold action”.

“We come from all walks of life and all across the UK. We have, between us, many different values, views and experiences. But we have worked together in an atmosphere of respect, co-operation, tolerance and humour to arrive at the considered recommendations in this report.” Today the final report of the first UK-wide citizens’…